Computer Science Internships
General information about internships at West Chester University.
Internship Courses
West Chester University students may register for a Computer Science Internship and work part time or full time in Summer II or during regular semesters. Students who are not Computer Science majors should use CSC 300 (3 credits). Computer Science majors should use CSC 400 (6 credits); of the 6 credits, 3 credits can be used to satisfy the major requirements, and the other 3 credits satisfy general electives. Computer Science graduate students should use the course number CSC 605 (3 credits).
Course and Grade Requirements
Undergraduate
- Completion of CSC 141,142, 240, 241 and MAT 151, 161 (each with a C- or better)
- CSC GPA of 2.5 or better and MAT GPA of 2.0 or better
Graduate
- Completion of CSC 520, 530, 540, 560 (each with a B or better)
- CSC GPA of 3.0 or better
Computer Science Internship Director
- Cheer-sun D. Yang, Ph.D.
- Computer Science Department
- West Chester University
- 25 University Ave. #145
- West Chester, PA 19383
- Phone: 610-738-0450
- Email Dr. Yang
- Dr. Yang's Website
Registration and Report Submission
You need to register for an internship course and pay for the credit hours. You also need to submit the Final Report in order to receive a letter grade. Please be sure to submit it via the Dropbox of D2L for keeping a record of your submission; do not send your Final Report via email to the Internship Director.
For further questions, please refer to the Internship FAQ section on Dr. Yang's website.
Internship Job Listings
Computer Science internship jobs information is maintained at the site https://www.facebook.com/WCUCS.
Steps to Complete an Internship
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Find a suitable job or project which provides an opportunity to apply what you have learned in the Computer Science Department to problem-solving during the internship. Some jobs will not be approved for this purpose; for example, watching an alarm over night, answering phone calls, minor web site maintenance, delivering pizza, etc. Acceptable jobs or projects include, but are not limited to, the following:
- web site design, development, and deployment (publishing);
- computer operation help-desk personnel involving problem clearance;
- web team member;
- member in a start-up company overseeing some or all of the company operation.
The acceptance criteria focus more on quality than quantity. For instance, working 100 hours per week as a data entry person is not as valuable as working 5 hours per week for 4 weeks designing a web site. Students can use the above jobs link as a starting point. The listings can be useful regardless of the posting date because employers may need to more hires.
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Submit an application. Follow an Internship Application menu link to generate an application document. Email this application document with a copy of the offer letter to the Internship Director.
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Begin working on the project or job.
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Download an Employee Comment Sheet (via this link, or through D2L). Allow your supervisor to complete this document and e-mail it to the Internship Director.
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Submit a Final Report. This should be done before the final week of the semester in which you have registered for the internship. You need to document two aspects of the internship:
- What have you used during the internship?
- What have you learned during the period?
The report does not have to be lengthy as long as you document the necessary information. The cover sheet should include your name, student ID, the name of the project/job, time period, location, and supervisor information. The body of the report should cover the two aspects listed above. There is no page limit on the report.
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Please make sure that you complete and submit the final report via the D2L Dropbox before the final week in order to obtain a letter grade. Without doing so, you will receive an NG grade, which automatically changes to an F after the 9th week of the following semester.
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You do not have to wait for completion of the internship to submit the final report. You can continue to work on the internship after submission. Doing so may be necessary if the working period is not consistent with the Summer II or regular semester period.