Frequently Asked Questions About Internship
Q: Why Are Internships Valuable?
A: Internships serve several important functions for students. Internships allow students to gain valuable work experience that will enhance their resumes and give them important job skills. Students also make job contacts through internships. Some students are offered permanent positions upon graduation at their internship site. Additionally, students can learn whether a particular line of work is suitable for them.
Q: How Do I find An Internship?
A: Internships are found in a number of ways. First, the Career Center at Longwood maintains a current list of internship opportunities. Much of their information is available on-line, but students also are welcome to stop by the Career Center office in the basement of Lancaster to receive assistance from a Career Counselor. Second, students may find out about internship opportunities by talking to their advisor or other professors in the department. The most common way students find internships is by searching in their hometown for organizations, businesses, and/or agencies that perform the type of work they are interested in doing. Students then call the agency and ask if they accept interns. Once they find an agency that they are interested in working at and who is interested in accepting them, students then select a professor in the department who they would like to supervise the internship.
Anthropology majors may fulfill the internship requirement by participating in the summer Archaeology Field School (enrolling in ANTH 296: Field Methods in Archaeology). Criminology and Criminal Justice majors may fulfill the internship requirement by successfully completing the course of study at the Central Virginia Criminal Justice Academy or the Richmond Police Department (for which they receive credit for CRIM 496: Professional Study in Criminal Justice).
Q: When Am I Eligible To Do An Internship?
A: Students must have a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.5 and have completed 18 credit hours of courses here at Longwood in their major to be eligible for internship.
Q: What If My GPA Is Below 2.5?
A: Students must have a 2.5 gpa to be enrolled in internship (SOCL, ANTH, CRIM 492). Students whose grade point average falls below 2.5 must: (1) repeat courses to bring the gpa up to 2.5 or (2) approach a professor to see if he or she will agree to conduct a directed independent study on a suggested topic (SOCL, ANTH, CRIM 490). Professors are under no obligation to conduct independent studies with students.
Q: How Do I Register For Internship?
A: Students cannot register for the internship courses (SOCL, ANTH, CRIM 492) on their own. The department chair must register students for the course. To be registered, students must have the following forms completed and present them to the department chair: (1) internship application form, (2) internship acceptance form, (3) risk management form, and (4) student agreement form.
Q: How Many Hours Of Credit Will I Receive In Internship?
A: Students must take a minimum of 3 credit hours of internship to fulfill any major in the department. Students may take up to 15 credit hours of internship while they are at Longwood (either in one internship or multiple internships). However, only the first 6 credit hours of internship receive a letter grade to be calculated into the grade point average. Any hours above 6 credits will count as hours toward graduation but will not figure into the gpa calculation.
Q: How Many Hours Do I Have To Work At The Internship Site?
A: The number of hours students work at the internship site depends on the number of credit hours of internship for which they are are registered. The general rule is that students must complete 40 clock hours of on-site activity for every one credit hour of internship in which they are enrolled. Students enrolled in 1 credit of internship complete 40 hours; 2 credit hours=80 hours, 3 credit hours=120 hours, etc. The number of hours per week a student spends on-site depends on how many weeks the internship lasts. Below is example of how internship hours would be spread over 10 and 15 weeks.
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Q: What Assignments Do I have To Complete As Part Of The Course?
A: Students enrolled in 6 or fewer credits of internship must complete the following assignments: (1) submit a project describing where they did the internship, what type of work is done there, what they did in internship, and what they learned; the format of the project is discussed with the internship professor. Students may decide to create a powerpoint presentation, create a poster display, or use some other creative medium to represent what they did on their internship. Students submitting the best projects, as recommended by their internship professors will be invited to participate in a campus-wide internship event during the academic year to share their work with others on campus and the Board of Visitors; (2) keep a daily log of their internship work, describing that they did and analyzing their activities using concepts and theories from their major whenever possible; (3) write a 2-3 page typed paper in which they describe what they learned at the internship, what they liked most about the internship, and what they liked least.
Students enrolled in more than 6 credits may be asked to complete additional academic work; that must be worked out with the professor supervising the internship.
Q: How Is Internship Graded?
A: Sixty percent of the student's grade is based on the performance evaluation completed by the internship site supervisor; forty percent of the grade is based on the graded work submitted.
Q: What Is The Best Time To Do An Internship?
A: The ideal time to complete an internship is the summer between the Junior and Senior year. Students generally find that internships completed over the summer are more rewarding and easier to manage because they do not have to squeeze in hours between classes. Additionally, students are able to live at home and also have an additional job if they so desire.
Q: May I Be Paid For My Internship Work?
A: There are no prohibitions against students taking paid internships.
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