Academic Credit for Internships:
The Application for Internship Credit is available here.
This application is due by the first day of the current term.
To determine if your internship will meet the requirements to count for academic credits, please view the guidelines and fees below. Please read the information over carefully and then email scholarsdirector@union.edu if you have further questions.
Internship Guidelines
In order to receive academic credit for an internship experience, the student needs to indicate the relevance of the internship experience to his/her academic growth and intellectual development. The academic credit must be justified in the context of a Union College education, and the internship must meet the following criteria:
*The nature of the internship work must be substantial with the active involvement of the student in aspects of the profession. Clerical, cashier and other types of routine work are not appropriate.
*The internship must involve a minimum of 100 hours of work experience. Additional credit will not be granted for work over the minimum 100 hours.
*Students may receive credit for up to two internship experiences (in any combination of Option 1, Option 2 or any other Union College internship courses). The second internship needs to be substantially different in nature from his/her first internship in order for a student to receive credit.
Option 1: Internship Transcript Notation
Students who have secured an unpaid internship that meets the guidelines above may apply for an Internship Transcript Notation. The student must register for “ISC-008 Internship Transcript Notation” in the term that aligns with the internship work. This course is 0.3 course credits and is graded Pass/Fail, however it may not be used for graduation credit, either singly or in conjunction with practica credits. The student does not need a faculty sponsor nor will any graded written work be required.
Option 2: Full Course Credit
Students who have secured an internship (paid or unpaid) that meets the guidelines above and have located a Union College faculty sponsor may apply for full course credit. The internship is completed as usual and the faculty sponsor oversees a related independent study for 1.0 course credit in the faculty sponsor’s department. The nature of the academic work that the student submits to the faculty sponsor needs to be clearly documented and approved by the faculty sponsor and his/her department chair. As with any independent study, the work will often involve keeping a journal and writing a substantial research paper, although other materials such as a portfolio or some other type of final project may be appropriate.
Students who do not complete at least 100 hours
will automatically fail the course associated with the internship.
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Students are required to take the following steps:
1. Complete this “Application for Internship Credit” form and submit it to the Director of Scholars, scholarsdirector@union.edu, by the first day of the current term. Please keep a copy of the form for your records.
2. Register for the Internship with the Registrar by following the instructions on this form.
- Transcript Notation: Under INDEPENDENT STUDY, students will enter ISC-008
- Full Course Credit: Under INDEPENDENT STUDY, students will enter the Course Prefix and Course Number they obtain from their faculty sponsor
*If the internship is for full course credit and is taken over the summer, the student must pay the summer course fee (which is the same as the fourth course fee).
*If the internship is for full course credit and is the student’s fourth course in the term, the student must pay fees in accordance with Union’s fourth course policy.
*You will be notified of the status of your application and registration once your application has been reviewed.
3. At the end of the internship experience, the student must solicit and receive an evaluation from the internship supervisor.
- Transcript Notation: The supervisor must email this evaluation to scholarsdirector@union.edu
- Full Course Credit: The supervisor must email this evaluation to scholarsdirector@union.edu and to the Faculty Sponsor.
This evaluation can be in any format (there is no standard form). The evaluation should outline what your responsibilities were, your job performance, if you completed your 100 hours, and any other important information that your internship supervisor would like to share. Your faculty supervisor should take this evaluation into account, in addition to the student’s academic work, when submitting a final grade.
If an evaluation is not received by the last day of finals for the current term, the student will not receive the transcript notation or full course credit for the internship.