Internships
Students that enroll in the internship for credit course (INT) must have a paid or unpaid internship that is an educational experiential opportunity that meets the criteria established by Occidental and approved by the Hameetman Career Center (HCC) which is outlined below.
INT Student Eligibility
- Sophomore, junior, or senior status
- Active Student - Registered in at least six (6) units for the semester at Occidental College
- Academic Standing - Students must be in Good Academic Standing. Students on a Semester of Academic Concern or Required Academic Leave are unable to enroll in INT
- Cumulative grade point average of 2.0 or better at the time of INT enrollment
Internship Eligibility
- Students must intern a minimum of 80 hours per semester. To meet the 80 hours per semester requirement, students are encouraged to register within the first two weeks of the semester.
- Students must submit an offer letter on company letterhead (email okay) indicating the intern's name, job title, internship start and end dates, and whether the internship is paid or unpaid.
- Students must submit a job posting or other description on company website/letterhead that provides an overview of the internship responsibilities.
INT Enrollment
- Students are only allowed to enroll in one (1) INT course per semester. Internships hours completed for INT 100 or INT 200 course credit cannot be used for any other OXY course.
- Students must complete the Student Learning Agreement including all required documents, internship supervisor and faculty advisor signatures (INT 200 only) before the internship course deadline established by the Office of the Registrar.
- Students must register for the appropriate internship course by the deadline established by the Office of the Registrar. Students adding an INT course after the corresponding deadline will be assessed a late add fee.
- Late adds require permission of the HCC and the faculty advisor (INT 200 only). INT courses may NOT be added after the last day of classes. Students are responsible for verifying that they have, in fact, enrolled in all classes for which they expect to receive credit.
- Students are required to notify the HCC, faculty supervisor, and on-site employer supervisor before dropping an internship. To drop INT, students must submit a properly completed Schedule Adjustment Form (available in the Office of the Registrar and online) to the registrar by the deadline. Students are responsible for making sure that they have dropped classes that they are not attending. Students enrolled in INT will receive a grade of NC if the course is not dropped.
- Students must enroll in INT during the semester that the internship is completed. Retroactive enrollment will not be approved and credit will not be given even in cases where an internship has been completed
- Students enrolling in an INT 200 course for the summer will be charged reduced fees for the two (2) units. There is no fee for INT 100 or INT 150. Refer to the Office of the Registrar or Student Accounts Office for summer INT 200 fee information
INT 200 Enrollment
In addition to the INT enrollment process indicated above, students looking to enroll in INT 200 must submit a proposal for the academic component to the HCC along with their INT 200 Student Learning Agreement. The proposal for the academic component should include:
- Brief description of the academic project, explaining its relationship with the intern component
- Description of work already completed in the field and/or previous experience
- Proposed plan/method of research or specific education goals for this project
- Detailed reading list. List specific books, articles, films, etc.
- Schedule of student/faculty meetings as part of this academic component
- Detailed list of assignments or projects to be evaluated for the grade
- Explanation of how final grade will be evaluated
On-campus Internships:
Students are allowed to obtain an on-campus internship and receive credit through the HCC INT 100 and INT 200 internship courses. To ensure that students obtain the experiential learning that is consistent with off-campus internship opportunities in the for-profit, nonprofit, and public sectors, departments wishing to create internship opportunities must consider the following:
- On-campus internships must meet all of the student and internship eligibility criteria, including the minimum 80 hours per semester requirement as outlined above.
- The faculty supervisor cannot be the same individual as the internship supervisor.
- Paid on-campus student employment opportunities for which a student would receive a W-2, including work-study and department research, are not eligible for INT 100 or INT 200 enrollment.
- Students that receive internship opportunities that are donor-funded, external grant-funded, and/or paid through an educational stipend are eligible to enroll in INT 100 or INT 200.
- Students that receive practicum course credit for internship hours are ineligible to enroll in INT 100 or INT 200. Internships hours completed for INT 100 or INT 200 course credit cannot be used for any other OXY course.
INT FAQs
For additional questions regarding INT enrollment, please refer to the Hameetman Career Center website here.