Academic Internships
Earning credit for your internship
A good internship can do more than build experience. It can also count toward your degree. Here’s what students need to do to earn credit.
Step 1: Find Your Opportunity
Start with Handshake, VCU’s job and internship platform. Search for opportunities available to VCU students and use the “Internship” filter to narrow your results. Focus on roles that match your major, interests and career goals.
Step 2: Meet with a career coach
You don’t have to handle the search on your own. Business career coaches can help you identify internship opportunities, polish your resume and prepare for interviews. Schedule an appointment through Handshake.
Step 3: Get academic approval
After you receive and accept an official internship offer, submit it for academic review before the term begins. Credit cannot be awarded retroactively for an internship you have already completed. To receive credit, your internship site must be approved and you must be enrolled in the internship course by the end of the add/drop period.
Course guidelines
Prerequisites: ACCT 303 with a minimum grade of “C.” Restricted to accounting majors who have completed at least 54 credit hours (junior standing) or 24 credits with a minimum GPA of 2.5. May be repeated for credit with different topics for a maximum of six credits. Involves students in a valuable experiential learning experience, typically 20 hours per week. Includes on-the-job training in either public, corporate or governmental accounting. Supervision provided by the organization, and consultation provided by the course instructor. Students should discuss this option with their academic advisor who can connect them with the course instructor. Permission of the instructor is required. Intention to enroll must be indicated to the instructor prior to or during advance registration for semester of credit.
Offered as needed. Enrollment is restricted to junior or senior accounting majors. Use for curricular practical training (CPT) requires international student CPT eligibility. The faculty adviser and the accounting department chair must approve the proposed work before the student can register for the course. International students must also work with the Global Education Office to process CPT authorization.
Offered as needed. Enrollment is restricted to graduate accounting majors. Use for curricular practical training (CPT) requires international student CPT eligibility. The accounting department chair and Office of Graduate Studies in the School of Business must approve the proposed work before the student can register for the course. International students must also work with the Global Education Office to process CPT authorization.
The BUSN 293 and 493 internship courses are designed to complement student’s real-world experiences gained in business internships. The internship experience will contribute to the student’s development of knowledge, skills and abilities in a real-world context, supplementing and enriching the student’s business education. Students must be approved by the instructor to enroll in either BUSN 293 or BUSN 493. If approved, your academic adviser will enroll you in the appropriate number of credits. Consult with your academic adviser to ensure BUSN 493 will fit in your plan of study. To start the approval process, submit this approval request.
For BUSN 493, course credit correlates with the number of hours you work in your internship, and is available as follows: 240 internship hours = three credits, 160 internship hours = two credits, 80 internship hours = one credit. BUSN 293 is a zero-credit internship course, meaning it will be reflected on your transcript but no tuition will be charged.
Students may take BUSN 293 and 493 for up to six credits, but each term must be for a different internship site. You may not take this course more than once in conjunction with the same internship site.
Students may earn academic credit in ECON 493 Internship in Economics when the internship involves a significant amount of economic or data analysis. Registering for and completing the course involves six steps:
- Discuss position with department chair to learn if it may qualify for ECON 493. See the requirements listed below.
- Fill out the Student Internship Application Agreement Form application.
- Obtain the signatures needed for approval.
- Take the form to Student Success (Snead Hall, B1101) to obtain an override to register for the class.
- Submit a summary of activities to the internship coordinator for the Department of Economics (typically the department chair) every week.
- Submit a paper to the internship coordinator within two weeks of completion of the internship, summarizing the activities performed, noting the lessons learned/skills acquired and identifying the linkages the student observed between the activities performed and material learned in prior economics courses. The internship may be paid or unpaid. Grading is Pass/Fail. An existing part-time job generally does not qualify; the internship must provide a new learning experience.
Requirements:
- The student must have a 3.0 cumulative GPA.
- The student must have a 3.0 GPA within the major.
- The student must be an economics major.
- The student must have completed at least 15 credit hours in economics.
- The internship must require at least 240 contact hours to receive three academic credits; 160 for two credits, 80 for one credit.
Must be a declared Finance, Insurance and Real Estate major with a cumulative GPA of at least 2.5. The qualifications per major/concentration are:
- Finance, Bachelor of Science (B.S.): junior/senior-level standing and have completed FIRE 311 with a grade of a “B” or higher.
- Finance, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with a concentration in Financial Planning: junior/senior-level standing and have completed FIRE 311 with a grade of a “B” or higher.
- Finance, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with a concentration in Risk Management and Insurance: junior/senior-level standing and have completed FIRE 309 with a grade of a “B” or higher (or departmental permission).
- Real Estate, Bachelor of Science (B.S.): junior/senior-level standing and have completed FIRE 305 with a grade of a “B” or higher (or departmental permission).
Interested students should meet with their academic adviser, who will provide the student with an online form link to submit a request to enroll in the course, along with an upload of a resume and internship offer letter. The department reviews the form submission and sends an email of approval to enroll.
- To enroll, students must pass at least 12 credits of 300-level or above INFO classes prior to registration.
- The internship must be directly related to information systems and supervised by someone outside the department whose responsibilities are related to information systems.
- Students are generally expected to work at least 20 hours per week for eight weeks. In some cases internships may be approved at 10 hours per week for 16 weeks. Internships with fewer hours will not be approved.
- To request approval, students can submit the internship form: https://forms.gle/X6pPXxQ9CRiNtCQf8. The department will review the student’s eligibility, offer letter and internship responsibilities, and will contact the supervisor to confirm the evaluations can be completed. Once all requirements are confirmed, the department will notify the student’s adviser and request enrollment in INFO 493.
Enrollment is restricted to degree-seeking students who have completed at least 54 credit hours (junior standing) while maintaining a minimum GPA of 2.5. This course provides the framework for the student to document learning experiences from the internship and course work in a personal e-portfolio for career management. This applied learning experience involves short-term placement within a firm, which determines the student’s internship responsibilities.
Before enrolling, students must secure an internship in a selling position that will be 240 hours or more (e.g., 20 hrs/wk for 12 weeks). They must have permission from the instructor, Andy McGowan, director of the Center for Professional Selling, who evaluates the appropriateness of this internship, before being given permission to sign up for the courses.
Enrollment is restricted to students with senior standing in marketing and permission of the department chair.
Before enrolling, students must secure an internship in a marketing position that will be 240 hours or more (e.g., 20 hrs/wk for 12 weeks). They must have permission from the department chair who is the instructor for MKTG 493 and who evaluates the appropriateness of this internship, before being given permission to sign up for the course.
Offered in the fall and spring at the department chair's discretion. If not listed on the course schedule, students may approach their academic adviser or the department chair to ask if MKTG 493 can be added to the schedule.
Students must have senior standing in supply chain management and analytics and permission of the department chair. The internship must be at least 20+ hrs/wk in a supply chain management related job. Interested students should meet with their academic adviser who will submit the request to the department chair to enroll the student in the course, along with a job description or posting. The job must be approved by the department chair prior to enrolling for credit.
Contact us
Have questions or ready to take the next step in your career journey?
We’re here to support you every step of the way.
Business Career Services
Snead Hall, Room B1102
(804) 828-3710
buscareer@vcu.edu