Curricular Practical Training for F-1 Students

If you wish to accept employment off-campus, you should pursue Curricular Practical Training (CPT). CPT is defined as employment which is an integral part of an established curriculum, including: “alternate work/study, internship, cooperative education, or any other type of required internship or practicum which is offered by sponsoring employers through cooperative agreements with the school.

If you are interested in pursuing this status, please review the guidelines available at the University of Michigan’s International Center’s website.

Students must:

1. Obtain an official job offer from the company.
2. Obtain approval from your research advisor (PhD students)
3. Identify a faculty member in the area of CPT.
   • For PhD students, please ask your research advisor.
   • For Master’s degree students, please ask the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies (Prof. Eniola-Adefeso).
   • Ask the faculty member to approve the project and agree to read the report that is required at the end of each term in which the student is registered for CPT. (This report MUST be sent to your graduate coordinator, not faculty, for processing.)
4. CPT Authorization Request Form

Send the following documents in a single PDF to your graduate coordinator.

• CPT Online Workshop Completion Certificate
• Academic/Faculty Advisor Recommendation Form for CPT
• Job offer letter, plus any email with job offer details (location, start date/end date) not mentioned in the offer letter. If you are a PhD Candidate, your advisor must complete Part 1 and Part 3. Additionally, your advisor must write an official letter recommending you for CPT and detail how the work is integral to your dissertation research.
• Most recent I-20
• I-94 (obtainable via www.cbp.gov/I94)
• Unofficial copy of your transcript without the registration for CPT. This is to ensure that a credit limit increase is not needed to add this course.
• Completed add/register slip adding Rackham 998*** (available at graduate program office or Registrar’s office) with the advisor’s signature.

After checking your transcript (allow 24 hours) for the addition of the CPT course, proceed to the International Center to continue the process, as outlined on their site.

After the conclusion of the CPT, you must submit a report to your grad coordinator that should be a few pages long (or however much you need), describing what you did and what results you found.