What if I can’t get an internship in time?

We can’t stress enough the importance of being proactive in your internship search. The length of time required for securing an internship and arranging for academic credit can be unpredictable, so begin your planning as early as possible.

If by chance you are unable to get an internship by the time the cooperative education course starts it is imperative that you contact your instructor immediately. It may require that you take an incomplete until you are able to secure an opportunity or drop the course and take it at a later date.

The instructor may or may not have companies who could help with an internship opportunity however, this is not guaranteed nor should it be expected. These opportunities are hit or miss. Last but not least if your particular situation allows you may be eligible to complete a cooperative project. However, this must be approved before the course begins or a petition must be completed after the course has started.

Taking an incomplete. Incompletes can only be granted if you had applied to an internship and the internship will not allow you to complete your required hours within the semester time frame. You can also ask for an incomplete if you started an internship and ended up having unforeseen circumstances happen that keep you from completing your hours by the end of the semester. Incompletes are meant to grant students an extension when events that are beyond their control happen. Incompletes require instructor approval and an official incomplete contract to be filed with the college. Incomplete times and due dates are determined on a case-by-case basis and will be outlined by the official incomplete contract that must be signed by the instructor, student, chair, and dean of the college.

Petitioning to do a project. Projects are not something we allow students to do just because they can’t find an internship. If you started the semester already and have been looking for internships and still have not obtained one by the 4th or 2nd week depending on the semester in which the course is taken. You will then either need to drop or see if you qualify for the petition. Petions are not automatically granted and require that you prove that you have at a minimum applied to 2 internships per week and followed up with each application in a timely manner. We recommend that you apply to at least 10 different internship opportunities within the allotted time. You will need to provide contact information, company names when you applied, and if you were denied an opportunity the reason you were denied. We ask for this information to help you do better in the future if the problem was not being prepared for interviews and such. However, we are not responsible and will not provide a project if you didn’t have time to apply.