Political Science Internships

Political science internship credit is available year-round on a semester basis. It is critical that students not begin work in an internship, including training, prior to the internship being approved by the department and university as eligible for credit. Planning ahead and working with a semester timeframe will help achieve this requirement. Additionally, there are times a student may be approved after the add/drop deadline. If this applies to your internship, please contact your academic advisor in political science to begin the approval process as soon as possible.

Political science internship credit requires a student to enroll for POLI 399R. Costs associated with the credit will be directly linked to this enrollment. Additional costs may occur if a student needs to travel or relocate or is unable to work while completing the internship. Students with financial concerns are welcome to explore information on grant funding for their internship experience.

Brigham Young University employs basic standards on internship credit. Meaningful internship experience will include project management components as well as time working with a team and the time spent in the internship position.

Students need to complete 42 hours of internship experience for each 1 credit hour earned. We require a minimum of 3 credit hours per internship experience, or 126 internship hours. Occasionally, a student will qualify for more than 3 credit hours. This is determined based upon the university's hour requirements. Internship credit is limited to a maximum of 9 credit hours for each internship experience. Students may complete multiple internship experiences, each will go through the same review process. For more information on how much internship credit will apply toward graduation, please connect with your academic advisor. It is not necessary to earn credit for an internship, although many students prefer to do so.

Internship credit will not be granted by the university for students who are interning with a direct family member. This includes parents, siblings, step-parents, step-siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, a spouse, or any in-law relationship that correlates with the aforementioned relationships. Additionally, students may not operate as their own supervisor or intern for their own business entity or non-profit organization.

Internships are available in a wide range of areas for political science majors. Students often intern with law firms, local judges, special interest groups, local governmental entities, state government offices, news organizations, and campaigns. We keep a list of internships on a database in 945KMBL that students can peruse to identify opportunities. Students may also secure an internship in the community not listed in the database and then apply for credit.

For all internship experiences, please apply for credit through the internship credit application found at experience.byu.edu. Select the "internship application" icon, then click on the semester for your internship credit and enter your internship information as requested on the application. If you encounter concerns, please reach out to your political science academic advisor for additional guidance or call 801-422-2168.