GENS 200/400

Professional Experience and Community Service (1-3 units)

Course Description

General Studies 200 (GENS 200) and 400 (GENS 400) courses offer SDSU students the opportunity to receive up to six units of credit applicable to the bachelor’s degree for their participation in an internship or community engagement experiences. The purpose of the program is to provide community engaged experiences for students in departments or schools that do not have formal internship or community-engaged learning programs. Credit may be applied toward fulfillment of major or minor requirements only with the approval of the department chair or designee.

Student Enrollment Checklist

Download GENS 200-400 Student Enrollment Checklist PDF

Initial Steps for all Students

• Step 1. Meet with your major advisor to discuss whether there is an option for you to receive academic credit through your major. If not, continue to step 2. 
• Step 2. Secure a work, internship or service placement. Information on how to find and secure an placement can be found on the Career Services website.
• Step 3. Complete the Course Application.
• Step 4. Send your employment/internship offer letter (on an official company email or stationary with physical address, websites, etc.) to the course instructor.
• Step 5. Complete the SDSU Student Release of Liability Waiver sent by the course instructor (Adobe e-Sign).
• Step 6. The course instructor will review campus records to see if your employer has an approved Service Learning Agreement (SLA) on file with SDSU General Studies. If they do not,  the course instructor will work directly with your organization to complete the two required forms: 1) Internship Site Questionnaire (ISQ) and 2) Service Learning Agreement (SLA). You can help this process by alerting your supervisor to expect these forms. You will not be provisioned permission to add the course until steps 1-6 are complete. 

Steps Based on Track

Track B: GENS 200/400 Course Content (most common)

Students whose placement is off campus, or on campus with a faculty member who is unable to develop and/or supervise the academic component of the course. Students complete the course under the supervision of the GENS 200/400 instructor, as outlined in this syllabus. The GENS 200/400 instructor determines the student’s final grade. There are no additional steps for Track B students. 

Track A: Faculty Contract (less common)

Students complete the academic work outlined in the Faculty/Student Contract rather than the assignments and assessments outlined in the general GENS 200/400 syllabus, and may disregard most course communications. The faculty mentor determines the final grade in the course, and communicates that grade to the course instructor. This track is appropriate in the following scenarios:

1. Students have a placement on-campus with a faculty mentor AND the faculty mentor is willing to supervise both the professional experience AND develop/supervise academic work required for academic credit (e.g. readings, assignments). 
2. Students are repeating the course for credit (have taken Track B already). Course instructor serves as faculty mentor to develop an alternative curriculum.

• Step 7. Work with the SDSU faculty mentor to complete the Faculty/Student Contract and submit the completed contract to the course instructor. This step may happen concurrent to steps 1-7.

Additional Steps for International Student

Once all of the above steps are complete, and the course instructor has provisioned your permission to enroll in the course, international students must complete a final step. 

• Step 8. Complete the Curricular Practical Training (CPT) Form and send it to the course instructor for their signature. The form will be returned to you so that you can submit the completed form to the International Student Center. You may not work at your placement until the CPT Form has been fully processed (please confirm with the International Student Center).

Final Information 

• The course instructor may ask to meet with you to discuss your placement at any point in this process. Failure to respond to requests to meet/discuss may delay your enrollment.
• Adding the course late is at the discretion of the course instructor for compelling reasons. Students will be required to follow the Late Schedule Adjustment procedures. 
• The enrollment process can take up to two weeks or more, so please plan ahead and respond promptly. If you have not received permission to enroll, or you have not heard anything from the course instructor for 14 days, feel free to reach out for an update.