Career Development
Career Development / Academic Credit for Internships

Academic Credit for Internships

Career Development can support students seeking academic credit for internships. Once a student has secured an internship, they can work with Career Development to receive credit for that internship.

In order to earn internship credit, students must be enrolled in our Internship for Academic Credit course. To learn more about the academic assignments required in the course, please review a SAMPLE of the IDS 194 syllabus (subject to change). If you are interested in enrolling in the internship course, please continue reading below.

Registration Deadline is the same as the ADD/DROP deadline each semester. Summer registration deadline is June 10.

Enrollment Process

Once a student has obtained an internship for which they would like to receive academic credit, they must obtain instructor consent. To obtain consent, complete the following:

1. Complete the "Academic Credit for Internship" registration form by following the link to our Online Experiential Learning database. 

2. Career Development will receive a copy of your registration. Once it's been reviewed, we will reach out to let you know you've received consent to register for the course. (For summer internships, we will take care of the registration for you.) 

3. For students planning to receive Department-Specific credit, please email a completed Department Credit for Internship Agreement. (Please make a copy) Send to our Associate Director and head of the Internship Course, Geoff Dejanvier: gldejanvier@willamette.edu

Amount of Credit Allowed

Students select how much credit they would like to receive; their options range from 1- 12 credit hours. The amount of credit students receive is dependent upon how many hours they work at their internship site: students must work 120 hours at their internship site for each 4 credit hours they receive.

Internship Requirements

In order to enroll in the internship course students must:

  • Have already obtained an internship.
  • Complete their coursework AT THE SAME TIME they are completing the internship. 
  • Be working in their internship for at least 8 weeks, unless prior permission is received by the Office of Career Development. 

Career Development cannot offer retroactive credit for internships. In other words, students cannot obtain credit for an internship that took place in the past. 

For Summer internships, students can choose where they want credits allocated. Choices are ONLY the semester prior, the semester following, or a split between the two. 

Important for students seeking department credit:

Some departments choose to collaborate with Career Development when offering students department-level internship credit while others offer courses without Career Development collaboration. If you are a student interested in receiving department credit, check with your department to ensure that you are enrolling in the correct course before completing the enrollment process.