The undergraduate Major in Biology at Villanova
The undergraduate Minor in Biology
Villanova's affiliated programs in the Health Professions
The Department of Biology offers its majors the opportunity to earn course credit for approved internships. A suitable internship is any intellectually challenging activity grounded in basic science that actively involves the student in the collection, analysis, and evaluation of data, or in other scholarly activities such as teaching biology. An internship typically is pursued at an off-campus site in conjunction with an extramural research or educational program. Examples of locations potentially suitable for an internship include research laboratories, field stations, zoos, aquariums, or museums. Although clinical experiences (e.g., work in physician's offices, hospital emergency rooms, or physical therapy facilities) are worthwhile, these are not suitable for internship credit, nor are enrichment activities such as non-credit courses.
In most cases, a research activity approved for internship credit will also count as a laboratory course. However, the Department will evaluate each internship for its suitability for laboratory credit. In any case, only one (1) of the upper-level laboratory courses required for the major may be filled by an internship; up to six total credits may be counted toward the 36 required of Biology majors. Any additional internship credit (up to 9, for an overall total of up to 15) must be counted as "free electives." An internship may be undertaken during either the academic year or the summer. Credits earned through an internship do require payment of Villanova tuition.
To qualify for an internship, Junior and Senior Biology majors must:
Lists of possible sites and the associated contact persons for internships:
To receive credit for the internship, the student’s performance on the journal and final report, as well as an evaluation of the student by the supervisor, must be deemed acceptable by a committee within the Department of Biology. Although the format of the final report may vary depending on the nature of the internship, a typical report should describe in detail the objectives and goals of the internship; how the objectives and goals were met; and any scientific interpretation or conclusions drawn from the experience. In the case of research projects, for example, the report should specifically include a description of the conceptual context/scope and objectives of the research, the methodology followed in the course of the research, the results obtained, and the interpretation of the results in the context of the project’s objectives.