The Department of Political Science grants internship credit to students in order to help them accomplish three important goals:

1. to enhance and build upon study in the discipline;
2. to help build skills useful for future course work and, eventually, profesional life; and
3. to encourage students to explore career possibilities and enhance their prospects for future employment.

Application & Registration

Students seeking academic internship credit must complete the Department of Political Science Application for Academic Internship Credit. Approval of the internship and registration for the credit (PLSC 399R) must be coordinated by the Political Science Department Intern Director, under whose name the credit will be listed.

Application for credit should be made to the Political Science Internship Director at leasttwo weeks prior to the beginning of the work experience by completing the on-line application form which can be accessed via the link at the bottom of this web page.

Students completing internships in the Washington, D.C. area can only receive credit through the Washington Seminar. The admission criteria, process and deadlines can be found on the website ( http://washingtonseminar.byu.edu).

Internships outside of the United States must be coordinated with the International Internship Office in 204 HRCB. Application for credit for these internships must be made by applying to the Political Science Intern Director, but registration for the credit will be through the International Internship Office.

Retroactive Credit

No credit will be granted retroactive of an internship experience or after the beginning of the internship.

Prerequisites & Requirements

The student must have completed one of the following courses or an equivalent as a prerequisite to receiving the Political Science Academic Internship credit:

• PLSC 110 for internships dealing with U.S. (including state and local governments) political, policy or legal internships;
• 150 and 170 for overseas or foreign affairs internships.

It is recommended that students seeking internships with state or local government complete PLSC 311.

The student must also have a minimum 2.3 GPA and be in good honor code and academic standing with the university.It is recommended that a student have completed at least 60 hours of university level course work before participating in an internship for credit. However, exceptional sophomore students may be considered. Under no circumstances will students with less than 30 hours of graded credit (graded credit does not include credit earned through Advanced Placement Examinations) on their transcript receive internship credit.

Internship Confirmation

Important! The following two forms must be submitted to the Political Science Intern Director prior to consideration of any application for internship credit. The student is responsible to see that these forms are submitted by the appropriate parties in the organization where he or she will be working. If you have secured an international internship, please see the Washington Seminar secretary for the correct forms.

1. A completed Internship Confirmation Form. This form can be accessed here stating the nature of your work responsibilities and the beginning and ending of the internship period. The supervisor must also agree to complete an evaluation of the student's performance at the conclusion of the experience.
2. Signed Master Academic Internship Agreement. This form can be accessed here. Please note that some BYU may have this contract already on file for some organizations. Prior to requesting that your internship provider complete it, ask the Political Science Intern Director to confirm whether there is one already on file at the University. If there is, you do not need to ask that another one be completed. If not, have the appropriate person at the organization sign and return it to you or the Political Science Intern Director.

Nature of the Work Excperience

Acceptable internships must be relevant to the political science discipline and require some substantial writing. Students may not receive credit for experiences resulting from formal course work, i.e. teaching or research assistant, training at a police academy, etc. or for work that is conducted on the BYU campus.  Additionally, students may not receive credit if they are working for organizations in which a member of their family will supervise them or have oversight over their work supervisor, or if the organization promotes causes in conflict with the values or standards of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Upper division credit may not be received for experiences in which more than one third of the internship duties involve clerical work, i.e. filing, photocopying, errands, etc.

Credit & Grading

The amount of credit received for the internship is determined by the length, quality and anticipated learning from the experience. Work assignments must include assignments that will substantially increase the student's understanding of the political, policy or judicial process.

Internships involving less than 200 work hours will not receive credit. No more than three credits may be received for compaign internships regardless of the time spent in the work assignment or the projects involved.

All credit is letter-graded. Participating students should avoid the mistaken assumption that internship credit is an "easy A," resulting from just having done a good job in the internship. The academic work submitted for the credit has a major impact on the final grade, is carefully read, and expected to be of the highest quality. This work will involve written reports, a research paper and other similar assignments that are submitted to the Political Science Intern Director. These assignments will require significant effort on the part of the student outside of the work experience.

Faculty Supervision

Students receiving nine credits will be assigned to a member of the Political Science Department faculty who will be responsible for supervising and evaluating a research paper. The Political Science Department Intern Director along with the supervising faculty member monitor the internship and determine the final grade for the credit.

Academic Internship Credit as Political Science Electives

Up to six hours of academic internship credit can be counted as electives toward a major in political science. Students should be aware that university policy does not permit more than 12 hours of academic internship credit (combined from all departments) to be counted toward graduation.

Financial Aid

Students with existing scholarships and/or grants will generally be able to use them during the period of enrollment in the internship if they maintain a full-time enrollment

Students may wish to consider applying for Fulton Internship Grants at http://fultonchair.byu.edu/