Intern or Co-op for Academic Credit
The College of Engineering offers the opportunity to earn academic credit for engineering or computer science internships or co-op’s.
How does it work?
- A College of Engineering student works in a pre-approved summer internship or co-op for at least 300 hours, while completing the Internship Experience or Co-op Experience course, which are online and zero credits.
- In the fall or spring immediately following the summer internship/co-op, the student takes the course “Intern or Co-op for Credit” (ENGR 494), which is 3 credits. This class is online and requires reflection on learning and career preparation assignments. Regular tuition applies.
Interested in earning academic credit for your experience?
Here’s the steps you need to take:
- Secure a summer internship or co-op or research experience. (It must be a summer experience, not fall or spring.)
- Meet with your academic advisor to determine if taking the Intern or Co-op for Credit course (ENGR 494) would be helpful to you. The internship credits may not fit the graduation requirements of all students, it depends on your concentration, the credits you’ve already completed, and many other factors.
- Request pre-approval of your internship by your department chair by submitting the Handshake Experience form that requires an in-depth job description. The department chair will evaluate that the proposed experience is technically rigorous enough to qualify for the academic credit option.
- Work a minimum of 300 hours on the internship, co-op, or research experience. That’s about 8 weeks at 40 hours a week.
- While interning, pass the Internship Experience (ENGR 396) course or Co-op Experience (ENGR 398) course, during the summer internship experience. These classes are online and zero credit.
- In the fall or spring after completing your summer internship, enroll in the 3-credit course, “Intern or Co-op for Credit” (ENGR 494). You will need an override from your academic advisor to enroll in the course. Pre-req’s = ENGR 396 or ENGR 398, pre-approval of internship by your department chair (through the Handshake Experience report) & final override by your academic advisor.
Frequently Asked Questions
The course is career-focused and includes these or similar assignments:
- Reflection on your worked experience
- Job Market Preparedness & Skill Gap Analysis
- Future Pathways Exploration
- Career Conversation
- Written Report for departmental review (only if your employer doesn’t complete the required assessment in ENGR 396)
Please see your academic advisor for up-to-date details. In general, expect this distribution:
- CS - free elective
- ECE - unrestricted elective
- BME - technical elective
- MNE - professional elective
- CLSE - engineering technical elective
Grading is pass or fail.
Every fall and spring semester. Students are required to take the class within the school year immediately after their summer internship.
Experiences must meet all of the following criteria:
- Completed while a student at VCU.
- Completed in one summer with at least 300 worked hours.
- Pre-approved by your department chair, as sufficiently technical and rigorous.
- Pre-approval is through the Handshake Experience form.
- Industry-based work experiences (intern or co-op) and formal summer research experiences (REUs) at VCU or other schools.
Follow these steps:
- Log onto your Handshake account.
- Select "Career Center" from the left navigation bar.
- Select "Experiences".
- Select the proper Experience template from the drop down menu.
- Click the green “Finish” button on the final screen when done to submit the form for approval by your department chair.
Students are limited to the number of academic credit hours used for experiential learning based on their department’s policy. Typically 3-6 credits. Please see your academic advisor.
No, VIP experiences will not be eligible for the credit-bearing internship course because there are already mechanisms in place for the VIP to be credit-bearing.
This is like any other credit-bearing course. Students will be charged tuition for a 3-credit course and financial aid will apply as for any other course.
Not necessarily. It depends on your unique curriculum needs. Students in some accelerated master’s tracks or some concentrations (such as Nuclear) may not have space in their curriculum for these credit hours. You must check-in with your academic advisor. Enrollment in the course requires an override from your academic advisor.