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Department of Human Performance and Recreation

Exercise Physiology Internships

Students in Health, Recreation & Human Performance.

Internship Overview

Internships are an important component of your education.

They serve as a means of gaining valuable experience for future employment and a way to gain the required hours needed on graduate school applications.

Internship Process

To complete the internship requirements, follow these steps:

  1. Find an internship opportunity that suits your needs with the time frame you expect to complete the internship.
  2. Apply for an internship by going to the Internship Office website and completing the online application.
  3. Your application will be sent to an internship coordinator (a faculty in charge of the internship class) and will be approved or sent back with an explanation of why it was rejected.
  4. Once approved, you will be allowed to enroll in the course (either ESS 398R or ESS 498).
  5. Complete the internship and course.

While each student is responsible for finding their own internship, there are multiple resources available to help guide students in their decision. Career services, the internship office, and faculty are all good resources to help you decide on an internship. Ultimately, students should base their internship on their projected needs such as what is needed in order to apply for physical therapy school.

Requirements

There are three modules in the Exercise Physiology major: Nutrition, Exercise Physiology, and Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences. Only those students in the Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences module with the catalog year of 2016-17 or later are required to complete the internship requirements of at least 200 hours.

Some of the additional requirements:

  • Students must complete the internship over the span of 7 weeks or more, with at least 5 of those weeks being enrolled in the appropriate course.
  • Internships duties must be at least 10 hours per week.
  • Students must be enrolled in the course, either ESS 398 or ESS 498, at the time the internship is being completed.
  • The required hours must be completed (100 hours per 1 credit) by the last day of the semester in which they are enrolled in the course.

For International Students

Any non-US citizen student who is attending BYU-I must check with their visa provider before beginning work in an internship position. Generally, student visas permit international students to work on-campus only, which includes internships. Should an international student accept a position and begin working off-campus as an internship, without getting permission first, that student may jeopardize their visa status.

Regardless of on-campus or off-campus internships, it is a good idea to check with the visa-granting body to work BEFORE you begin your internship.

BYUI Internships I-Plan

Frequently Asked Questions

No.

You are required to complete your internship over 7 weeks or more while being enrolled in the course for at least 5 of those weeks. In addition, previous experience can meet some of the objectives of an internship but does not meet all of them. An internship experience is enhanced by knowledge coming from courses in the major. This knowledge gives the internship greater context and makes it more meaningful. Additionally, it is important for supervising agencies and BYUI to generate an agreement that prevents liability concerns for the student, employer, and university.
Students intending to go into non-ex phys professions, but are currently exercise phys majors, can use one of their internship requirements to fit their specific needs. So, a dental major would use ESS 398 as their dentistry internship and ESS 498 as an Ex Phys specific requirement.
Internships should have a strong correlation with the ex phys major such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, fitness facilities, wellness clinics, corporate wellness programs, personal training, athletic teams, exercise testing, cardiac rehabilitation, and/or nutritional organizations. Non-ex phys internships might include areas like physician shadowing, dental internships, chiropractic, and nursing. Business-oriented internships may be accepted but must include a strong correlation to ex-phys.

For example, an internship at Nike could be valuable and accepted if the student was involved in product development as it related to biomechanics, thermoregulation, etc. If it were solely for the business aspect like sales, it would not be accepted. It must have a strong correlation with the major.
Yes.

ESS 497 (a 3 credit hour research class) can be used to substitute one of the internship requirements, specifically ESS 498. This must be approved by the internship coordinator prior to enrollment in 497.
Unlikely (also, see next question).

While technically, you could, this often means a student is working at a single facility for the entire semester in which they are performing a single set of duties. Ideally, students will obtain a variety of experiences through two separate internships under the supervision of different providers which would require two separate internships and two separate courses. While this ideal scenario is possible in a single semester, it would be a challenge for students.
Yes.

A 2 credit hour option is permitted for 498 which will require 200 or more hours and replace 398 and can be done at a single location. This option must be indicated at the time the application is submitted, not modified mid-semester.