Queen's Undergraduate Internship Program (QUIP)

Students in a Bachelor of Computing (Honours) plan (code BCH) can register in a Professional Internship version of their plan. An internship placement is an integral part of a Professional Internship plan. The COMP courses 390/6.0, 391/3.0, 392/3.0 and 393/3.0 ensure that students continue to be registered during the terms of their internship placement. Satisfactory completion of a written summary report or participation in the Internship Showcase following completion of the work period enables the internship student to receive credit for the courses plus transcript and diploma annotations indicating a degree plan that includes a Professional Internship. These replace the corresponding undergraduate project course requirement (i.e., CISC 498/6.0 or CISC 499/3.0 or CISC 496/3.0 or COGS 499/3.0).

Role of Career Services

The preparations for and monitoring of an internship placement are organized and coordinated by Career Services under the Queen's Undergraduate Internship Program (QUIP). School of Computing students considering the possibility of a Professional Internship should watch for Career Services announcements about QUIP.

Role of the School of Computing's Academic Internship Administrator

The School of Computing's Academic Internship Administrator monitors our internships and grades the summary reports of returning interns. The Internship Program Administrators are Karen Knight (Undergraduate Program Assistant) and Wendy Powley (Academic Internship Administrator).

Past Internship Placements

Contacts

• Computing's Undergraduate Program Assistant, Karen Knight
• Computing's Academic Internship Administrator, Wendy Powley
• Computing's Undergraduate Chair, Yuanzhu Chen
• Career Services' QUIP Coordinator

Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I consider the Professional Internship program?

• Potential employers value the real-world experience that it provides.
• Transcripts and diplomas of students who complete the program include the additional information that the degree was completed with Professional Internship. For example, the degree category might read:
  Bachelor of Computing (Honours, Biomedical Computing with Professional Internship).
• The completed Professional Internship fulfils a key degree requirement. Students who don't participate must complete an undergraduate project course.
• Students enrolled in the internship courses continue to be registered at Queen's.
• Internship course fees and expenses related to moving to a placement location are eligible for the corresponding income tax deductions.

How do I enter the Professional Internship Program?

There are two important initial steps. One is to register for QUIP with Career Services. The other is to obtain Professional Internship Program approval from the School of Computing. The School requires:

• a CGPA above 1.90; and
• at the time of starting the internship, not more than 108 units have been completed towards the student's plan. (No exceptions are made to this rule.)

Students should fill out and sign the required form and hand it in to the School's Undergraduate Program Assistant. These preparatory activities begin during the Fall term, however, you may register for QUIP at any time. Career Services workshops take place in September/October. To be eligible for the first round of job offerings, register at Career Services by the beginning of November.

Can I begin a job without registering with QUIP and turn it into an internship later?

No. Please plan ahead if you are considering doing an internship. You will not be permitted to retroactively enroll in the Internship option.

Can I take a 4- or 8-month internship?

Internships must be 12 or 16 months.

Can I combine two or more jobs at different locations to make up the 12-16 months?

No. An internship must be a continuous 12-16 months at a single location.

Why are my courses and fees different from other Arts & Science students doing QUIP?

The extent to which internship placements are integral to an undergraduate program varies across academic units. Computing students doing the Professional Internship are fulfilling a degree requirement and therefore register in the Professional Internship courses while completing their placements.

What courses do I register for and when?

The course structure covers either a 12 or 16-month period. The following are the most common course registration patterns:

• 12-month internship:
  • May start:
    • COMP 391/3.0 Spring-Summer
    • COMP 390/6.0 Fall-Winter
  • September start:
    • COMP 390/6.0 Fall-Winter
    • COMP 392/3.0 Spring-Summer
  • January start:
    • COMP 393/3.0 Winter
    • COMP 391/3.0 Spring-Summer
    • COMP 392/3.0 Fall
• 16-month internship:
  • May start:
    • COMP 391/3.0 Spring-Summer
    • COMP 390/6.0 Fall-Winter
    • COMP 392/3.0 Spring-Summer

How do I register for the internship courses?

COMP 391/3.0 (Spring-Summer) requires a Registration Form signed by the Chair of Undergraduate Studies in the School of Computing. COMP 390/6.0 (Fall-Winter) can be added on SOLUS during course pre-registration in the summer. COMP 392/3.0 (Spring-Summer) can be added on SOLUS during the Spring-Summer registration period.

What is the deadline for registering for the Spring-Summer courses COMP 391/3.0 and COMP 392/3.0?

The deadline for registering in the Spring-Summer courses is May 1. A late fee applies to registrations after the first day of Spring Term (normally the first Monday in May). Students who are very late may have to appeal to the Associate Dean of Studies in order to add the course, and pay an additional fee.

How much do the internship courses cost? How do I pay? When are fees due?

Fees for COMP 391/3.0, COMP 392/3.0, and COMP 393/3.0 are the same as for regular Queen's half-courses. Fees for COMP 390/6.0 are the same as for a Queen's full course. The preferred method of payment for all courses is by internet or telephone banking. Fees may be paid by cheque at any branch of the Bank of Montreal. Payment for the Spring-Summer courses (COMP 391/3.0 & COMP 392/3.0) is due prior to registration. A minimum payment for the Fall-Winter course (COMP 390/6.0) is due by 15 August. The balance of fees owing is payable in full by 30 September.

Why do I have to pay fees for courses that don't count toward my degree?

In part, the fees support functions provided by Career Services - finding placement possibilities, teaching resumé preparation, coaching interview performance, and setting up interviews. The administrative fee for a conventional Queen's Undergraduate Internship is $800. The remaining amounts are considered by the Faculty of Arts and Science to be compensation in lieu of tuition fees for the project courses. Note that the internship course fees are eligible for a tuition tax deduction and will reduce the tax liability on income from your placement.

What happens if I am "late" in getting an internship placement?

Students sometimes secure internship placements after the normal starting date. July starts can be accommodated by treating COMP 391/3.0 as a Summer course, with a July 1 registration deadline.

How do the internship courses count towards my degree requirements?

The project course normally required in the B.Cmp.(Hons.) program (i.e., CISC 498/6.0 or CISC 499/3.0 or CISC 496/3.0 or COGS 499/3.0) is replaced by 9.0 units of COMP 39x courses (or, for a 16-month internship, 12.0 units of COMP 39x), provided that the internship report or presentation documents how the internship work has satisfied the requirements for a conventional CISC 498/6.0 or CISC 499/3.0 or CISC 496/3.0 or COGS 499/3.0 project. The plan requirements therefore are in effect reduced to 114.0 units (SODE-P students) or 117.0 units (COMP-M, BMCO-P, CSCI-P, COMA-P, COGS-P students) plus the internship courses. You will still have to do the same number of electives; for example, if you do an internship in a SODE plan, you will need 120.0−108.0=12.0 units of electives not including any units from COMP 39x courses. This is implemented in PeopleSoft by increasing the Program requirements (not the Plan requirements) by some number of COMP 3xx units so that only the 3.0 or 6.0 units for the replaced project course are actually counted toward satisfying the normal requirements. Program requirements are the total number of credits needed to complete a B.Cmp.H. degree, including electives; Plan requirements are the specific courses needed to satisfy a Plan, such as Software Design. So Plan + electives = Program.

Is it possible to do both a Professional Internship and an Undergraduate Project?

No. You will not be permitted to do an undergraduate project if you have completed an internship.

Is it possible to take other courses during my internship?

You must have 12 units of your program left when you return from Internship. If you are not close to completing your program, you may You may register for 1 course per term in addition to the internship courses. Courses taken on internship must be fully online courses (i.e., offered through Arts and Science Online) and must not be core to your program. If you register in a course that is not a fully online course, you will be removed from this course. We prefer that you engage fully in your internship rather than managing work and courses if at all possible.

What happens after I finish my internship placement?

You are required to either submit a written report following completion of your placement or take place in our Internship Showcase which will involve oral presentations or posters that will be presented to other members of the School. The report or presentation is due within a month of completing your placement. For students who hold 16-month placements that begin in May, the report is due in September when you return as a full time student. Reports are submitted via the QSC Internship OnQ page. For presentations, students will be contacted by the Internship Adminstrators to let them know when this will take place.

What goes into the report or presentation?

Since your report covers work over an extended period of time, effective report-writing strategies begin early in your internship placement. You should keep track of the content of the work you do throughout your internship placement. Retain records of such things as internal reports you prepare and submit during your placement, meetings you attend, committees you sit on, conferences you attend or present at, written and oral presentation you make, and so on. Be prepared to include descriptions of these in your report or presentation.

How does the work I do during my internship relate to my academic program?

In order to satisfy the degree program requirements, the internship work (or some part of it) should be comparable to the content of a project course. Here is the relevant description, adapted from the Arts and Science Calendar:

The project course normally required in the B.Cmp.(Hons.) program is replaced by the internship courses, provided that the internship report documents how the internship work has satisfied the requirements for a conventional CISC 498/496/499 or COGS 499 project.

Who grades the reports/presentations, and how are they graded?

The Academic Internship Administrator evaluates the reports. Once the report is completed satisfactorily, a passing grade is recorded. There are no numeric marks for the internship courses. Presentations will be graded by various faculty members who attend the showcase.

Are there special rules for international students?

Government regulations require that these students be registered in a Professional Internship program in order to be eligible for a work placement in Canada.

Can my internship experience count towards professional certification?

The Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS) has very rigorous standards concerning the application of student work experience towards Information Systems Professional (ISP) certification. In general, they treat co-op work as educational content. However, the length of our internship placements affords our students an opportunity to acquire professional experience that may qualify, when considered on an individual basis.

I registered for an internship last year, but did not get one. Do I have to register again?

No, you only need to register once. Career Services retains your registration record.

How do I keep in touch while I'm away from Queen's?

Computing interns remain Queen's students during their placements, and should check Queen's email regularly for messages from the University and the School of Computing. Please feel free to reach out to either Karen Knight or Wendy Powley at any point during your internship.

Can I do an internship if I'm not a BCH student?

Arts and Science students registered in other Honours degree plans (such as COCA-P-BAH) may be eligible to do a conventional QUIP internship. However, eligibility for a Professional Internship in Computing requires registration in a Bachelor of Computing (Honours) plan (code BCH). General students are not eligible for internship. If you decide not to return to school after your internship and instead graduate with a general degree, your internship designation will not appear on your transcript.