Internship Policies and Guidelines
Note: This page is not intended to outline all internship policies and guidelines, but serves as a general source of information. For complete details on these or other internship policies, please visit with your Department Internship Coordinator or your College Academic Discovery Center.
General Guidelines (below)
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General Guidelines
Internship Courses
- All internships at BYU-Idaho are academic courses.
- All internship courses are for credit and a grade.
- BYU-Idaho does not offer zero-credit internships.
- Internships are letter-graded, not pass/fail.
- Students should strive to complete the registration process before beginning work, to ensure they are covered by the University's liability insurance policy.
- As academic courses, you will have some kind of homework/assignments that you must complete in order to receive a grade. Students should obtain a course syllabus from their department internship coordinator.
- Students must complete an end-of-experience evaluation for the University in order to receive a grade. This is in addition to any evaluation or assignment given by your department internship coordinator.
Experiences not approved for Internship Credit:
- Direct Sales industries including, but not limited to: pest control, alarm systems, satellite sales, and other door-to-door based businesses - regardless of position within the company.
- Experiences performed solely during the Summer Session.
- Note: some departments are developing Summer Session internship courses, but they are very limited. Check with your department to see if they offer an internship course during this session.
- Otherwise - your experience must be tied to another academic semester:
- Spring Semester internships must begin by the start date of the second block of Spring semester - and may extend into or through the Summer Session.
- Fall Semester internships may begin during the Summer Session, but students must work through the first block of Fall Semester, regardless of the number of hours completed. Finishing the required number of hours early for a department does not waive this requirement.
- Call-Center Phone-based Positions.
- Requests for credit for work done in call-center environments will typically not be approved. Call centers are often large offices staffed with representatives who either make or receive phone calls. Depending on the size of the call center, a single office could have anywhere from a few employees to hundreds of telephone staff. Examples of call centers include inbound/outbound sales, telephone soliciting, conducting surveys, customer service hotlines, technical or customer support, business development, etc.
- Any positions that are within the realm of the call-center atmosphere, including phone associates, supervisors, managers, etc. are typically not allowed. If the intern will be working within another division of the company such as Human Resources , Accounting, Information Technology, etc., those requests will be approved on a case-by-case basis.
- Telecommuting, Work-From-Home and Internet Research-Based Internships.
Length and Hours
- Each department on campus has different requirements, falling within the guidelines the University has set. Please check with your department internship coordinator for complete details.
- Students are always encouraged to work full-time for the entire length of a semester, to ensure they have the best experience possible.