Undergraduate Internship

Internships are not required for completion of the Psychology major. However, they are strongly recommended because of the many valuable benefits that they provide.

Students take PSY 398-Professional Practice in Psychology if they want to earn credit for their internship but do not want to have it fulfill their capstone.

Students take both PSY 395-Professional Practice Seminar and PSY 398 (for 3 credits) the same semester during their senior year if they want to use their internship to fulfill their capstone.

PSY 395 (+ PSY 398) is required if you want to have your internship fulfill your senior capstone. If you are not using your internship to fulfill your senior capstone, then you can take PSY 398 by itself for your internship.

The prerequisites for PSY 398 are Psychology major, junior/senior standing, ISU GPA of 2.2 or higher, and completion of at least 15 credits of Psychology courses that can be applied to the internship.

The prerequisites for PSY 395 are the same as those for PSY 398 except that senior standing is required. Enrollment in PSY 395 requires concurrent enrollment in PSY 398 for 3 credits.

PSY 398 and/or PSY 395 internships must represent semester-long supervised experiences.

Students can earn up to 3 credits per placement per semester. Students earn 1 credit of PSY 398 for every 40 hours they work at their internship over the course of the semester. If students want to earn the full 3 credits of their internship, they must serve at least 120 total hours at their placement during the semester. It is permissible (and very common) for students to exceed the number of total hours needed to earn their associated number of credits.

Students taking PSY 395-Professional Practice Seminar to fulfill their senior capstone must also take PSY 398 for the full 3 credits during the same semester.

PSY 398 credits count toward the 120 total credit-hours required for graduation, as well as for the 40 hours of senior college credit-hours required (ISU courses numbered 200 or above).

If a Psychology major substituted 3 hours of introductory psychology course credit for the 4-hour PSY 111 course, then PSY 398 credits can count as an elective toward making up the 1-credit shortage.

PSY 395 – when taken in conjunction with a 3-credit PSY 398 internship – counts toward fulfilling the senior Psychology capstone, the 120 total hours for graduation, and the 40 credits of senior college hours.

PSY 398 students earn 1 credit for every 40 hours worked at their internship over the course of the semester, up to a maximum of 3 credits per placement per semester. Students wanting to earn the full 3 credits of PSY 398 for their internship must serve at least 120 total hours at their site during the semester. It is permissible and common for PSY 398 students to exceed the number of total hours needed to earn their associated number of credits.

The number of hours required for a particular internship is negotiated between the student and the internship supervisor, along with the intern’s work schedule. Those details are determined during the internship application and interview process.

PSY 398 internships are semester-long experiences. Students continue to work at their internship for the duration of their internship contract, even if they meet their minimum total hours before the end of the semester.

Students can earn a maximum of 3 credits per placement per semester. PSY 398 can be repeated up to a maximum total of 9 credits. That can be done either by working at different internship agencies during different semesters or by continuing at the same internship site for more than one semester.

Psychology majors may not register for more than 17 credits of any combination of the following courses: PSY 287, 290, 291, 292, 299, 390, 391, 393, 398, and HON 395A03.

Students can find Psychology internships in a few different ways:

1. Through meeting with the undergraduate Psychology internship coordinator (Dr. Karen Mark). In these meetings, we will review your interests, career goals, and Psychology courses completed to identify internship sites that best align with your goals.
2. By exploring the list of representative agencies where past Psychology internships have been completed.
3. By arranging an internship independently. You may obtain an internship on your own by contacting an agency yourself. If this is an agency where Psychology interns have not been placed before, please contact Dr. Karen Mark to confirm that this can be approved as an internship site. We are always happy to add new agencies to our existing pool of Psychology internship sites.
4. (4) Periodically, internship opportunities may be posted to the Psychology majors’ listserv or may be represented at internship fairs hosted by ISU’s Career Services. However, these represent a small fraction of the many Psychology internship opportunities available, most of which are obtained through the first three options identified above.

Contact each agency directly to find out about their application procedures. Depending on the agency, online applications, email inquiries, phone calls, and/or interviews may be involved. Although it may not necessarily be required, having a current resume is recommended to enhance your application.

Enrollment in PSY 395 and/or PSY 398 is by override only.

Once an internship has been obtained, contact Dr. Karen Mark (undergraduate Psychology internship coordinator). An internship contract will be prepared that is to be completed by the internship coordinator, the internship site supervisor, and the student. The student also completes two additional internship-related documents. Once all three completed documents are returned to the internship coordinator, overrides for PSY 398 and/or PSY 395 are processed. Molly Knapp will email students when their overrides have been processed, at which point students can register for their internship course(s).

PSY 398 is an out-of-class experience. Course assignments are completed and submitted electronically throughout the semester.

PSY 395 is a classroom seminar that is taught in person.

Although most of the Psychology internship placements themselves involve hands-on, in-person experiences, some internships have involved remote activities.

In PSY 398, students submit written assignments throughout the semester (bi-weekly summaries, hour logs) and a comprehensive term paper at the end of the semester. The bi-weekly summaries involve reporting internship activities completed during each two-week period, along with articulating how material learned in Psychology courses connect to those experiences. The bi-weekly summaries serve as “scaffolding steps” to prepare students for writing the term paper. A supervisor evaluation of student performance submitted at the end of the semester also factors into the final course letter grade. The final grade is based on performance both on the written assignments and at the internship site (as assessed by the supervisor’s evaluation).

PSY 395 is a seminar course that covers topics related to internships and professional development. Students are graded on class participation, written assignments, and class presentations. Completion of a 3-credit PSY 398 internship with a passing grade is required in order to pass PSY 395.

PSY 398 is offered during Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters. Because PSY 398 is taught as an out-of-class course and assignments are submitted electronically, during Summer sessions, students can complete internships in a variety of locations, including placements outside of Central Illinois (such as in their hometown or in other states).

PSY 395 is offered during Fall and Spring semesters; it is not offered during Summer sessions. Therefore, while students are welcome to complete a PSY 398 internship during the Summer, having an internship also fulfill the senior capstone is an option available only during the Fall and Spring semesters.

The majority of Psychology internships are unpaid – that especially is the case for internships at nonprofit organizations. However, while much less common, sometimes internships can be obtained that do provide payment. Furthermore, if it is permissible by the particular agency, sometimes students have been able to have an employment position also count as an internship; that may be approved if the work that is being done can be connected to material learned in students’ Psychology courses and, therefore, allow them to successfully complete the PSY 398 written assignments.

Internships can be completed at a variety of locations. Sometimes internships may require the use of a vehicle – if so, that will be addressed during the application and interview process. Otherwise, as long as students can reliably travel to their internship sites (using a personal vehicle, public transportation, walking, bicycling, or ridesharing), having a car may not be necessary.

By definition, ISU internships involve earning academic credit for applied experiences related to students’ majors and coursework. Students who do not yet meet the requirements for earning PSY 398 and/or PSY 395 credit still can gain valuable experience by volunteering at an agency. Examples of volunteer opportunities can be found on the Center for Civic Engagement website.

Psychology internships are approved only if the primary activities involved allow students to apply what they have learned in their Psychology courses to their supervised experiences. While internships may involve some clerical or administrative duties, they predominantly involve meaningful, practical work experience related to the Psychology major.