Internships for Academic Credit

To earn academic credit for your internship, you need to have an academic component to your experience. Here are the various options you can pursue. If you are an international student, completing an internship for credit is required to get work authorization. Be sure to utilize resources from ISSS for more information. 

Enroll in CLA 3896, Internship Reflection: Making Meaning of Your Experience

CLA 3896, Internship Reflection: Making Meaning of Your Experience is a one-credit, online course open to all CLA students who are pursuing an internship. You’ll earn credit as you consider how your internship fits in with your future career plans. 

Process for enrolling in CLA 3896:

  1. Find and accept an internship.
  2. Make sure your internship is a minimum of 10 hours per week, totaling 120 hours worked.
  3. All internships taken for credit in the College of Liberal Arts are required to have the information submitted by the student through Handshake. View the instructions for how to complete the CLA Internship Site Agreement. You will need information such as your supervisor’s first and last name, email address and a list of responsibilities to complete the experience form.

Requesting an experience through Handshake will prompt your Internship site supervisor and the course instructor to approve the internship experience. Once your internship has been approved, your course instructor will contact you with a permission number to enroll.

If you need assistance with completing this process, please contact the course instructor.

Enroll in CLA 3890: Internship Reflection: Building on your Summer Internship Experience

In this 7 week, online fall course, students reflect on their summer internship experience to analyze and identify which components from their internship work, environment, and professional relationships energized them, and which core career competencies they developed. Students will intentionally examine multiple perspectives to crystallize their values, interests, and strengths, and create next steps for their career and life. Through this process, students will practice leveraging their internship experience for upcoming professional opportunities, as well as gain the tools for creating an authentic professional identity, grounded in their liberal arts education, in an evolving job market and world.

The course instructor will provide you a permission number to enroll in August, only after you complete the following prerequisites: 

CLA’s Internship Coordinator will contact you once your CLA Site Agreement has been approved to support you with completing the prerequisites

Pursue Departmental Internship Courses with 3896 Designator

Search the "3896" course number and department designator in ScheduleBuilder to see if an internship course is offered in your major. Generally, internship courses offered through departments have a heavier concentration on the application of major-related theories or concepts during the internship experience. Some CLA departments offer in-person or online internship courses and others offer it as an "Individualized Instruction" option. Check with your advisor if you have questions.

Quick Tip: Internship courses with the "3896" designator meet the experiences requirement for earning the Career Readiness Certificate.

Do an Internship While Learning Abroad

Planning on learning abroad? You can do an internship abroad and earn academic credit for a course connected to the experience! While there are a few additional requirements in the learning abroad application process to do an internship, onsite staff will place you at a site that meets your interests so you don’t have to find it on your own.