University of Bridgeport 

School of Business 

MGMT 599 Graduate Internship

Ward L. Thrasher, JD, MCP 

(203) 576-4368 or (203) 258-3865

mba@bridgeport.edu 

wthrashe@bridgeport.edu

MGMT 599 is an experiential learning course, intended to provide the University's MBA students with an opportunity to use the knowledge and skills acquired during their studies in a company setting.  Students who have not had previous industry experience, or those seeking to change fields, are strongly encouraged to enroll in MGMT 599. 

Course Prerequisites
Students participating in this course must satisfy the following prerequisites:

1. All lower level courses have been satisfied through successful completion of the course or passing the waiver quiz (if available) in the material, and
2. Must have completed at least five (5) advanced level classes, and
3. Must be in, and remain in, good academic standing throughout the internship period.

Course Description
Each student in this course will work as a temporary employee in a company.  The company may be located anywhere in the world, and the position may be paid or unpaid.  The critical components of the internship are that the position is appropriate for an MBA near-graduate, and the student completes a minimum of 196 hours during the internship semester.  The student will write a paper discussing, among other things, the tasks and accomplishments encountered within the organization.  Through this experience, students will apply their MBA education in a practical setting.  If you are currently working, your current position will not satisfy the internship requirement.

Length of Internship

International students may participate in no more than three semesters of full-time (20 hours per week or more) internship.  Domestic students may participate in as many semesters of internship as they desire.  One of the semesters MUST be a three (3) credit internship in order to meet graduation requirements.  We do offer one credit hour internship semesters to allow students to work beyond the one required three credit hour semester.  At the end of the three credit hour internship semester, the student will submit an internship report, as more fully outlined below.  Additional semesters of internship are one (1) credit each.  During each semester of internship, the internship employer will complete a student evaluation.  The one credit internship grade is derived wholly from the evaluation.  The three credit internship grade is arrived at by weighting the evaluation grade and report grade to determine the final grade.

Additional internship information
An appropriate internship is one that requires the student to draw upon their education in order to achieve the goals of the internship.  Positions with some managerial responsibility over staff, finances, operations and other aspects of business are appropriate.  Most entry-level, sales or clerical positions are not appropriate.  If there is a question about the appropriateness of a possible internship, or if you may participate in an internship, please contact the MBA Director.

While the Internship Coordinator does have information about some companies seeking interns, we encourage students considering internships to approach companies they might be interested in working for.  Also check the Career Service Job and Internship search web page, jobs bulletin board in the School of Business and the School of Business internships and jobs web page.  Internships may be paid or unpaid.

To be granted an internship, a student will need the following:
1) MUST have all 400 level classes completed, as well as five advanced level courses.  Exceptions may be granted in exceptional circumstances by the MBA Director, but DO NOT PLAN ON HAVING AN EXCEPTION GRANTED!
2) Students MUST be in good academic standing (cumulative and past semester GPA above 3.0) at the start of their internship and must remain in good academic standing throughout the internship period.
3) A well-written resume.  If you don’t know how to write a resume, please go to Career Services (6th Floor of the Wahlstrom Library) to get help.
4) A signed Internship authorization.
5) An internship suitable for an MBA student.  Positions as clerks and bank tellers are not permitted. Positions as bank tellers disguised as financial associates, and telemarketing positions disguised as marketing associates, will not be allowed.
6) A job description or description of duties to help us understand what the student will be doing.
7) A signed offer letter from the employer.

Internship Report Writing Guidelines (3 credit internship):
A. (Optional) Student first submits a one-page outline, including a brief summary of the completed report below.  This is a recommended step to help ensure the student does not lose points for failure to include required information.  This is essentially a "free" first draft.

B. The final report paper must be an MS Word document, nine to fifteen pages in length, excluding the cover page, table of contents and citations, typed in 12 point Times New Roman or similar font, double spaced, with no larger than one inch margins on all sides.  The report must, at a minimum, contain the following chapters and topics.

1. Cover Page

Name
Student Number
Address, telephone number, and e-mail
Semester registered for the course

2. Chapter I: Description of the Organization

History
Organizational structure
Mission
Service/Product
Market

3. Chapter II: Description of the Job

Job specification
Reporting structure (who was the superior officer)
Department or division where the student worked
Specific contributions the student made
How the job was related to the area of study

4. Chapter III: Managerial Recommendations

SWOT analysis 

Strategic or tactical recommendations for improvement or threat reduction 

EXAMPLE OF A WELL WRITTEN PAPER

PLEASE NOTE - THIS PAPER, WHILE WELL WRITTEN, DOES NOT CONTAIN ALL REQUIRED SECTIONS

REPORT SUBMISSION – Papers must be submitted through www.turnitin.com no later than thirty (30) days following the end of your 3 credit internship semester.  To access the internship course, navigate to www.turnitin.com and create an account to log it.  The internship ID is 2002979 and class name is MGMT 599.  The class enrollment password is internship (all lower case).  This service checks papers for plagiarism, so please make certain to provide citations for your research.  

GRADING - You will be graded on the depth of analysis of AT LEAST the above-listed areas, on correct grammar, spelling, English usage and citation.  Correct citation of works or information taken from your employer's literature or elsewhere is critical to avoid failure for plagiarism.  Papers with ANY instance of plagiarism will be issued a grade of "F".  Please refer to the APA style guide, Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5^th ed., 2001, American Psychological Association, ISBN 1-55798-791-2, for assistance with report formatting and correct citation of sources.  There is an APA style guide on reserve in the library as well as various websites that will help you with APA formatting.

The internship report is to be your words describing your experiences, your perceptions, your understanding of the company and job and your analysis of at least the factors set forth above.

WHOLESALE COPYING OF INFORMATION FROM THE INTERNET OR OTHER SOURCES, EVEN IF CORRECTLY CITED, WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. A correct, professionally written research paper may borrow occasionally from other sources, with correct citation given, but will not be simply a compilation of cited works.  Company history, product lines, etc., must be discussed in your words.  Simply copying the company-produced (or other) material is unacceptable and will result in an "F" grade for the report.

If you require assistance with grammar or citation work, please contact the Academic Resource Center.

TIME TO COMPLETE INTERNSHIP PAPER:  Your internship report is due not later than thirty (30) days following the end of the semester in which you registered for the internship.  This time frame allows for review of your report, and provides an opportunity to submit additional drafts, if necessary.  Your first submission will be graded within thirty (30) days of submission.  Priority is given to students who are at the end of their program when they submit their report.

All papers will start with a grade of 127 out of 150, or a grade of B. Grades are adjusted as follows:

+/- 13 points - Correct APA citation of sources.  If you are unfamiliar with APA format, there is an APA style guide on reserve at the Wahlstrom Library, or you may check these reference web sites.  If you provide correct citations, your score will be increased by 13.  

+/- 3 points - Misspelled words.  Having no misspelled words will increase your score by 3.  Misspelled words reduce your score by 3 points per word.

+/- 3 points - Incorrect grammar or English usage.  If you paper is free of these defects, 3 points will be added to your score.  Each instance of incorrect grammar or word usage will reduce your score by 3 points.

+/- 2 points - Adherence to required format (above).  Following the correct format in all areas will increase your score by 2 points.  Failing to follow the correct format will reduce your score by 2 points for each violation of format.

+/- 2 points - Each successive draft required to correct the above issues will be charged two points.  Your first draft is not charged 2 points.

An example of the grading: A student submits a first draft of the paper. His score is 127. Upon review, it is found he has not provided correct citations (but has not committed plagiarism), has used 1.25 inch margins and has five misspelled words. His paper would be scored 110 out of 150.  This is determined as follows: He would lose 2 points for failure to follow the format and 15 points for the five misspelled words. The incorrect citation score (reduction of 13 points) is already included in the 127 point initial score.  

When the student submits his second draft, his score starts at 110 (127 - 17 points). If he has corrected the issues, his score is adjusted as follows: +13 for correct citation, +2 for following the format, -2 for a second draft. The score after his second draft is 123 (110 + 13).  Please note points lost for spelling are not recaptured when spelling errors are corrected.  This is because spelling errors are easily caught before report submission.

If the first draft of a paper is perfect, it is scored as follows: 127 + 13 (citation) + 3 (spelling) + 3 (grammar) + 2 (format) + 2 (one draft). Total points = 150

If you have any questions about requirements, citation, format or grading, please contact me before submitting your first draft.

UPDATED 06-04-2008