General Description  --  IT 600 (Internship)

Every student majoring in Information Technology is required to take at least one semester/credit of IT 600.  The idea behind this requirement is that no student should graduate with an IT degree without at least one IT-related work experience.  Although the internship can be completed anytime before graduation, it is expected that most students will do it during their junior year (or the summer after).  We assume that most students will be able to locate a work situation on their own, but any student who needs assistance should contact his/her advisor.

To register for this course, the student should already have located an employment opportunity involving work that is IT related.  The work can take place on campus or off campus, described by the employer as an internship or not, occur during a semester or the summer.  Although most internships will involve considerably more hours, a minimum of 60 work hours is required to receive credit for the course.  In addition, the student must complete an initial Application Form, a brief MidTerm Report, and a Final Report that includes an end-of-course self-evaluation.

The steps in completing the internship are as follows:

(1)    Contact the listed IT 600 instructor to discuss the details of the proposed internship work situation.  If the work situation is deemed appropriate, the student will be advised to move on to the next step.

(2)    Register for IT 600.  Since this is a “permission required” course the registration process is slightly different than for a regular course.   First you should email the IT 600 instructor indicating your interest in registering for IT 600.  The instructor will inform the CS department secretary of your request, who will set the appropriate permission in the online system, and then email you that the system is set.  At this point you can register online as normal. To register on or after the first day of classes (when the online system is no longer available), you will have to fill out an Add/Drop Form, get signatures from the instructor and your advisor, and take it to the Registrar in Stoke.  Assuming your course load for the semester falls between 12 and 20 credits, there will be no additional cost for taking IT 600.  However, if you do your internship during either Summer Session or January Term,  you will have to pay for the one credit, which will amount to somewhere between $300 and $400 (depending on a number of factors, including whether you are in or out-of-state).  Note on Summer Session:   In addition to the above, when doing an internship during the summer you will also be required to fill out the summer internship form:                                               

http://www.unh.edu/registrar/regforms/summerinternship.pdf

(3)    Once you’ve formally registered for the course, you should fill out the Application Form, which includes specifics about where you will be working and what you will be doing, and requires a signature from your work/site supervisor.  This can be done either before you start work, or during the first few days on the job (depending on your specific circumstances).

(4)    About half way through the internship you should complete the MidTerm Report.

(5)    At the end of the internship you should complete the Final Report.

(6)    Once you’ve completed all the above steps, you will receive a grade of “Credit” for the course.

Note: Your work experience as an undergraduate is very important to potential employers.  So doing more IT-related work than the single semester required by the IT program can be especially valuable in finding a job.