The School of Biological Sciences' Internship Program
The School of Biological Sciences operates an internship program with opportunities specifically for Biology majors. These opportunities are with local government, academia, and industry groups and will provide each intern with direct, hands-on experience in how a Biology degree can be used to obtain employment upon graduation. Partnerships exist with the Atlanta Audubon Society, CDC, Georgia Tech’s Environmental Health and Safety, the Army Defense Forensic Science Center, Fernbank Science Center and Museum, GTRI Occupational Safety and Health Programs, Piedmont Hospital, Zoo Atlanta, and local biotechnology companies, among many others.
Internships can be registered during Phase 1 or Phase 2 registration, although employment application deadlines and interviews will often operate well ahead of course registration. Once a student has an internship offer in hand, they need to contact Dr. Emily Weigel to request a permit for registration. Students may register for credit with either BIOS 2695 (as a free elective) or BIOS 4695 (as a Biology breadth elective). Note that BIOS 4695 may be used for up to 6 credit hours of biology breadth electives, but additional credits may be used as free electives. Students may also register for audit/pay (e.g. BIOS 2694/4694 or various course codes through the Career Center) to have an ungraded internship simply appear on their transcript.
New opportunities will be posted as they become available on via CareerBuzz and Biology Majors Portal Announcements (late-breaking internships only). Example past internships can be seen via the Biology Majors Portal, and students should customize their applications to follow the instructions and reference the contact information and deadlines for each current internship posting. In certain cases, students may also register an internship that they identify on their own for credit, even if the internship has not been acquired through Georgia Tech. To receive course credit for an internship experience, students must be involved in authentic job-related training in a biological or biologically-related organization, and not primarily performing administrative and managerial duties. For questions about the internship positions, please refer to the internship postings directly (for company/office-specific information) or Dr. Emily Weigel (for general questions).
Internships for credit: To receive course credit for an internship experience, you must be involved in authentic job-related training in a biological or biologically-related organization, and not primarily performing administrative and managerial duties. Students may register for credit with either BIOS 2695 (as a free elective) or BIOS 4695 (as a Biology breadth elective). Students may elect to complete the internship for letter grade, or pass/fail. BIOS 4695 taken for a letter grade may count toward up to 6 credits of your breadth electives. Additional BIOS 4695 credits count as free electives. Contact the BioSci Internship Director, Dr. Emily Weigel, to seek approval for an unpaid biology internship you have obtained and wish to register for credit. Once you have completed the required form and are approved, you will receive a permit to register for BIOS 2695/4695.
Internships for pay: BIOS 2694 and 4694 correspond to volunteer or paid internships and are audit only. These credits do not satisfy degree requirements, but apply to your credit hours to acknowledge internship work; such internships are not charged tuition, but are recognized on your transcript and can be used to satisfy select institutional and external processes (e.g. full time status for housing or insurance purposes). As with internships for credit, you must be involved in an authentic job-related training experience in a biological or biologically-related organization, and not simply providing services that are only distantly related to career goals. Be sure to register your internship through CareerBuzz to register for audit.
The flowchart below illustrates the process for registering an internship:
The Institute's Cooperative and Internship Programs
Cooperative Education, or "Co-op," is a unique partnership among employers, students and the university whereby students work in paid, planned and supervised work experiences in business, industry, education, and government while earning academic credit. Georgia Tech's Cooperative Education Program is a five-year academic program in which students alternate semesters as a full-time student with semesters of full-time work. In addition to providing experiences outside of academia, the Co-op program can provide the student with full-time research work within a Georgia Tech faculty member’s lab if the faculty member is agreeable.
Biology majors participating in the Co-op program must plan course schedules very carefully, since courses required for a degree in Biology may not always be offered during the at-school semester. This will be more of a problem when the at-school semester occurs during the summer semester.
The Undergraduate Professional Internship (UPI) Program provides practical work experience in a professional setting, on-campus or off-campus, related to the student's field of study. Internships are a partnership among students, employers, and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Internships are single-semester, paid, major-related work experiences designed to help students understand the "real world" applications of their academic studies. Opportunities are available during summer, fall, and spring semesters and require a commitment of full-time employment for a minimum of 18 weeks during the spring and fall semesters or 12 weeks during the summer semester. To contact the UPI office, email intern@dopp.gatech.edu.
