Program Overview

The Department of Animal Sciences academic internship program is designed to expand a student's education by including meaningful industry work experience in the Bachelor of Science degree program. 

Students are encouraged to explore internship career pathways that align with their professional goals. Many employers prefer students with previous experience in the respective industry.  The internship program allows students the opportunity to gain work-related experience while building a professional contact network.

Students earn academic credit (1-5 credits for a BS degree) for their efforts based on the duration and quality of the internship experience.  The program combines supervised employment or job shadowing and on-campus assignments.

Internship Timeline

Once an internship has been identified, you should discuss the opportunity with your academic advisor to ensure it aligns with your professional goals.  

Prior to beginning your internship, the student should share the Cooperator Responsibilities resource with your employer and the Internship Agreement form must be completed. Internship hours worked before the completion of the agreement form cannot be recognized for academic credit.

During the internship, students will be expected to keep a weekly journal log outlining activities and significant happenings.  These journal entries can be submitted with the reflection assignments outlined in the ANSC 396 Syllabus.

To finish the internship program, students will be tasked with a public presentation of their work in the form of a PowerPoint seminar or poster event as directed by the internship program coordinator.  Once your internship is completed, the student must initiate the Student Evaluation form to be completed by the internship employer/cooperator.

For additional details related to the internship process timeline, you may refer to the Student Responsibility Checklist.  Note that all required forms and documentation may be found below. 

Important Considerations

Students are expected to be within good academic standing at NDSU before their internship experience.  Students are encouraged to take an active role in the pursuit of internship experiences to ensure timely graduation.  In general, students in the Department of Animal Sciences complete internships during the summer between their freshman/sophomore or sophomore/junior year.  

Do you have an internship ready or a potential internship in the works?

1. Review: ANSC 396 Syllabus & Student Responsibilities Checklist.

2. Send your internship employer the Cooperator Responsibilities.

3. Complete the agreement form Student/Employer Agreement Form via DocuSign.

- A PDF version of this form is available below. 

4. When the agreement form has been completed and received by the internship coordinator, you will receive confirmation and access to enroll in ANSC 396. At that point, you may begin earning credit for your ANSC internship. 

Earning Academic Credit via ANSC 396

Internship credit is limited to new educational experiences only and credit for previous work-related experience cannot be awarded. As mentioned above, an internship will only be recognized if the agreement form was submitted before the hours worked. 

Credit for internship experiences will be awarded based on 100 hours work hours for every one ANSC 396 credit.  

Students in the Department of Animal Sciences are expected to complete at least 2 credits of experiential learning from any of the following: 

• ANSC 396 (Internship) 

• ANSC 379 (Study Abroad)

• ANSC 393 (Undergraduate Research) 

 When to enroll in ANSC 396?

• • For summer internships, students should register for ANSC 396 credits for the fall following the internship. 

  • For internships completed during the regular school year, students may register for credit in the semester they complete their internship.