How to Earn Academic Credit for Internships

Register for the 297/497 Course

To register for the course, enter the internship details into the Experiences section of Handshake.

1. Log into Handshake (requires university single sign-on). 
2. Select Career Center on the left side and then select Experiences in the middle of the screen. Next, select Submit an Experience.  
3. For the Experience Template, select your academic department and select the term in which you’ll be earning academic credit. 
4. To complete the form, you'll need the following information:
   • Employer/organization name
   • Location
   • Internship job title
   • Start/end date
   • Salary/hourly wage
   • Site supervisor first & last name, phone number and email address
   • Course Instructor First Name & Last Name*
   • Your major
   • Internship course (XXX 497)
   • Number of credits for which you are registering
   • Total number of hours you're expecting to complete during the semester
   • Number of hours per week you'll work
   • Job description provided by the site
   • Where the internship will be conducted (on-site, virtual, hybrid)
5. After you complete the form, it will route to a Career Advisor who starts the approvals. They'll route the form to your Course Instructor, and once they approve the registration, it will be sent to your site supervisor. Approvals by the course instructor and site supervisor do not require a Handshake login.
6. When all of the approvals are done, a Career Advisor will then contact you with the steps to register for the course in SIS. 

*To identify which person will be your course instructor for the internship course, visit the Internship Course Instructor Directory.

Course Deadline

You can register for the class at any point in the semester. A $15 late add is applied if the course is added after the add deadline. You must be able to complete the number of hours between the date the course was added and up to two weeks after the last day of final exams for the semester. You must also make up/complete all assignments. 

Credit Hour Requirements

For every credit you intend to earn, you need to complete a minimum of 50 hours at your internship. Any hours will be counted if they're completed beginning two weeks prior to the start of the semester and ending up to two weeks after the last day of final exams for the semester. Keep in mind any personal time off, breaks or other obligations that may impact your hours. Please communicate any planned days off with your site supervisor and instructor.

You'll submit a timecard to document hours completed. The internship site supervisor will be notified, during the first week of class, about the number of hours that need to be completed, and they will be asked during the final evaluation if they believe the hours were met.

You MUST complete the number of agreed upon hours to receive credit. If you do not earn the maximum amount of credits, you can continue the same experience with your current employer and earn additional credits.

If Your Internship Ends During the Semester

The internship site has the right to end the internship at any time. If the internship ends without cause, we'll assist you to find a new placement to complete the required hours. Replacement is not guaranteed. If the internship site requests removal based on cause, like absences, workplace conduct violations or demeanor, additional placements will not be available until the we can review the alleged conduct. You may be ineligible for future enrollment in 297/497 if the cause is found to be valid.

The end of the internship may be due to reasons outside of your control, like your health or family emergencies. If so, you can be granted an incomplete. This is not guaranteed; however, we can support application of medical/late withdrawal from the course.