Most of us have been there before: You’re reading through an internship posting, and it seems like the position was perfectly crafted for you, but then you get to the last line: “Please note: You must be able to receive school credit in order to intern with us.”

If the internship happens to occur during the academic year, and you happen to be taking less than a full 18-credit course load, and the position falls in line with what you’re studying, then you may be able to pursue the internship without paying additional money to NYU (though you’ll have to add some academic work to your load, as most NYU programs require papers and class time of for-credit interns). But if you want to pursue the for-credit internship over the summer, or if you’ve already signed up for 18 credits, or if your desired internship doesn’t fall in line with your major, it might be impractically costly or even impossible to take on the position.

Some students at NYU (myself included), however, have recently discovered a loophole that has allowed us to get out of interning for credit at companies that said they required such credit. The key is a “letter of support,” signed by NYU, which an employer may accept in lieu of you receiving credit. We can’t guarantee it’ll work, but it’s worth looking into. If you don’t need the credit, this could possibly save you a good amount of money and academic work.

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