Registration steps for the Internship Program
Step 1: Talk to your academic advisor about your interest.
If your advisor agrees, obtain his or her signature on the Approval Form.
Step 2: Find a placement.
Think of an internship as a trial run of a post-college career, and go about finding one the way you'd go about finding a job: identify your interests, locate a place that provides that kind of service, and contact them to ask about interning there. If they're interested, they'll probably call you in for an interview. When you go to talk to them, dress nicely (think of this as a job interview), bring a resume, and be prepared to answer questions about your career goals, why you're interested in this agency, and where you might fit in to the agency's mission.
Finding a placement may first require applying to and being accepted to the program (if a Legislative, Governor’s or Congressional Internship) before finding a specific placement, or it may mean going directly to an agency to see if they will “hire” you for an internship (if an Internship or Georgia Internship. A supervisor at the agency will need to write a letter of intent verifying that the agency has agreed to the internship and detailing your duties, hours, pay (if any), who your supervisor will be, etc. The supervisor will also need to sign the Approval Form verifying his or her agreement to act as your agency supervisor for the internship. (See Dr. Johnson, Internship Coordinator, for application forms for Legislative, Governor’s or Congressional programs.)
Assuming that goes well and the agency wants to bring you aboard, you will need to get from your potential internship site a "letter of intent" that states what you'll be doing, your weekly time commitment, the beginning and ending dates of your internship, and who at that agency will be supervising you. The letter should be addressed to Dr. Tom Johnson, Professor of Sociology and the Intern Coordinator.
Step 3: Obtain the approval and signature of the department chair.
This is usually the chair of your major department. This could also be the academic department that you are taking the internship in. The department chair must sign the Approval Form.
Step 4: Identify a faculty member to supervise your internship.
This person should be someone who has expertise in the field
that you
will be working in, and is credentialed in the discipline you are
taking the internship in (i.e., a Sociology professor if SOCI 5792, a
History professor if HIST 4920, etc.). Obtain this faculty
member’s signature on the Approval Form.
Step: 5: Complete the Placement Information form.
The Placement Information Form has contact information, such as phone numbers and addresses. This will be used in case Dr. Johnson or the faculty supervisor needs to contact your internship supervisor.
Step 6: Take the completed forms (Approval Form and Placement Information Form) and the agency’s letter of intent with you to the Internship Program Coordinator (Dr. Johnson) for approval.
If all is in order, Dr. Johnson will sign the form, signifying the student has been accepted into the internship program. Only after you have obtained all the necessary approvals, been accepted to the desired program, and/or found an agency placement and obtained a letter of intent will Dr. Johnson approve the internship.
Step 7: Take the completed forms, with all required signatures, to Dr. Johnson for registration. Make a copy of all the forms for your advisor's records.
Notice that there are letters that need to be written and forms that need to get signed by several different people. Setting up an internship is not a last-minute deal. It takes time for the people at the potential internship site to coordinate their stuff and figure out who will supervise you, what you will do, what special training you might need, etc. You need to start doing it several months before it's time to register for classes so that you will have everything in place at registration time. You will not be allowed to register for any internship hours unless all of your paperwork has been turned in. The deadlines for registering are as follows:
If you are planning to do an internship in the Spring semester, the deadline is the end of the pre-registration period in the preceding Fall semester.
If you are planning to do an internship in the Fall semester, the deadline is the end of July.
If you are planning to do an internship in the Summer term, the deadline is the end of the pre-registration period in the Spring semester.