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Internships

 

Internships

Undergraduate students

Students are encouraged to wait until they have completed some or all core courses before applying to an internship. The internship is intended to give students a chance to consolidate and extend what they have learned in class by working in a professional setting under the guidance of a supervisor who is a practitioner in our field.

Graduate students

Graduate students may count up to five credits of internship (HCDE 601) towards their degree. There are two types of graduate internships that are eligible: external and internal.

  • External Internships: An external internship is taken with a company or organization that the student does not currently work for. The procedures for a graduate-student external internship are the same as for an undergraduate internship.
  • Internal Internship: An internal internship is taken with the student's current employer. In this case, the student must negotiate an agreement with his or her employer that specifies the educational goals that he or she intends to achieve through the internship, the work plan (which must be separate from his or her existing duties), and the deliverables (including the number of hours per week that will be devoted to the internship rather than to his or her existing duties).

The HCDE internship advisor must approve the requirements of the internal internship. Students and the HCDE internship adviser will stay in touch during the course of the internship to make sure that the terms of the internship continue to be met and that students are being supported within the company in pursuing the internship work at the agreed-upon level.

International graduate students

International graduate students wishing to pursue an internship must request Curricular Practical Training (CPT) approval from International Student Services (ISS). Please contact the ISS office to learn more about the CPT application process.

Internship requirements

HCDE students must meet the following requirements to receive credit for their internship:

  • Students are required to work 3 hours per week for 10 weeks for each academic credit. In other words, a 5-credit internship would require that students work 15 hours per week for the 10 weeks in the quarter in which they are performing their internship.
  • Undergraduate students are limited to a maximum of 10 internship credits per quarter even though some companies want their student interns to work full time (40 hours per week).
  • Graduate students are limited to a maximum of five internship credits per quarter and may only count a total of five internship credits towards their degree.
  • The intern's supervisor (a representative of the company the intern is working for) must send an email to the internship advisor certifying that the intern has put in the required number of hours. The internship adviser cannot award academic credit for the internship until that letter has been received.

Registering for credit

In order to receive credit for an internship, students must register for HCDE 495 Professional Practice (undergraduate) or HCDE 601 Internship (graduate).

  • HCDE 495: Students should register for three credits of HCDE 495.
  • HCDE 601: Students may register for a minimum of two credits and a maximum five internship credits in a given quarter. A maximum of five internship credits may be counted towards a degree in HCDE.

Students wishing to receive credit for an internship must register for credits the quarter they complete that internship. HCDE will not approve retroactive credits for internships prior to registration.

Review the Variable Credit Registration Policy.

To receive credit for an internship:

  1. Ensure you meet the prerequisites for an internship (mentioned at the top of this page).
  2. Ensure your internship will meet the department's internship requirements.
  3. Fill out the internship letter of agreement (PDF).
  4. Fill out the online internship form (below).
    You must upload both a completed letter of agreement and a resume to the form.
  5. Once your internship form has been approved, you will receive an entry code for HCDE 495 or HCDE 601.

 

UNDERGRAD INTERNSHIP FORM  

GRAD INTERNSHIP FORM

Students should complete this process as soon as they have defined their internship opportunity.

The approval process might take a week or more; if students delay getting approval, they might end up being forced to pay late-registration fees. In addition, even if students intend to take the internship credits in a later quarter, they should still get the internship approved before beginning the work. (Otherwise, students could learn too late that the work does not qualify for internship credits.)

Internship Course

Students enrolled in HCDE 601 are required to submit the following assignments:

  • Mid-quarter reflection 
  • Informational interview
  • Final presentation summarizing learning outcomes open to the MS HCDE community
  • Internship verification email

See also