Undergraduate students are encouraged to wait until they have completed some or all core courses before applying to an internship. The internship is intended to give students a chance to consolidate and extend what they have learned in class by working in a professional setting under the guidance of a supervisor who is a practitioner in an HCDE-related field. Graduate students may start employment at any time throughout their course of study, provided that they are eligible (international students, see section below).
International Students
International students wishing to pursue an internship must first review CPT eligibility criteria, CPT authorization dates and application process through the ISS website. Internships taking place over multiple quarters require more than one CPT application. Students should meet with their HCDE academic advisor for questions about the authorization dates. Once the student receives a formal offer of employment, the student should submit a request to register for ENGR 321/ENGR 601 and a request for Curricular Practical Training (CPT) authorization. Follow the directions carefully on the CC@E website to enter the correct departmental advisor details in the CPT application. F-1 students are not eligible to work off campus until they receive an updated I-20. For questions about the CPT application process and authorization dates, visit the ISS website.
When international students need to make changes to their CPT application, they should log into MyISSS for more details. The CPT Update Form in MyISSS has three purposes: Cancel CPT, Shorten CPT, and Change credit for CPT. Students must submit a new CPT application for extensions and are required to register for additional internship credit if the internship extends into the next quarter.
Summer Quarter: F-1 and J-1 regulations permit one vacation quarter each year. This is an annual exception to the full-time enrollment requirement. MS international students are eligible for their Annual Vacation quarter in summer term. However, MS international students working 21+ hrs/week will register for a full-time internship credit workload and not use their Annual Vacation quarter until a later term. Students may request an Alternative Vacation Quarter in autumn or winter quarter of their second year to register for fewer than 10 credits. Contact the MS Academic Advisor, Alex Llapitan at alex310@uw.edu, for more information and academic planning.
Registering for credit
In order to receive credit for an internship, undergraduate students should register for ENGR 321 and graduate students should register for ENGR 601 through the CC@E internship form. Students may not retroactively register for credit from previous quarters.
- ENGR 321: Students may register for 1-2 credits. A maximum of 4 credits of ENGR 321 may count towards the experiential learning requirement for the HCDE major.
- ENGR 601: Students may register for 5 credits for a part-time (20 hrs or fewer/week) internship and 10 credits for a full-time (21+ hours/week) internship in a given quarter. A maximum of 5 credits of ENGR 601 may be counted towards the MS HCDE degree.
- HCDE 601: For HCDE PhD graduate students only. Students may register for a minimum of 2 credits and a maximum of 5 in a given quarter. Summer internship credits may be deferred to autumn quarter. Contact the Academic Services Director, Kathleen Rascon at khorenst@uw.edu, for registration details.
See also