Pre-Professional Advising

CPP Preprofessional Internship & Research Opportunities

Bio 4410 Internship for Pre-professional Track Students


Please note:  An internship site has to be pre-approved by CPP  in order for students to enroll in internship course (BIO 4410) with the internship site.  For more regarding the approval please visit the  Academic Internships for Community Partners page.   

  • For General Biology major students, up to 4 units of internship (BIO 4410) and/or research supervisory courses (BIO 2000/4000/4610/4620) can count towards your degree as Emphasis Electives. For Biotechnology majors and Environmental Biology majors, up to 4 and 9 units respectively can potentially count towards your degree as electives -  for applicability, please verify with your curriculum sheet and consult with your academic advisor. For more details on how to sign up biology research supervisory courses (BIO 2000/4000/4610/4620), please visit Biological Sciences - Undergraduate Research  page. For more details on how to sign up biology internship course (BIO 4410), please visit   Biological Sciences - Biology Internship Opportunities page and follow the additional guidelines listed below.

  • If you are Biotech Major students, you are encouraged to contact Dr. Wei-Jen Lin (weijenlin@cpp.edu) who is our Biotech Internship advisor to discuss your internship. If you are non-Biotech Major interested in healthcare related internship, please contact Preprofessional advisor Dr. Ansel Zhao ( zhao@cpp.edu).

  • Students can enroll 1 - 2 units per semester. You can enroll in the BIO 4410 internship course in any semester and you may enroll in >= 1 semester, but keep in mind that the total units that can count towards your degree are restricted, depending on your major.

  • 1 unit = 60 hours of work, or 4 hours/week for 15 weeks. 

Established Internship Sites

  • There are over 50 healthcare related internship sites that have been established for CPP students. You can download a copy of the Approved Internship Sites (PDF) for a list of established internship sites (as of 2023) .   

    • If you  would like to check and see if a previous internship provider has a current agreement on file with CPP, please search the organization at BroncoSERV, or email cce@cpp.edu with the following:

      1. Organization or Company Name
      2. Site Address – physical address of the organization or company
      3. Site Contact – including individual’s name, email, and telephone number

  • To learn more about any of the established internship site, please log into Cal Poly Pomona BroncoSERV. and search for the specific internship site you are interested in and find out the contact information for the internship site.

  • To enroll in BIO 4410, please fill out the " BIO 4410 Internship In Biology - Learning Plan (PDF)" form and follow instruction delineated in " Preprofessional BIO4410 Course Instruction (Word)" (word document will be downloaded onto your desktop upon clicking the link). The course must be enrolled prior to the regular CPP semester course enrollment deadline.

New Internship Sites

1) If you are working/volunteering at a new healthcare provider location and would like to sign up for BIO 4410 internship credit, pelase talk to your on site supervisor about establishing an internship partnership with CPP by following the guideline listed at the Academic Internships for Community Partners page.

2) Once an internship partnership has been initiated between the new site and CPP (the new site will be listed in the Program Sites posted at CPP BroncoSERV once it is approved), you can then proceed with filling out the " BIO 4410 Internship In Biology - Learning Plan (PDF)" form and follow the instruction delineated in " Preprofessional BIO 4410 Course Instruction (Word)" (word document will be downloaded onto your desktop upon clicking the link). The course must be enrolled prior to the regular CPP semester course enrollment deadline.

New!!  Opportunity to apply for Micro-internship fund!

Micro-internship Program

  • Available starting Fall 2023 until Spring 2026
  • For students who have signed up for BIO 4410 internship course and will be conducting the internship at a non-Profit organization, you are qualified to apply for a micro-internship fund for up to $600/semester (40 hrs, $15/hr). Here is how :
  1. Sign up for a BIO 4410 internship course for internship at a non-profit organization;
    • Please note: The Parker Dewey platform does not support micro-internships that require direct interaction with vulnerable populations (children and elderly). As such, any internship hours spent on direct interaction with vulnerable population cannot be paid nor posted on the Parker Dewey micro-internship job description. However, hours spent involving curriculum design/development, best practice research for programs for children/elderly from specific backgrounds/ages, analyzing survey data from program participants, etc. will qualify for the micro-internship fund. Please click the links for samples of additional 20-hour and 40-hour micro-internship tasks.
  2. Make sure that your internship organization is an approved internship/program site already listed in  BroncoSERV. If it is not, ask them to establish an internship partnership with CPP by following the guideline listed at the Academic Internships for Community Partners page. Please wait until your internship organization is searchable in BroncoSERV before you initiate the process of applying for micro-internship fund.
  3. Ask your internship supervisor to sign up and post micro-internship on  Parker Dewey.
    • Note: this is important and needs to take place before you sign up on Parker Dewey so you can search for the micro-internship during your sign-up on Parker Dewey in step 4.
    • The process should not take more than 5-10 minutes.
    • For detailed instructions on how to complete the process from creating an account to closing out a micro-internship project, please visit microinternship for industry partners.
  4. Sign up on Parker Dewey (5-minute step):
    • Create a profile (name, school, hobbies and a few other things) at Parker Dewey ( Parker Dewey Sign-Up Form).  Check out the Parker Dewey Employer/Manager Tutorial page for more information on how to navigate the platform.
    • Select your designated internship opportunity listed on Parker Dewey and apply (why step 2. must take place first).
    • Please note: even though your internship hours are likely >= 60 hrs per semester (60 hrs/semester = 1 unit), you could only be compensated for up to 40 hrs of work for $600/semester.
    • For detailed instructions on how to complete the process from creating a profile to close out your micro-internship assignment, please visit microinternship for students or student guide on Parker Dewey.
  • Contact the CPP Innovation Incubator ( innovationinc@cpp.edu) team if you or your internship supervisor have questions or need any assistance.
  • For students who have successfully applied for a micro-internship fund, you would be asked to participate in the following assessment:
    • Take pre- and post-surveys; (no more than 20 mins per survey)
    • Participate in a focus group discussion.

 

Research Opportunities at Cal Poly Pomona

Research experience could be beneficial to a student's education and career development in many different ways and is integrated into many CPP program curriculums. For example: Students in the Biological Sciences Department could sign up for BIO 4610, a research supervisory course for UG. Typically for this course, students would identify a faculty member whose research is of interest to them and then contact the faculty directly to get permission to enroll in a section of BIO 4610. Depending on specific majors and types of internship or research supervisory courses that have been taken, up to 4 units of BIO 4610 could count as 4000-level elective units towards students' degree. You can learn more about undergraduate research in the Biological Sciences department .

To join any campus-wide research programs, please check out CPP Office of Undergraduate Research website. To find out individual faculty member's research interest in different departments, please check out the links provided below.

Annual Research Scholarship Program Offered by the CSU

 1. The Presidents’ Commission Scholars program  This annual program aims to support Summer research experiences for CSU undergraduate in good standing, who are either first-year or second-year students at the time the proposal is submitted. Students will conduct biotechnology-related laboratory-, field-, clinic- or community-based research for the first time. Sponsoring faculty mentors will receive funding to support their research program.  This is a great opportunity for 1st or 2nd year students who are looking for research experiences to supplement their professional school applications. Visit CSUBiotech website for more information and questions can be directed to the CSUPERB program office at  csuperb@sdsu.edu.

2.  Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Scholars  This annual scholar is for students who are interested in Doctoral programs.  Students, including undergrads and grad students, are recommended to apply the year before their last academic year at CSU. This is a wonderful program geared towards investing in future diverse faculty! The money students receive supports professional development and application fees and preparation as well as receiving summer research opportunities.  Interested students should contact Dr. Claudia Garcia-Des Lauriers, who is the campus coordinator at CPP at  clauriers@cpp.edu.

Research Opportunities at Neaby Local Campuses

(Please contact directly faculty members or program coordinators on these campuses for research opportunitites)