COMM 4486 - Internship is a hands-on, supervised, media field experience to apply and test knowledge and skills, and to network with professionals.

Internship must be approved by internship coordinator. To be approved, the internship must offer experiential learning in Digital Media & Entertainment, Film & Video Production, Journalism, and/or Public Relations; require majors to intern 45 hours for each credit hour enrolled or 135 hours if enrolled in 3 credit hours; assign interns an immediate supervisor who has academic credentials and professional experience in the discipline.

Prerequisites

• Declared Mass Communications Major
• Junior or Senior status
• ENGL 1102 Minimum Grade: C
• COMM 1154 Minimum Grade: C
• Nine credit hours of COMM 3000-4000 level courses
• Major GPA of 2.5 or above

Enrolling in the COMM 4486-Internship

You may enroll in COMM 4486-Internship during summer, fall or spring registration. However, to enroll you must complete at least nine credit hours of upper-level COMM courses and achieve a major GPA of 2.5 or higher. These criteria ensure that you have the fundamental knowledge and skills to make meaningful contributions to the employer, maximize learning opportunities, and preserve the integrity of our program so that the employer will continue to select our students as interns. If you have been offered a paid internship, you are encouraged to explore college credit opportunities with Career Services. However, it is important to note that such credit will not count toward mass communications degree requirements.

Next Steps After Enrolling

After you enroll, you will be required to provide the internship coordinator an email or letter confirming your employment. Then the internship coordinator will contact your immediate supervisor to track your progress. In order to receive course credit for your internship, you must be enrolled in COMM 4486-Internship. All internship sites must be approved by the internship coordinator in order to be considered for course credit. You may enroll in COMM 4486-Internship during regular spring, summer and fall registration. After you enroll, the internship coordinator will request your offer letter from the company or organization to confirm your employment. To request that your internship become an approved site, your employer must submit this form.

Special Considerations

If your internship dates do not align with the semester, you may enroll in COMM 4486 as long as at least 50% of your internship hours are completed within the start and end dates of a given semester. Note that you must enroll by that semester’s drop/add deadline.

You may also register for the COMM 4486 more than once. However, only three credit hours of COMM 4486 may count toward your degree requirements. This may be an option if your internship spans more than one semester, or if you wish to document each your internships on your transcript.

How you will be evaluated

The internship course is designed to track and assess your performance. While the majority of your time will be spent on the internship site, you may be required to complete additional class assignments that will help you to reflect on your internship experience.

Your performance will be graded as Satisfactory (S) or Unsatisfactory (U) based on a combination of your Supervisor Internship Evaluation and performance on class assignments.

To earn a Satisfactory, you will be required to achieve a minimum of 3.0/5.0 average on your Supervisor Internship Evaluation, and a minimum of 70 on class assignments. Preview the Supervisor Internship Evaluation form here.

Note that S & U indicates that credit has been given for completion of a degree requirement and does not count toward or against your GPA (see Undergraduate Catalog).

Additional questions regarding COMM 4486 may be sent to mcintern@westga.edu. Or check out Internship FAQs.