10.4. Internships

Internships for academic credit are coordinated through the career development office. All internships for credit are supervised by a full-time member of the Oglethorpe faculty; part-time faculty members may supervise internships for credit only with prior approval of the provost.

Students seeking an internship for credit must have (at the time of application) at least sophomore status and must also be in good standing (see Sec. 6.22.), with a minimum 2.0 cumulative grade-point average. Transfer students must have completed at least one semester at Oglethorpe prior to requesting an internship.

All applications for internship credit must be submitted through Handshake prior to the first day of classes for the semester during which internship will be completed. The application for internship credit can be accessed from the student profile page (Student Profile Page > Career Center > Experiences > Request an Experience). Log into Handshake

The internship for credit process is as follows:

  • The student attends an internship orientation and/or meets with a career development official to understand the internship process, requirements and how to find an internship. The student should begin looking for an internship at least one semester in advance.
  • The student receives an internship offer and decides to apply for internship credit.
  • The student ensures that the employer completes the “Oglethorpe Site Agreement Form,” which is found in the resource library of Handshake (Student Profile Page > Career Center > Resources).
  • The student obtains approval from a full-time faculty member for faculty supervision of the internship. The faculty supervisor should be in the academic area in which internship credits are sought.
  • The student and faculty member meet to review the site agreement form and to determine learning objectives and the academic details of the internship, including the writing assignment and appropriate course number. Guidelines for learning objectives and the academic assignment can be found in the resource library in Handshake.
  • The student submits an online application in Handshake, which includes agreed-upon learning objectives and academic assignment (see below), in addition to details about the internship, an updated résumé, and a link to the student’s LinkedIn profile.
  • The career development office reviews the application and sends a request for electronic review and approval to the faculty supervisor.
  • If approved, the application is then sent to the student’s academic advisor and, if again approved, the appropriate program coordinator or division chair (Hammack School of Business only) for approval.
  • At any point in the approval flow, the application can be rejected. Following a rejection, officials in the career development office will work with the student to develop suitable modifications. Once all approvals (career development, faculty supervisor, academic advisor, program coordinator/division chair) are received, the application is sent to enrollment services for final approval and processing.
  • Midterm and end-of-semester feedback on the student is sent to faculty supervisor by the career development office.
  • Students must submit their academic assignments to their faculty supervisor by agreed-upon deadlines.
  • Ultimately, faculty members issue satisfactory/unsatisfactory grades for internships.
  • Students will be asked to evaluate their internship experience.

Onsite Hours

Students must work onsite 30 hours for every credit hour for which they are applying. For example, if a student is applying for 4 credits, they must work at their internship site for 120 hours over the course of the semester.

Academic Assignment

Under the current guidelines, students must complete an internship paper which totals 5 pages for every semester hour of credit attempted. The paper should help to deepen, broaden and amplify the student’s understanding of the field in which the internship is being done. Papers may include critiques of journal articles, book reviews, discussion of strategies used by practitioners in the field, discussion of challenges facing an industry/service, discussion of the application/relevance of theories to practice. Up to 30% of the total writing can be made up of journal/non- academic writing such as journals and reflection. The academic assignment must relate to the agreed upon learning objectives. Both the learning objectives and academic assignment should be discussed and agreed upon in advance by the student and the faculty supervisor.

Each academic division may have their own criteria for the academic assignment. It is the responsibility of the faculty supervisor to know which guidelines to follow:  either approved, specific division requirements or the standard guidelines given above. Students working with a faculty member from Division V in the Hammack School of Business will adhere to guidelines designed specifically for that division. Internship guidelines for the Hammack School of Business can be found in the resources library in Handshake (Profile Page > Career Center > Resources).

All internships are graded on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis, and total credit awarded for internships cannot exceed 12 semester hours. The deadline for internship applications is the first day of class of each semester.

Students who wish to engage in non-credit internships should follow the basic guidelines for internships delineated above and are strongly encouraged to seek assistance from the career development staff. Non-credit internships should be reported on Handshake (Student Profile Page > Career Center > Experiences > Request an Experience).