In the Department of Communication, we believe that a high-quality internship provides a valuable opportunity for majors to gain exposure to communication careers while acquiring the skills, contacts, and items for their portfolios that will help upon their entrance to the job market.

COM 395 Internship Policies

• Only declared COM and JPIC majors may enroll in COM 395.
• COM 395 is not a requirement for the COM or JPIC majors, but is a great way to receive credit for your internship and have it count towards your major (COM majors only).
• Students may receive 1 or 2 credits per quarter, depending on how many hours per week they are interning, for a total of 5 credits to count towards their degree (1-14 hours per week = 1 credit, 15+ hours per week = 2 credits).
• Students must enroll in COM 395 either in the same quarter as the completion of the internship or a maximum of one quarter after completion of the internship if they are interning during summer quarter. The COM Adviser must give approval for non-current enrollment prior to the beginning of the internship. Retroactive credit is not granted for internships completed either prior to being an COM or JPIC major or more than a quarter before completion of COM 395.
• COM and JPIC students must have taken at least 5 COM courses prior to enrolling in COM 395.
• The COM 395 internship site does not have to be in the Greater Seattle Area. 
• The COM 395 internship can be paid or unpaid. 
• All internships must receive approval from the COM Adviser prior to enrollment in COM 395.
• Students will only be enrolled in COM 395 after the Adviser has received all required documents.

Finding an Internship

• Determine the quarter in which you will complete your internship. Begin goal setting and planning for your internship around 2 quarters in advance.
• Think about the goals you want to accomplish through your internship. What skills and experiences do you want to gain? What COM-related topics do you want to explore in a professional setting? What type of an environment do you want to work in?
• Use the resources we send through the uwcomstudents listserv, Handshake, the COM Adviser, your COM peers, COM alumni, and your own professional network to research potential internship locations that match your goals. Start by looking for organizations that match your interests, not just places that have internship postings. Some organizations are very willing to create an internship if they don’t have one posted. Generate a list of 5-10 locations you are interested in. Resources from the Career & Internship Center, including internship fairs, are useful for our students. JPIC students may also find additional opportunities through our JPIC Premier Internship Program.
• Apply to posted internships and reach out to locations that interest you but do not have posted positions.
• Email or meet with the COM Advisers of your selected internship site before accepting an offer to make sure that it is eligible for COM 395 credit.
• Finalize your schedule and position description with your internship site.
• View step-by-step process below on how to submit internship experience through Handshake and register for COM 395.
• Complete all COM 395 course requirements to receive credit.

How Do I Register for COM 395?

To register for COM 395, complete the online COM 395: Communication Internship Experience form, which is now located within Handshake, UW’s job & internship resource board.

To access the form, please follow these steps:

1. Log into Handshake using your UW Net ID
2. The link above should take you directly to Request a New Experience, if not, you can follow these steps to navigate to that page:
   1. Click Career Center at the top of the page
   2. Click Experiences
   3. Click Request an Experience
3. Choose COM 395: Communication Internship

In the form:

1. Type COM 395: Communication Internship in “Experience Type”
2. Select the term you plan to enroll in COM 395
3. Fill out the employer information for your internship
4. Complete the Job portion 
5. Select, “Request Experience”
6. Email COM Advising (comadv@uw.edu) when you have submitted the form
7. Your site supervisor will receive an email to approve (you may want to alert your site supervisor this is coming)
8. Once your site supervisor approves, you will then receive an email to submit final reflection prompts
9. Once submitted, Advising staff will email student with an add code

Please estimate the entire process from your initial submission > site supervisor approval > COM Advising Office approval > add code sent to take anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks depending on how quickly everyone completes their step.

Ready to start the Internship process?

Promoting an Internship?

Please send an email to the COM Advising Team (comadv@uw.edu) with information on the internship and your organization and we will be happy to share it with our undergraduate students.