×For spring and summer 2020 internships, please review the employment section of the ISS page on COVID-19 information for F-1 and J-1 students.

It's never too late or too early to start looking for an internship. Many CSE students use the CSE Ugradjobs blog and the College of Engineering's Engineering Internship Program to find full-time, paid positions that last three to nine months. You can also find a variety of jobs and internships through the Career Center's Handshake database. Also, remember to attend the Allen School's Industry Affiliates Career Fairs in autumn and winter to meet recruiters from established and startup companies.

For detailed resources and information on how to obtain an internship, please see our career pages.

Overview

CSE 301 offers students the opportunity to explore and develop their careers through professional practice. The structured plan of education impacts student work-readiness through a number of professional development skill-building activities. To earn credit, students will complete a few assigments, including submitting a brief final report on their experiences. After completing the course, undergraduate students earn credit towards their degree with CSE 301 listed on their permanent transcript.

International students can defer a Summer internship (full or part-time) until the following Autumn quarter. However, if an International student takes a part-time internship during the standard academic year, they must register for the quarter in which their internship takes place. Domestic students can defer their internship credit to the next quarter. If the student needs to defer the internship credit further, they should contact the Allen School internship facilitator.

Once your Handshake Experience request is received, it will be reviewed by the internship team. You will receive an email from Handshake when the request has been approved. International students will not be approved until their CPT is also approved. When registration for the requested term opens, your add code will be posted on your Handshake Experience overview page. It may take until week 1 of the quarter to get an add code.

Quarter Registration opens Priority deadline Final deadline
AutumnAugust 15September 25October 8
WinterNovember 6January 6January 19
SpringFebruary 12March 30April 12
SummerApril 12June 22July 3

If you are planning to register via MyUW/MyPlan in the Summer, then make a note on your Handshake Experience request so that the course administrator knows your plan. If you don't make a note on your Experience request, you will not be issued an add code until Autumn.

Handshake Experience How-to

  • Screenshot of Experience TabOnce you have a Handshake account, you will need to navigate to the Experiences section of the website and signup for the “CSE 301 Internship Course” Experience. Select the term you are planning to register for CSE 301. If you are doing an internship in the Summer, you will do the Handshake Experience evaluations at the same time. The other assignments are turned in on Canvas site after you register via MyUW or MyPlan.

    If you are planning to register via the University registrar in the Summer, then please make a note on your Handshake Experience request so that the course administrator knows your plan. If you don't make a note on your Experience request, you will not be officially registered until Autumn.

  • There are more detailed instructions provided by Handshake. Once “Request an Experience” is selected, you will be taken to a page of questions that Handshake requires all schools to include. You are not required to fill out the form in its entirety, though you are free to do so should you wish. The employer and job title are the only required fields on this page. Any information you provide will be listed on your Handshake profile if you leave the box “Add Experience to Profile” checked.
  • The end portion of the request is for information regarding the student’s internship offer. You are asked to provide the company name, internship start and end date, whether the internship is full-time or part-time, the worksite address, job description, and to note whether you are a domestic or international student. Then you will be asked to complete a personal evaluation of your work-related skills. Once the Experience has been requested, you will be taken to the Experience page. You must upload a PDF of your offer letter before the Experience will be approved. To understand where in the process your request is at, you can return to the Experience’s Overview page.
  • The submitted information will be reviewed by the Allen School advising team. If all information has been filled out, and the offer letter uploaded, then you will be given initial approval. If you are a domestic student you will be sent an add code to register for the course at this time. If you are an international student, a member of the Allen School advising team will need to approve your CPT application before an add code can be issued. If the CSE 301 Academic Counselor is pending for an International student, that is a good indication that the CPT application hasn’t been approved yet.
Students can register for more than one internship course per quarter due to deferment. Each instance of CSE 301 can only get a maximum of 2 credits. So, if a student has a full-time Summer internship that was deferred until Autumn, and a part-time internship in Autumn, they would register for CSE 301 twice; once for 2 credits (to represent the Summer internship) and once for 1 credit (to represent to Autumn internship). This also means that the student needs to submit assignments for both internships. Unless otherwise established with the course facilitators, there should be 2 (two) pre-internship surveys, post-internship surveys, MyCSE entries, Resume entries, and Internship reports.

ENGR 321 through the College of Engineering’s Internship Program and CSE 301 operate under a different fee structure where CSE 301 is a standard tuition rate while ENGR 321 is fee-based. Click for ISS CPT Application info.

Type Work Quarter Register for Fee
Domestic Part‑time Academic Year CSE 301 (1 credit) Standard Tuition Rates Apply; Deferred Registration
Domestic Full‑time Summer CSE 301 (2 credits) Standard Tuition Rates Apply; Deferred Registration
Domestic Part‑time Summer ENGR 321 (1 credit) $196
International Full‑time Summer CSE 301 (2 credits) Standard Tuition Rates Apply; Deferred Registration
International Full‑time Acadmic Year ENGR 321 (2 credits, full-time status) $392
International Part‑time Acadmic Year CSE 301 (1 credit) Standard Tuition Rates Apply; Deferred Registration

* academic year indicates autumn, winter, spring. summer is a vacation quarter. Austin Browning (austinbr@uw.edu) should be listed as Department Advisor and OPT approver for F-1 visa students. J-1 students contact cse301 by email for work authorization instructions.

If the student is working 20 hours or less a week, they are considered part-time and will receive 1 credit of 301 for that internship. A full-time internship, greater than 20 hours worked a week, is given 2 credits of 301.

Computer Science and Computer Engineering majors may use up to 2 credits earned per quarter towards their CSE Senior Electives requirement for a max of 2 credits. The other credits will apply to free electives.

Allen School Internship Frequently Asked Questions

General

You’re covered by GAIP for the summer if you had UW-paid coverage during the previous three quarters (fall, winter, and spring quarters). In this case, you’re automatically enrolled in summer coverage, and you remain covered even if you aren’t working or taking classes during the summer. Coverage ends on September 30. If you weren’t covered by GAIP during the past three quarters and you want to qualify for summer coverage, check your eligibility at the linked website.
We recommend you register for the College of Engineering's internship program if you have a full-time internship during the academic year. That will maintain your full-time student status and you won't need to take anything additional above those 2 credits. This is a special deal that the COE has with ISS and the US government. The Allen School does not have this arrangement, so the department cannot offer the same accommodation.

Add cods start being issued when the registration period opens for the quarter that you are registering for. You may not receive your add code until closer to the end of the registration period, but that does not mean you won't get into the class. If your Handshake Experience request has been approved, then you will be issued an add code and space will be made for you in the course. It is a good idea to check your Handshake Experience overview page for any comments from the internship administrators.

If you are deferring your Summer credits, you may not receive an add code until August. Summer is a vacation quarter for the Allen School, so processing times are different. If you need to be registered earlier, please contact your internship course managers.

Students who work an internship in the Summer can defer their credits to the following Autumn. This means that a student can work the internship, but doesn't have to register for the credits earned in Summer term-and therefore not pay extra tuition if they weren't planning to register for other courses-until Autumn quarter. This is the assumed way that the Allen School internship classes operate under, and that is why you are asked to make a note on your Handshake Experience overview page if you will be doing something different.

International Students

Due to the quarter system at the UW, you will need to register for the term which your internship dates fall into. This means, even if a your internship only ends a week after the term ends, you'll still need to register for that following term in order to adhere to the guidelines of the CPT requirements.

ENGR 601 is considered a "self-sustaining course," indicated by the cost of the course. International students are required to have insurance while at the University of Washington, and this insurance tends to be GAIP. However, international student taking ENGR 601 will need to have ISHIP, and as a self-sustaining course ENGR 601 is not eligible. You can email the ISHIP counselor to ask to be manually enrolled.
According to ISS
Students are authorized for specific dates of employment on their I-20. Students may not begin before the start date or continue after the end date. Students must apply for an extension with sufficient time to allow the assigned ISS adviser to issue a new CPT authorization before continuing beyond the end date of the current CPT.

If you need to change your internships and the new requested end date is prior to the start of the next academic quarter, complete the “CPT Update Request” form. If the new requested end date overlaps with the next academic quarter, the student must submit a new online CPT application.

International Student Services (ISS) has stated that students working remotely do need to apply for CPT if they are in the United States.

If you will be outside of the U.S. for the entire length of your internship, you do not need to apply for CPT authorization. We recommend you keep documentation to prove you were physically outside of the U.S. during the entire internship period.

Students holding F-1 and J-1 status who are employed in the U.S. must apply for a Social Security number. Dependents in F-2 status are not eligible for a Social Security number. (Students who will not work on campus but who receive a taxable scholarship can apply for an Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) for tax purposes).

The Social Security Administration office nearest the UW is located downtown at 915 Second Avenue, Suite 901, Seattle, WA, 98104. Please review the ISS page on this topic for more information. The Allen School can help facilitate with the ISS if requested, but we are not able to provide direct support as we are not qualified for International Student Services.