The Computer Science Internship program offers academic credit for approved internship proposals. To qualify for the program, the position needs to be a true internship (advertised as such) rather than simply a part-time job, and the responsibilities of the position should be predominately CS-related and be supervised by someone with CS-related qualifications and experience. Each Bachelor of Science degree student may take only three (3) credit hours of CS 3940.
CS 3940 is intended to offer academic credit for professional computer science internship positions. To qualify, students must have passed CS 2050 with a grade of C or better, and the position should satisfy the following:
- It should require academic experience in computer science.
- It should be supervised by someone with a degree in computer science or equivalent experience.
- The responsibilities should consist substantially of software development and/or related computer science activities.
- Responsibilities that primarily involve front-end web development typically would not be eligible for CS 3940 credit.
Application Information
- Confirm you passed CS 2050 with a grade of C or better.
- An online application is provided below. A critical element of the application is a description of the position with anticipated project responsibilities and their significance to the employer. The responsibilities must have strong computer science components that leverage skills and experience beyond that of a typical computer-literate individual who does not have any formal computer science education. The CS 3940 Instructor must approve each application prior to the actual Internship. An internship completed over the summer semester will be 3 credits if the time spent is full-time for 2 months. An internship completed during Fall or Spring semester will need a minimum of 160 hours for 3 credits (10 hours/week)
- At the beginning of an internship a student may discover that the actual responsibilities of the position do not precisely match the anticipated responsibilities described in the approved application. In this case a revised application must be submitted for re-approval no later than the second week of the internship.
- Students may register for CS 3940 in the semester following the internship, provided they get formal approval before the internship actually begins. Satisfactory completion of CS 3940 will require successful completion of the internship as detailed in the approved application and proposal and submission of a 10-page final report. The 10-page final report provides the documentation necessary to determine whether academic credit is justified. The format is somewhat flexible, but it should include the following:
- A brief description of the company and why you chose it for your internship.
- A description of the projects you worked on.
- A description of your responsibilities for the projects.
- A description of the skills from your CS/IT-related classes that you applied during your internship.
- A discussion of the quality of your performance/contribution to your assigned projects. (In some cases an intern may not have the background necessary to perform all responsibilities expected by the supervisor for a particular project. That happens in the real world and shouldn’t reflect negatively on anyone.)
- A description of new CS/IT skills and experience that you obtained during your internship.
- A discussion of how you think your internship experience will contribute to your long-term career goals.
- Feel free to include a description of any particularly interesting/unexpected incidents that occurred during your internship.
- The report must be at least 10 full pages, double-spaced in 11pt font (Times Roman, Arial, or Calibri) with 1in margins, and should be emailed as a PDF to the CS 3940 instructor no later than one week before Reading Day.
If your position does not satisfy the above, you may want to consider applying to the Information Technology internship program. You may email its director, Dr. Fang Wang (wangfan@missouri.edu), and she can advise about whether your position satisfies the requirements of the program.
Failure to satisfy eligibility requirements for CS 3940 will result in the “U” grade. Failure to submit a final report satisfying the above specification by the due date will result in an “incomplete” grade, rather than the “S” grade. At the faculty council recommendation, an “incomplete” grade reverts to a “U” grade in the semester following the one in which an “incomplete” has been recorded unless there are extenuating circumstances that are documented to the instructor. See registrar site for further information.
Sample Outline of Proposal
CS 3940 – Internship Project Description
Student: Joanna Wayne, #333389, waynej@mail.missouri.edu, 573-771-xxxx
Organization: XYZ Corporation, 123 Nth 3rd, Columbia, MO 65211
Supervisor: Mary Smith, marysmith@xyz.com, 573-555-xxxx
- Introduction
- Project Definition and Significance
- Project Specification
- Project Deliverable