Graduate Internships and Outcomes

Our students benefit from the school’s Engineering Partnership Program and the Dean’s Advisory Council. Each plays a critical role in strengthening the school’s relationships with local and national companies. Their collective participation benefits our students and their employment futures by supporting and participating in graduate networking events and our SEAS 360 Professional Development Program.

Internships play an important role in ensuring that our students are career ready and in helping them develop critical competencies that prepare graduates for this transition. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) research suggests that internship and study abroad international experiences have an overwhelmingly positive effect on career readiness in today’s global marketplace.

For international students, almost all of our school's graduate programs are eligible for a STEM OPT extension, which allows students who are in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields to stay and work in the United States for an additional 24 months after completing their degree and post-completion OPT. In fact, it is a 24-month extended period in addition to the 12 months of post-completion of OPT related to temporary training to F-1 student’s area of expertise. Approved students can receive up to a total of 36 months of OPT eligibility (12 months + 24 month extension).

Internships and co-ops are an option in most graduate programs in the school. While graduate students are eligible to complete internships anytime during their programs, there are certain restrictions for international students:

• All international students must obtain a CPT authorization prior to starting their internships/co-ops.
• Students must have been enrolled full-time for at least one academic year (two semesters) at a U.S. school in their current field of study/major unless their programs "require" participation in an internship or field placement as part of the degree programs (e.g., the Practicum track of the MS programs).
• A student who starts in the fall semester automatically qualifies for full-time CPT (40 hours/week) in the summer.
• If a student wants to do full-time CPT in fall or spring, they may be allowed full-time internship/co-op if their remaining coursework is only a thesis or project.
• If a student has any regular coursework remaining, they are allowed part-time (up to 20 hours/week) internship/co-op either locally or remotely in fall or spring. However, internship/co-op at a site outside of Buffalo is not permitted in fall or spring.

This map includes employment outcomes of all recent international and domestic Class of 2024 graduates from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Source: LinkedIn