You will obtain relevant professional experience in your field, gain insights into your strengths and weaknesses, values, likes, and dislikes. You will develop communication skills, professional and technical skills, leadership, teamwork, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. You will gain more confidence in your abilities. Experiential Education is a great way to gain valuable contacts for potential career opportunities. Some organizations will only consider candidates who have worked with them for future opportunities. 

You must be enrolled as a full-time or part-time student at the University of Kentucky. It is recommended to make a Job/Internship Search appointment with a career advisor through Handshake to discuss where you are in your search process. Start your research a full semester in advance. Organizations will determine application deadlines. Competitive positions typically have earlier deadlines. Sometimes, however, there are positions available as late as the first week of the semester.   

There are many great sources for internship opportunities: Handshake, the Career Center’s online job/internship career database; your college’s listserv or newsletter; employer websites and web sources (see the Other Resources page), and networking.  Your personal network -- including family, friends, professors, classmates, and previous employers--can help provide leads. The Career Center provides many opportunities for networking with employers, including on-campus Career Fairs, held every fall and spring, as well as employer class presentations and information sessions. Student organizations may also host employer guest speakers. If you're interested in international experiences, UK Education Abroad has resources to help jump-start your search.  

Meet with your academic advisor to determine the best semester for you. Try to do more than one if possible. That requires you to start as early as possible to have time for additional opportunities.  The more relevant experience you have, the more competitive you will be upon graduation for career positions and application to graduate and professional schools. 

Each organization stipulates requirements for determining potential candidates.  The Handshake postings will contain detailed directions and contact information.  Most organizations require formal interviews but some do not. To prepare, have your resume critiqued and do a practice interview with a career advisor. 

It is recommended to find a UK sponsor within in your academic college.  A UK sponsor may be a faculty or staff member that has taught an academic course at the University of Kentucky. Teaching assistants or graduate students may serve as a faculty UK sponsor if the supervising faculty member approves. Your UK sponsor will be your accountability partner during your experience. The sponsor will meet with you during the semester to discuss your learning outcomes and monitor your progress. Your sponsor determines your final grade based on the completion of your academic assignments and required site field hours.

A student’s field hours are hours that a student will complete for the employer in their experiential experiences. (The meetings and academic work completed for the EXP Sponsor should not be included into the field hours.) Students should use the following tasks to complete their field hours.

• Time completing required academic assignments for the EXP Sponsor.
• Time meeting with the EXP Sponsor.
• Time spent in training with the employer/organization before and during the experience.
• Time spent in professional development with the employer/organization.
• Time spent completing job duties for the employer/organization.
• Time spent meeting with the Site Supervisor.

When reviewing how many field hours a student should have recorded, they should refer to how many credit hours they requested to be enrolled into (myUK). For EXP 396/455/510/650/651 a student would use the following scale.

o    1 credit hour requires 48 field hours of work

o    2 credit hours requires 96 field hours of work

o    3 credit hours requires 144 field hours of work

o    4 credit hours requires 192 field hours of work

o    5 credit hours requires 240 field hours of work

o    6 credit hours requires 288 field hours of work

o    7 credit hours requires 336 field hours of work

o    8 credit hours requires 384 field hours of work

o    9 credit hours requires 432 field hours of work

o    10 credit hours requires 480 field hours of work

o    11 credit hours requires 528 field hours of work

o    12 credit hours requires 576 field hours of work

For EXP 397 a student is required a minimum of 220 hours as it is a Full-time work experience.

An academic credit bearing experience means that you will be enrolled in an academic credit course at the University of Kentucky for your experience. You will be charged for academic enrollment and university fees related to the credits you are being enrolled into. You will have a faculty sponsor and will complete academic course work that is not the work will complete for the employer. The academic credit will be recorded on your academic transcript.

A non-credit bearing experience means you will not be enrolled into an academic course and the experience will not be recorded onto your academic transcript. You will be able to record the experience onto your resume. 

If a student is seeking academic credit for an experience they have obtained, then most academic programs at the University of Kentucky will require the student to complete a learning contract/agreement. In some learning contracts/agreements employers will be asked to review and approve the information being provided to the university by the student.

At the University of Kentucky, we do not have a learning contract/agreement for students that are not seeking academic credit. If an employer wants to obtain an agreement, then the employer can request to complete the University of Kentucky’s Common Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The employer can obtain this form by emailing expblue@uky.edu. The process to review and approve the MOU submission will typically take 2-3 weeks from the date of receipt of the MOU from the employer.

There are several experiential education courses at UK. Check with your Academic Advisor to determine which credit option is the most advantageous for you!  At the Stuckert Career Center we offer the following courses, EXP 396/397/455/510/650/651. Within your academic department you can search the UK course catalog for courses such as PS 399, INT 399, COM 399, PSY 399, B&E 396/397, ENG Co-Op. 

When you choose to enroll into an EXP course you do have requirements to earn credit.  The following is an overview of the EXP Requirements. An in-depth review of the requirements is done at your scheduled meeting with the Office of Experiential Education.

1. Confirm Your Experience.
   1. Contact information for your Site Supervisor.
   2. Obtain your job title, description, and expectations.
2. Find a Faculty Sponsor.
   1. Discuss academic course work and obtain a syllabus.
   2. Schedule five meetings that will occur over the course of the term.
3. Scheduling a Handshake "EXP- Earning Credit" appointment.
4. Completing an EXP Learning Contract in Handshake.
   1. Faculty Sponsor and Site Supervisor will review and approve.
5. Completing the EXP First Week of School Evaluation.
6. Completing the EXP Mid-Term Evaluation.
7. Completing the EXP Common Reflection.
   1. Faculty Sponsor will receive a copy.
8. Completing the EXP Common Reflection PPT Poster.
9. Completing the EXP Academic Credit & Field Hours Form.
   1. Site Supervisor will review and digitally sign.
10. Complete the EXP End of Term Evaluation