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Student Information

Internship Guidelines

Before the Internship

  1. Students are responsible for finding their own internship as part of learning job search skills.
  2. Students can look for internships by reviewing the postings on the virtual bulletin board, and they can explore other internship opportunities independently on Indeed and other sites.
  3. Internships may be paid or unpaid.
  4. A student may be currently employed in a position that may also qualify for internship credits.
  5. The University does not provide internship credit for past work experience. The faculty internship advisor must approve all internships before enrolling.
  6. Students may only apply a maximum of 12 internship credits towards their total college credits.
  7. The internship course is not currently offered in summer. However, students can work at a summer internship and use the hours to receive credit in fall.
  8. IMPORTANT:  To receive credit for summer internship hours, students must enroll in the no-credit/no-cost summer course UNIV 421-81. This protects student health and safety at the internship site. No summer hours can be counted for a fall internship without this summer course. Students can contact their faculty internship advisor about this requirement.

Internship Criteria

To receive university credit, all internship placements must be pre-approved by the faculty internship advisor.

  1. The internship job assignment must be related to the student’s course of study and provide job skills relevant to the major.
  2. The internship opportunity must be open to all ANG or SOC majors; that is, the agency, business, or other organization must have inclusive, non-discriminatory hiring practices.
  3. Students may work for faith-based organizations if the focus of their activity is secular, service-oriented, and does not involve proselytizing.

Required at the Beginning of the Internship

  1. Start an Internship Contract: Sociology or Anthropology/Geography. Click one of these links to start a digital form – enter your contact information, your supervisor’s name and email and the faculty advisor’s email.  The advisor for Anthropology and Geography is Dr. Jim Keese (jkeese@calpoly.edu). The advisor for Sociology for Fall 2026 quarter is Dr. Liz Johnston (lbjohnst@calpoly.edu
  2. Complete the Internship Contract: The digital form will trigger an Internship Contract to be emailed to the student, the internship supervisor and the faculty advisor.  This is an electronic form that should be filled out and submitted online.  Students should enter their information at the top of the form and sign at the bottom.  The internship supervisor should fill out the box in the middle of the contract describing the work the intern will do, the number of hours per week, and the number of weeks to be worked and then sign at the bottom.  Then the form will be emailed to the faculty advisor who will sign the form.  The completed version of the form will be emailed by the system to the student, supervisor and the faculty advisor.
  3. Permission Number: ​​Once the faculty internship advisor for your major receives the  Internship Contract, they will provide you with a permission number for you to register.

During the Internship

The student and the job supervisor should keep track of the duties performed and the number of hours completed, as the number of hours determines how many units you will receive.

Internship hours worked for semester units

On semesters, 45 internship work hours = 1 semester unit

  •   90 hours = a 2-unit class
  • 135 hours = a 3-unit class
  • 180 hours = a 4-unit class 
  • 225 hours = a 5-unit class
  • 270 hours = a 6-unit class
  • 315 hours = a 7-unit class 
  • 360 hours = a 8-unit class

Required upon completion of the Internship

To receive credit, the following documents must be completed:

  1. STUDENT REPORT/REFLECTION FORM: A link will be sent to you by your faculty internship advisor. 
  2. INTERNSHIP JOB SUPERVISOR EVALUATION FORM: A link will be sent to your employer by the faculty internship advisor.

Important! These documents must be turned in by finals week in order to receive credit.

SUMMARY

 All 3 documents are required in order to receive a grade:

  1. INTERNSHIP CONTRACT submitted by student before the quarter of internship
  2. INTERNSHIP JOB SUPERVISOR EVALUATION FORM submitted by the job supervisor by finals week
  3. STUDENT REPORT/REFLECTION FORM submitted by student by finals week
     

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