The Portland Metro area offers many opportunities for internships to graduate students. Many students complete one or more internships with local companies during their time at PSU. We believe internships provide a valuable training experience that significantly augments the student’s academic program.
While some students choose to participate in an internship without receiving academic credit, others find it important that they receive academic credit for their internships, which can count towards CS graduate degree requirements with approval:
- A maximum of 3 internship credits can be counted towards the MS degree
- A maximum of 6 internship credits can be counted towards the PhD degree
- A maximum of 3 internship credits can be counted per term towards a degree program (students can register for more internship credits per term, but the additional credits will not count towards the degree requirements).
- Internship credits are graded Pass/No Pass.
- The internship credit value per term is determined by the total amount of time devoted to the internship, which must be documented in the offer letter:
- At least 100 hours in a term = 1 credit
- At least 200 hours or more in a term = 1-3 credits, at the student’s option
To receive credit for your internship towards your degree program, you will need to meet the eligibility requirements below and submit a request to the department for approval.
Eligibility
To be eligible to receive credit for an internship:
- A student must have completed at least one term and minimum 9 credits in the CS graduate (Masters or PhD) program that they are currently enrolled in.
- A student must be in good academic standing as defined by the University and the CS Department.
- A student must have received a job/internship offer letter that describes the work that they will be doing in sufficient detail to assess its relevance to the student’s CS degree program.
- International students will also have to meet the requirements for Curricular Practical Training (CPT) and must consult with the Office of International Students and Scholars Services (intl-services@pdx.edu) to check eligibility.
Approval Process
To receive approval for internship credit, you must complete the following steps. (Note that these steps must be followed, even if the internship credit is not being counted towards degree requirements.)
Step 1. Submit the online CS Graduate Internship Credit Request Form. To complete this form, you will need the following:
- An up-to-date MS Plan of Study or PhD Plan of Study.
- A copy of the job/internship offer letter containing the job title description of duties; start and end date (or duration); number of hours per week; whether you will participate in the internship in-person, hybrid, or remote; and physical address where you will work (personal or compensation details can be redacted).
Step 2 (International students only). Once your eligibility for Curricular Practical Training (CPT) is confirmed, complete the CPT application within WorldLink. You will need to provide your offer letter, start date, and the contact information for your academic advisor: Ella Barrett, Computer Science Graduate Advisor (gccs@pdx.edu).
Step 3. Once the steps above that are relevant to you are complete, your internship request will be reviewed. Please allow a few business days for a response. Incomplete requests will not be processed.
Registration in Internship Credits
Upon approval of the internship credit request, and CPT approval (for international students only), you will receive instructions for submitting an online By Arrangement form for the approved internship credit value.
At the end of each quarter of the internship, you must write a description of what you actually did for the internship, as part of the Graduate Internship Status Report form. After you complete this form, send it to your supervisor. Your supervisor will need to review the report, sign the form, and send it to the Computer Science Graduate Advisor (gccs@pdx.edu) from their work email address no later than 5pm Friday of finals week for the term. Failure to submit the status report by the deadline may prevent the student from receiving a grade or credit for the internship.