Our department supports international students who major in Sociology via Curricular Practical Training (CPT) courses. For more information on the CPT process generally, please visit the College Office CPT page: https://www.college.upenn.edu/cpt.
Eligibility:
Students must have declared the major and been enrolled at Penn for at least a full academic year before using CPT. CPT authorization is mandatory to pursue off-campus employment.
Important policy and timing considerations:
- For summer internships/employment (starting Summer '25), students must enroll in COLL 0050, 'Theory and Practice of Work,' during the summer of their internship/employment. This course is a designated summer online asynchronous course and does not incur tuition or fees. This course can count as an elective towards your degree, but not towards our majors. Requirements will be detailed by the instructor(s) of the course.
- For internships during the fall or spring semesters, students need to concurrently enroll in either a related independent study or a content course.
- Students should register for the class they intend to use for CPT during advanced registration or early during add-drop. The College Office cannot approve CPT for a class you are not enrolled in at the time of seeking approval. Students need to have CPT approval before starting work.
- Additional course requirements:
- You CANNOT DROP your CPT course.
- The CPT course MUST be taken for a grade (no P/F).
- The CPT course must fulfill a degree requirement.
- The CPT course must fulfill a major requirement.
For CPT During the Academic Year, [Late] August through May - Students can choose from the following options
- Complete an independent study under the supervision of a Penn faculty member. Normal independent study policies apply (i.e., it is the student’s responsibility to negotiate the scope of work and grade determination for the semester with the instructor). Once an instructor has agreed to supervise the study, the student must reach out to the Sociology office (sociology-staff@sas.upenn.edu) to request enrollment in SOCI 3998: Independent Study.
- Complete a course offered by the department that relates to your internship/employment. In addition to the normal expected work for the course, the CPT student must complete an additional 2-page reflection paperdirectly linking the content of the course to their internship/employment.
Steps for obtaining CPT approvals and satisfying requirements:
- Reach out to Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies, Dr. Marcus Wright (marcuswr@sas.upenn.edu) in the semester before you plan to use CPT for work to discuss your plans regarding what class you plan to use to satisfy course requirements.
- Provide a copy of your offer letter from your employer.
- Register for course.
- While instructor approval is not required, as a courtesy email the course instructor at the start of the semester informing them that you will be taking the course to satisfy a CPT requirement, and that no additional work will be required on their part.
- On or before the last day of classes of the semester, submit your 2-page reflection paper, tying your work experiences to the material covered in class, to Dr. Wright for approval.