Undergraduate Majors
Internships
The Zimmerman School of Advertising & Mass Communications Internship Program facilitates partnerships between qualified mass communications students and industry sponsors who offer students professional learning opportunities.
Experiential learning is an important part of the Zimmerman School degree programs. Students are strongly encouraged to complete multiple internships.
Students can earn course credit that counts as elective credit in their degree programs.
Finding an internship is the students’ responsibility. However, the Zimmerman School has a WordPress site where positions are posted. Internships also may be posted to the majors Canvas page.
The Zimmerman School WordPress site also features a Handshake link to active internships and jobs relevant to the mass communications field: Communication Internships Posted in Handshake
Some notes on using Handshake:
- All students have Handshake accounts. You may not have activated your account yet. When you click on the link above, it will prompt you to log in with a single sign-on and the system takes it from there.
- Students should complete their Handshake profiles. This helps Handshake push you to the right internships and jobs based on your interests, as well as providing the tailored promotion of opportunities and events offered by the USF Center for Career & Professional Development.
- On the Jobs menu, students can set up a "search alert" which will send emails when internships and jobs post that meet your search criteria. This step is highly recommended since USF receives about 10,000 job postings every month. Instructions here.
Once an internship has been secured, students should apply for internship credit. To apply for internship credit, qualified students must first submit an internship application for review. To find the internship application, students should go to Student Self-Service and find MMC 4945. There is a Qualtrics survey link (this is the application) that includes a series of questions and the required paperwork they need to upload (the internship application form, a PDF of the DegreeWorks audit, and the resume).
Internship Application due date: Before 5:00 p.m. on the Thursday before classes start for the semester. No applications will be accepted after 5:00 p.m. on the Thursday before classes start for the semester.
Please note: *Students get one opportunity to submit a revised application or submit corrected materials to the Director of Internships. If, after this attempt, the application materials are still not correct, the application will not be reviewed.*
Internship credits are considered after required applications have been reviewed. The following guidelines are used to help determine if a student will be awarded internship credit:
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- Students should have a minimum 3.0 GPA.
- Students must be supervised by a mass communications professional.
- Students should have enough experience with courses in the Zimmerman School to inform their internship endeavor.
- Beginning Spring 2025, students must work:
40 hours for one credit hour
80 hours for two credit hours
120 hours for three credit hours - Students may work up to three credit hours per semester.
- Students will be enrolled in an online course and complete weekly assignments under the supervision of a Director of Internships within their concentration.
- Internship credit cannot be awarded retroactively. Students must be enrolled in the course before beginning their work.
- Students must fulfill pre-requisite requirements.
- Students must be majoring in Mass Communications (Broadcast – News concentration or Broadcast – Program and Production concentration) or Integrated Public Relations and Advertising in the Zimmerman School to receive internship credit.
- Qualified students issued a permit to participate in an internship for credit will register for MMC 4945. MMC 4945 is offered in Fall, Spring and Summer C.
- At the end of the term, students will be evaluated by both their industry sponsor and the internship instructor. Students also must create a portfolio of their work and complete a presentation to the instructor and other students.
- The course is repeatable. Students can earn up to six credit hours while in the Zimmerman School.
- Students may only complete one internship, with one sponsor, per semester.
If you have questions, please contact the Director of Internships: