Career Advising

Career Advising

Career Advising serves students exploring resume and cover letter development, interview skills growth, internship opportunities, full-time employment, and/or graduate school search.

Experiential Learning Opportunities

Career Advising provides undergraduate students with the opportunity to apply knowledge obtained through coursework to an on-the-job experience. Internships and experiential learning opportunities allow students to develop the knowledge necessary to further their careers. Additionally, internships and experiential learning opportunities provide work experience that can enhance credibility in a highly competitive marketplace.

An internship or experiential learning opportunity will include various learning experiences that can be taken for undergraduate academic credit. An internship or experiential learning opportunity is a component of the educational program that provides an opportunity to enhance the student’s intellectual development through the application of knowledge. An internship or experiential learning opportunity is not an experience that can be purely observational.

The Career Advising Office is responsible for maintaining all internship and experiential learning program records. Career Advising provides information on possible internship and experiential learning opportunity locations, general guidelines, departmental guidelines, and copies of all necessary forms. Academic internships and experiential learning opportunities are initiated and approved in the department sponsoring and supervising the internship or experiential learning opportunity.

Internships/Experiential Learning Opportunities and Course Load, Zero Credit Hour

1. Students are only eligible for a zero credit hour internship or experiential learning opportunity during the summer semester.
2. Students carrying a course load of 18 credit hours or more are not eligible to participate in transcribed internships/experiential learning opportunities.
3. Students may not satisfy the requirements for the zero credit internship or experiential learning opportunity in a single 40-hour workweek without written permission from the faculty and off-campus supervisors.
4. Students enrolled for zero credit hour internships/experiential learning opportunities will satisfy the same requirements as students enrolled for a 1 credit hour internship or experiential learning opportunity.

Internships/Experiential Learning Opportunities and Course Load, Credit Hour

1. Students planning to take an internship or experiential learning opportunity for credit are eligible to participate during any semester.
2. For each credit attempted, 40 hours of work related experience is required.

Internship opportunities are available to juniors and seniors in good academic standing, with a minimum 2.00 cumulative grade point average. Underclassmen may be eligible to participate in an internship with the written approval of the faculty advisor and off-campus supervisor. Each academic department, however, can set its own internship policies (e.g., GPA and credit hour limits).

Guidelines are detailed in the Internship and Experiential Learning Contract, available online. The amount of course credit that may be earned through an internship or experiential learning opportunity varies by department. A student cannot apply more than 15 internship credit hours towards the degree requirements. Students register for internship or experiential learning opportunity credit by completing an Internship and Experiential Learning Opportunity Contract. Students must secure the approval of both a faculty advisor and an internship or experiential learning opportunity supervisor who will oversee the student’s on-site work. Internship/Experiential Learning Opportunity credits may not be applied to the General Education Requirements, and credit must be earned during the semester which the internship or Experiential Learning Opportunity is completed.

Internship credit may be applied toward a major or minor if one or both of the conditions below are met:

1. An internship or experiential learning opportunity is required of all students seeking a degree within that major;
2. The administering Department Chair has granted prior approval for the internship or experiential learning opportunity to be applied toward the major or minor.