Internships, Co-Ops, and Curricular Practical Training (CPT)

ECE graduate students may be eligible for internships, co-ops, or curricular practical training. 

If You Are Funded (TA, RA, or GA)

You must enter an unpaid leave request in Success Factors:

  1. Login into Success Factors.
  2. Click the Employee Launchpad tile.
  3. Click Request Time Off.
  4. Under Time Type, select Unpd > 22 Days Personal.
  5. Enter the start and end dates, and in the comments section, write Internship.

Notes:

  • Submit the request at least one month before your internship/co-op start date to ensure that the leave request is fully approved to prevent any overpayments.
  • See the document Requesting Time Off for more detailed instructions on using Success Factors to request time off.
  • If you are funded by an Engineering Department and have any questions, contact the Engineering Employment Operations Center.

If You Are an International Student

All international ECE graduate students on an F-1 visa who want to use Curricular Practical Training (CPT) to work as an intern outside Purdue in any given semester, including summer, must follow a specific process to obtain approval for CPT and must also register for a course.

Note that there is a fee to participate in an internship or co-op.

Start the process early and allow at least 2-3 weeks for processing.

Do the following:

  1. Review the information on this webpage, Curricular Practical Training, but do not yet follow any steps under How to Apply for CPT. 
  2. Obtain your job offer letter.
    • The offer letter must include official beginning and end dates.
    • A co-op offer must cover at least two semesters, either consecutive or alternating, and the last semester of the co-op needs to end before the following semester begins.
  3. Email Elisheba Van Winkle in ECE at vanwinke@purdue.edu for the next steps.