Academics

Internship Guidelines and Procedures

If you are a graduate student and are considering participating in an internship, it is important that you understand that the following CSE Internship Guidelines and Procedures apply. These guidelines are based on U-M policy and federal law, and were developed to ensure that students on an internship have appropriate financial support and to avoid issues with funding, insurance and/or immigration policies.

After receiving approval from your faculty advisor to undergo an internship, you must fill out the CSE Internship Notification Form and also send an email notification to [email protected] at least two months prior to the start of your internship.  Please see below for additional and more specific guidelines; these apply to all PhD and Master’s students.

• Student must be appointed from the first day of the fall term through Dec. 31 or Jan. 1 – Apr. 30 in order to be eligible for GSRA and/or GSI funding and tuition coverage. Official term dates can be found on the University of Michigan’s academic calendar.
• Student must be in good academic standing and not on financial aid probation or academic probation.  Student must be making satisfactory progress towards their degree.
• If the internship is during the FA and/or WN term(s), then PhD candidates must register for at least 8 credit hours in the form of EECS 995.  Precandidates must register for 6 or 9 credits (according to how you are being funded; 6 credits if supported as a GSI/GSRA and 9 credits if supported via fellowship funding).
• It is the responsibility of the student and their advisor to determine how tuition, insurance premiums, and any potential stipend will be paid before the internship begins.  
• The College of Engineering requires all students seeking tuition and/or benefits support during the time of their internship to start their inquiries with the Rackham Doctoral Intern Fellowship Program. Students must apply directly to that program for internship tuition and/or benefits consideration.
  • Please note the deadlines to apply for support for Student-Identified Internships are listed on their webpage and can be very early. Therefore, it is imperative that students have discussions with their advisors as early in the process as possible regarding tuition and/or benefits support during internships.
  • If a student is ineligible to receive support from that program, the student/advisor should further consult with the program regarding consideration of other avenues of support, including CoE funding.
• Student Financial Assistance Requests from the College of Engineering may be available to provide tuition support to students who are within their funding guarantee.  If you would like to learn if/how you are eligible for this, please contact [email protected]. 
  • Please note that this funding is extremely limited and not all requests are approved. CoE assistance is dependent on if a student first applied for assistance through Rackham or being ineligible for Rackham funding (e.g., has already received Intern Fellowship support), so students should check early about eligibility and requirements. Missing Rackham’s deadlines without a legitimate reason and/or ignorance of CoE’s policy is not sufficient to qualify for CoE support.
• If you are an international student, then you must ensure CPT compliance.  CPT information can be found here. Please direct all CPT-related questions to the Engineering Career Resource Center at (734) 647-7160 or [email protected]
  • Please note that there is a COE Internship Seminar that international students are required to attend as part of CPT. Please be sure to register for this seminar as early as possible, as space can be limited. You may not need a signed offer letter to attend the seminar.

Questions about internships

All questions regarding internships may be directed to the CSE Graduate Internships Team at [email protected].