Computer Science Internship
To qualify for taking a CS Internship, a student needs to be a full-time student (during the time of the internship). He/She must also have sucessfully completed all the 100- and 200-level CS courses that are required in the major.
Before starting an internship the student needs to find an employer who offers an internship position. The work to be done during the internship should be related to computer science. The internship should amount to at least 300 hours (e.g., 15 weeks at 20 hours/week).
Two application forms need to be handed in to the CS Dept.:
- the Internship Application (filled in by the student), and
- the Internship Opportunity form (filled in by the student's prospective supervisor).
If the internship application is approved by the C.S. faculty member in charge of internships, the student has to register for 50:198:497 COMP SCI INTERNSHIP, 3 credits by the registration deadline.
Grading of the CS Internship
At the end of the semester, students receive a letter grade (A - F) for their CS internships based on the following:
- The Internship Summary Report, summarizing the activities carried out during the internship, and
- the Employer's Student Evaluation Form, completed by your on-site internship supervisor.
The format for the Internship Summary Report is described below. The report should document the completion of at least 300 workhours as an intern at the sponsoring organization. The Internship Summary Report should be submitted to the CS faculty member in charge of internships by the last day of classes. Please note that the report must be submitted in hardcopy form (not by e-mail).
In addition, a copy of the Internship Summary Report (without the confidential comments section) should be given to the on-site internship supervisor. The supervisor will then complete the Employer's Student Evaluation Form. This latter form may be picked up from Betty Zubert (the CS department secretary) in BSB 322. Students should ask their supervisors to ensure that the evaluation forms are completed and returned promptly by the last day of classes to the faculty member in charge of internships.
Format of the Internship Summary Report
- Student Information:
- your name and student ID
- your phone number and e-mail address
- your mailing address
- Internship Information:
- sponsoring organization or company, and its location
- name and title of on-site internship supervisor
- on-site supervisor's address, phone no., and e-mail address
- title of internship position
- start date and ending date
- total number of hours worked
- Internship Objectives: Describe the objectives of the internship position. Your on-site internship supervisor should have discussed them with you at the beginning of your internship.
- Weekly Log of Activities: Describe the specific
tasks/activities that you carried out during the internship
period, broken down on a weekly basis. An example is shown
below.
Week Location Activities ... ... ... 3/8 - 3/12 Dept.X, Corp.Y - Performed code review of C++ module Foo
- Met with Mr.Z to report bug in Foo.
- Debugged, recompiled and tested Foo.
... ... ...
- Evaluation of Internship Experience:Give an honest appraisal
of your internship experience.
- Did you meet all of the objectives of the internship? If not, explain why (e.g., inadequate academic preparation, inadequate time to accomplish work assigned, work assigned was inconsistent with objectives, etc.).
- What did you learn from your internship experience? (E.g., new technical skills learned, tasks/activities that challenged your problem-solving skills, resourcefulness and initiative, and other challenges you encountered and learned from.)
- Overall, how would you evaluate your internship experience? Did it meet your initial expectations? Do you have specific suggestions on how to make the internship a more rewarding experience for other students?
- Confidential Comments (do not include these in Summary
Report submitted to the on-site internship supervisor):
- How do you describe your work relationship with your on-site internship supervisor? How often did you meet with her/him? Did she/he provide guidance during the internship and give you feedback on how you were performing?
- How do you describe the workplace environment? Did you work in isolation or as part of a team? How did your co-workers and other employees treat you and other interns?
- If offered a full-time position, would you work for this organization? Why or why not?
- Do you have additional comments about your internship position, the sponsoring organization, and the internship program as a whole?