SAINT MARY'S HALL 136 – Ext. 6695
The Internship and Field Exploration Programs at SMU provide students an opportunity to participate in carefully designed work experiences to explore personal aptitudes, abilities and interests in relation to their career choice. These experiences offer a new forum for applying theories and concepts learned in the classroom as well as professional and personal development.
Internship
An internship is a planned work experience for academic credit supervised by a qualified professional in a real work environment. This experience integrates a student’s academic and career interests with hands-on work experience. An internship may be either part-time or full-time, and either paid or unpaid.
Students must have completed a minimum of 56 credit hours and have a minimum 2.0 cumulative GPA and a minimum 2.0 major GPA before participating in an internship. Internships are taken through the department in which the student’s major is offered. Students may earn 1–17 credits in an internship, with a maximum of 17 credits for any combination of internship and field exploration experiences. The number of internship credits for which a student registers is based on a number of factors including departmental curriculum requirements, duration of the internship and the intern’s time commitment, a students concurrent course load, the number of elective credits desired, and the credits previously earned through experiential education. The distribution between graded and ungraded internship credits will be as follows unless specific departmental guidelines have been established: three credits graded; remaining credits will be Pass/No Credit. The academic department determines the number of internship credits applicable to the fulfillment of an academic major. All internships must be pre-approved by the major department and the director of internships.
Internships are arranged on an individual basis for students in a field compatible with their academic major, interests, skills, and career goals. Internships are generally completed in the U.S., although international internships are also an option for students. Students have interned in Ireland, Mexico, and Guatemala. Organizations such as IBM, Walt Disney World, St. Paul Police Department, Mayo Clinic, Fastenal and many others have teamed up with Saint Mary’s to provide students the opportunity to gain hands-on work experience before leaving college. Many participants opt to live at home and intern full-time for a semester. The program is flexible, however, and students can intern part-time and in a geographic location of their choice.
Field Exploration
A field exploration experience is a planned work experience for academic credit that provides students with the opportunity to explore a field and/or major and gain basic knowledge in a work environment. This experience involves mainly observation, limited hands-on experience, and is generally part-time and unpaid.
Students must have completed a minimum of 24 credit hours and have a minimum 2.0 cumulative GPA before participating in a field exploration experience. Students may earn 1-3 credits in a field exploration experience, with a maximum of 17 credits for any combination of internship and field
exploration experiences. All field exploration experiences must be pre-approved by the student’s academic advisor and the director of internships.
For additional information on the Internship and Field Exploration Programs, visit www.smumn.edu/internships. |
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