If you are interested in receiving credit from ESRM 399 B for the internship work you are completing please submit an application via Handshake Experiences, where you will be asked to provide details about your upcoming internship experience. Specifically:

1. From the Career Center section of Handshake, select Experiences, then select Submit an Experience.

2. Under Submit an Experience, click on the drop-down menu arrow under Experience Template, and select ESRM 399 B Internship Class.  And then begin your application.

Apply for ESRM 399 B Through Handshake

3. Once you have submitted the application you will receive a confirmation email.

4. SEFS Advising will review your application and then send it off to be approved by your internship supervisor.  Please inform your internship supervisor that they will be receiving an email from Handshake titled Experience Requested by [insert your first and last name] that they must respond to in order for your internship to be approved.

5. Once your experience is approved by your employer SEFS Advising will be able to send you an Add Code for the course.

ESRM 399B Registration Deadline is the First Friday at noon of every quarter 

If SEFS Advising receives a completed online application from you and a completed internship supervisor submission by this deadline, we will send you a course entry code.  This process takes a minimum of three business days–and can take up to 14 business days when internship supervisors are delayed in responding! Please plan ahead.

If you are an ESRM: General major, you can count up to 15 credits of any ESRM 399 section towards your 300-400 level elective requirement in your program.  ESRM 399 credit does not apply to degree requirements in any of our degree options, though it would apply to the 180 credit minimum students need to accumulate to graduate with a UW degree.

ESRM 399B Registration Deadline is the First Friday at noon of every quarter 

If SEFS Advising receives a completed online application from you and a completed internship supervisor submission by this deadline, we will send you a course entry code.  This process takes a minimum of three business days–and can take up to 14 business days when internship supervisors are delayed in responding! Please plan ahead.

How many internship credits can I register for?

Students are limited to registering for a maximum of 5 credits of ESRM 399 B per quarter, and a total of 15 credits of ESRM 399 during their lifetime as a UW student.

Students can choose to register for any credit amount between 1-5 credits, as long as they are working at their internship at least the appropriate minimum number of total hours during the quarter.

What am I earning credit for?

Students enrolled in ESRM 399B receive credit for demonstrating the learning from their internship experience through academic work in our asynchrous distance learning course, not for the internship itself. Completion of the internship is not sufficient to earn credit under ESRM 399 B. Please note that ESRM 399, regardless of section, is always graded credit/no credit.

Certainly, but please note the following:

NOTE: All International Students must apply for CPT authorization prior to the internship start date, and after registering for credit.  More details are available at https://iss.washington.edu/work/f1-employment/cpt/ .  To fulfill your legal requirements, you must apply and receive CPT.  Here are the specific instructions: 

1. Apply for CPT via MyISSS at https://isss.uw.edu/ 

2. Ensure that the Department Adviser is “Sandra Maddox” 

3. Ensure that the department adviser’s email address is sbmaddox@uw.edu 

4. Please allow 15 Business days for processing; ISS will send you an email when your updated I-20 is available 

Part of the application process involves you submitting a copy of your internship offer letter.  If your employer needs guidance to produce this letter, an offer letter template is available at https://iss.washington.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2021/09/CPT-Job-Offer-Letter-Template.docx.    

Please note that your internship start date cannot be later than the third week of the quarter in which you are registered for ESRM 399B. Your internship end date cannot be earlier than week seven of the academic quarter in which you are registered for ESRM 399B. This ensures that you are completing academic work concurrent with your internship experience.

For International Students:  Yes, academic credit is required, as you need to be registered for credit in order to do CPT. See International Students section above.

For Domestic Students

Some employers may require a student to earn academic credit for an internship. This requirement is fully within their right, but it may also be worth checking in with them about this requirement if earning academic credit will not be beneficial toward earning your degree. The employer may just be looking for confirmation of student status that could be demonstrated in another way. The employer may also think that these credits will be beneficial to the student–if this is not the case, and you will be paying for credits that will not advance your degree, you may want to let the employer know. Some employers are also just trying to maintain legal employment practices. While it is not legally required for an unpaid intern to earn academic credit, the Department of Labor does have guidelines to determine whether an intern is considered an “employee.” Employers are supposed to make sure that what they are asking their interns to do are legitimate learning experiences, and not just a way to get free labor without paying benefits, taxes, etc. If they cannot match these criteria then the “employee” and “employer” are subject to the monetary provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. That means that the interns in for-profit companies are entitled to minimum wage and overtime compensation. Courts have used the “primary beneficiary test” to determine whether an intern or student is, in fact, an employee under the FLSA.  Courts have identified the following seven factors as part of the test:

1. The extent to which the intern and the employer clearly understand that there is no expectation of compensation. Any promise of compensation, express or implied, suggests that the intern is an employee—and vice versa.
2. The extent to which the internship provides training that would be similar to that which would be given in an educational environment, including the clinical and other hands-on training provided by educational institutions.
3. The extent to which the internship is tied to the intern’s formal education program by integrated coursework or the receipt of academic credit.
4. The extent to which the internship accommodates the intern’s academic commitments by corresponding to the academic calendar.
5. The extent to which the internship’s duration is limited to the period in which the internship provides the intern with beneficial learning.
6. The extent to which the intern’s work complements, rather than displaces, the work of paid employees while providing significant educational benefits to the intern.
7. The extent to which the intern and the employer understand that the internship is conducted without entitlement to a paid job at the conclusion of the internship.

If an employer would like to know more about these legal guidelines, you could refer them to the following articles:

• The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)