Internships

Gain Real-World Experience

Through our career-focused curriculum, every student is required to complete an internship experience, ensuring you’ll be prepared with hands-on skills and knowledge to succeed in your field. From searching for employers to gaining academic credit, we’ll help you every step of the way. The resources on this page will help you navigate the entire internship process from start to finish.

Internship Requirements

Dominican University’s internship requirements are aligned with the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) standards for high-quality internships. Internships are defined as structured experiential learning opportunities that connect classroom knowledge with practical application in a professional setting, supporting students’ skill development and career exploration while enabling employers to mentor and evaluate emerging talent.

Requirements for Academic Credit

The following requirements must also be met for students to receive academic credit for their internships:

The internship must align with the student’s major or program of study.
The internship must be supervised by an experienced professional, which aligns with the internship. For example, a marketing internship must be supervised by a marketing professional. The internship must also include routine feedback.
The internship must provide an opportunity for a student to learn new skills applicable to the student’s career path.
The internship must allow students to gain experience by applying knowledge and theory learned in the classroom into a professional setting.

As an important caveat, a student’s current part-time or full-time job is not an internship and will not be approved as such.

Credit Hours

Internships may be taken for undergraduate academic credit. Students can register from one to a maximum of eight hours of credit. No more than eight hours of credit can be earned for internships at Dominican University.

Students must register for credit for the semester in which they are doing the internship. Registering for an internship is just like registering for a class on campus and is subject to any applicable tuition fees. All students who wish to receive academic credit for their internship should meet with the corresponding Assistant Director of Career Programs for help with registration. Learn more about registering for an internship.

The ratio for minimum hours worked to credit hours earned is 40:1. For every hour of credit requested, the student must work a minimum of 40 hours per semester. For example, a student who completes a three-credit internship must work a minimum of 120 hours with the employer. See below for the credit hours to work ratio:

One credit hour	In order to enroll in one (1) credit hour of internship, a student must work at least 40 hours.
Two credit hours	In order to enroll in two (2) credit hours of internship, a student must work at least 80 hours.
Three credit hours	In order to enroll in three (3) credit hours of internship, a student must work at least 120 hours.
Four credit hours	In order to enroll in four (4) credit hours of internship, a student must work at least 160 hours.
Five credit hours	In order to enroll in five (5) credit hours of internship, a student must work at least 200 hours.
Six credit hours	In order to enroll in six (6) credit hours of internship, a student must work at least 240 hours.
Seven credit hours	In order to enroll in seven (7) credit hours of internship, a student must work at least 280 hours.
Eight credit hours	In order to enroll in eight (8) credit hours of internship, a student must work at least 320 hours.

At my internship this past summer I was able to gain an extensive amount of marketing knowledge that I would not have been able to experience just in the classroom.”

Alexandra Derlaga

Dominican University Graduate

Find an Internship

The Office of Career Programs and Employer Relations provides a variety of resources to help students find internships. As you begin your internship search, we recommend meeting with a Career Mentor (EIR). You can make an appointment directly in Handshake with the EIR of your choice.

Additionally, please explore the following job boards and online tools to find internship opportunities:

Handshake: Browse campus events and job/internship postings
CCCI: The College Career Consortium of Illinois provides additional resources for events and job and internship opportunities
LinkedIn: Access to internships directly posted by employers
Additional career resources

Parker Dewey: Short-term, micro-internships to grow your experience
Intern-list.com: List of Internships for every major/degree
Newgrad-jobs.com: List of entry level jobs for every major/degree

All the things you are learning in class and seeing how they are applied and used is so important. I believe this did help me land my NASA internship at the Marshall Space Flight Center as a computer engineering intern."

Aaron Jimenez Gomez

Dominican University Graduate

Previous Internship Providers Include

Argonne National Laboratory

Catholic Charities

Chicago Public Schools

CDW

Datatelligent

Duct Tape Games

Erie Neighborhood House

KPMG

Northwestern Mutual

Opportunity Knocks

Public Communications Inc.

RUSH

Sarah's inn

Steppenwolf

Wintrust

ZZAZZ Productions

NEBO Fellowships

Open to all students, Non-Employment-Based Opportunities (NEBO) Fellowships are designed to help you gain professional development and leadership experiences outside of traditional internship opportunities.

Learn more about NEBO Fellowships

For more information,
please contact:

Career Programs & Employer Relations

careers@dom.edu

(708) 524-6786

Lewis Hall, Suite 216

Gain Real-World Experience

Internship Requirements

Find an Internship