Undergraduate On-Campus Internship Fact Sheet
Marriott School of Management
Brigham Young University
What is an On-Campus Internship (OCI)?
To increase the opportunities for BYU students to gain relevant work
experience and for recruiting companies to create added exposure with
students, the BYU Business Career Center is sponsoring undergraduate
on-campus internships. Students receive academic credit while they gain
valuable real life work experience in their chosen field. Companies
receive the equivalent work output of a full time employee while they
have a semester-long interface with potential interns and full-time
employment candidates.
On-Campus Internship teams
OCI teams are made up of five undergraduate students who have expressed
interest in working on projects for the sponsoring company. One of the five
students, who has previously participated in a full time summer
internship, acts as team leader and the primary contact with the
company. Work assignments are made directly to the team leader and
he/she divides the work among the team members. Each team member works
an average of nine hours per week and the total hourly commitment of the
team is for forty-five hours per week (the equivalent of one full-time
employee). The OCI team output is consolidated and provided back to the
sponsoring company as agreed to in the project deliverables.
Responsibility of Sponsoring Companies
Each sponsoring company will need to define a key contact with whom the
OCI team leader will work directly. Work assignments are given by the
key contact on a daily, weekly, monthly, or periodic basis. While it is
possible to have semester-long projects, it will be more common for the
OCI teams to work on a series of smaller projects throughout the
semester.
What Types of Project Work Can Companies Give to the OCI Teams?
Any kind of business or management internship work can be appropriate.
We have students who are studying marketing, finance, OB/HR, supply
chain, accounting, information systems, general business, etc. Some
examples of past work projects are given below:
- Analysis of new market opportunities
- Evaluation of current organizational effectiveness
- Analysis of new business opportunities in Russia (all Russian-speaking team)
- Supply chain recommendations for more efficient alignment of
resources
- Reviewing and recommending revised design of financial and
accounting systems
- Analysis of specific industries for portfolio investment options
- Developing a marketing plan for a new product roll out
- Developing a business plan for an expanding opportunity
- Assessing the size, growth, and key characteristics of a market segment
- Assessing the viability of a new product offering into an existing
market
- Analysis associated with mergers and acquisitions activities
- Identifying where in the value chain a company should enter with a new
product offering
- Developing support materials for an organization and its internal
employee resources
- Considering portfolio options for micro-financing opportunities
Any assignments given to an employee, consultant, or contractor are
potentially appropriate.
Company Key Contact Responsibilities
First and most important is the clear description of the project and
deliverables by the key contact of the sponsoring company. The key
contact should also be available to answer questions and provide company
resources to the team as needed. The key contact should also provide
feedback to the OCI team concerning the quality and productivity of the
team's work as part of the learning experience.
Advisor and Mentor Support Available to OCI teams to Complete
Assignments
A second-year MBA student (or other appropriate graduate student) may, at
the request of the company, be hired to act as an advisor and mentor to
the OCI team. The MBA mentor will meet regularly with the team to
discuss work plans to complete assigned projects, review progress on
existing projects and provide guidance in creating meaningful result
presentations. Each of the second-year MBAs will have multiple years of
work experience after their undergraduate degree and a full time
internship following their first year of MBA study. The MBA
mentor/advisor will increase the productivity of the team, and quality
of the results, through better work plan development and recommendation
planning. Students will also have the opportunity to interface with
faculty and a program manager with over thirty years of business management
experience.
OCI Team Schedules
OCI teams are created for each of the Fall and Winter Semesters at BYU.
Fall Semester runs from September till early December and Winter
Semester runs from January till mid April. A team is created to function
for one semester, and team members receive three credit hours of university
credit. The projects are identified and communicated to the students four
to eight weeks before the semester begins and they are encouraged to state
their project preferences. We try to form the teams two to three weeks before
the semester begins, so the students can prepare for their semester-long
experience. We ask for fall projects to be submitted by July and winter
projects to be submitted by October.
OCI Project Fees and Expenses
There are no required fees to sponsor an OCI Team. If a company desires
an MBA mentor for their team we can hire one to advise the
team. Companies that desire an MBA mentor for their OCI teams are asked to
pay $1,000 in professional fees (which cover the cost of the MBA mentors
and minimal program costs). All sponsors are asked to reimburse the
school for sponsor-approved expenses necessary to complete the projects.
Expenses include items such as long distance phone calls, printing
reports, or buying research reports, etc. as approved by the company key
contact in advance. If a company does not currently have a budget to
cover the $1,000 professional fees of the team, they can apply for
a grant to cover half or all of the professional fees. We have limited
donated funds to cover these company grants, and we will apply them as
we are able to the companies that request them. Professional fees are
generally collected at the end of the semester.
How Does a Company Sign Up For an OCI Project Team?
Companies can submit OCI team requests to their key contact at the
Business Career Center, directly to Roger McCarty, Director of
Experiential Learning for the Marriott School of Management, or
(preferably) they can complete the online OCI project application.
When requesting a team the company will submit a project request
consisting of a paragraph describing the company and one or more
paragraphs indicating the project description and the project
deliverables. The application form will also ask for the category of
project work the team will do and the types of majors/concentrations
that would be useful on the team. Examples of concentrations include
finance, supply chain, marketing, OB/HR, strategy, etc. The paragraphs
will be used to communicate the available projects to the students so
they can submit their preferences for team membership.
How are Teams Formed?
Companies submit their projects and the projects are publicized to the
students. Students are given the opportunity to submit their preferences
and qualifications for the projects. Teams are created by finding the
best match between company needs and student preferences. In some cases
the companies have previous interns or students they are tracking that
they would like to have participate on their team. This is a wonderful
way for a company to get a closer look at a few good candidates, and for
students to get to know a company better as they consider working for
that company in the future. We will be very flexible in supporting
company requests for specific students to participate on OCI teams.
When and Where Do I Sign Up?
Students wishing to participate in On-Campus Internships must register
for one of the OCI options or types of project classes. The they can go
to the student applications to register for projects. The applications
will be active in November/December and in August/September. See the
following link to the
student application.
Contact Information to Submit a Project or Ask Additional Questions
Roger McCarty
Director of Experiential Learning
Marriott Business School of Management
Brigham Young University
439 TNRB Provo, UT 84602
Office: (801) 422-8928
Cell: (801) 376-0349
Fax: 422-0494
Email: Roger_McCarty@byu.edu
