Before choosing an internship route, separate three decisions: whether the work serves your career goal, whether you can actually start it, and whether you can fund the period if the arrangement changes. For someone considering Les Roches’ MSc in Sports Management and Events, the choice deserves a written plan rather than an assumption that an internship will pay for the final semester.
This is a decision worksheet for an applicant comparing the advertised internship and thesis options. It is not a placement recommendation. Host selection, individual permission and financial fallback terms remain matters to verify for the exact campus and intake.
Start with the current programme wording
Checked on 11 October 2026, the official programme page identifies a 20-week internship or master’s thesis after the academic year. Its displayed academic content applies to 2027. One section instead refers to an Applied Project. These labels need clarification for your offer; they should not be treated as interchangeable.
The broader employer partnership page, dated July 2023, describes internships normally lasting at least six months, with flexibility by programme and company. That general description does not settle this MSc’s duration. Ask which written rule applies to your proposed host and intake.
Keep both observations on your record. Neither tells you who will select you, what you will be paid, or what happens if a suitable host is unavailable. The public programme FAQ also says jobs are not guaranteed. A university career service can provide support without being the employer that approves a role.
Define the work that would make the option worthwhile
Choose a capability you want to practise in a real workplace. For example, an applicant interested in event operations might want supervised experience managing a supplier schedule or explaining a variance in an event budget. These are illustrative goals, not verified assignments at this university or promises of managerial responsibility.
Write down what evidence would show that you had developed that capability: a reviewed process document, an analysis you can explain, or feedback on a decision. Then ask whether the proposed role would allow that learning and what you could discuss publicly afterwards. Confidential employer material is not automatically a portfolio asset.
Use the existing sports and events learning-fit exercise for the earlier academic decision. This worksheet addresses the later commitment: whether the particular work arrangement is accessible and financially manageable.
Put the approvals in the right order
Create a dated sequence with separate boxes for academic approval, host selection, the written agreement, relevant work permission and the proposed start. Leave a box unresolved until you have the applicable answer. An admission offer does not complete those later steps.
For a non-EU/EFTA applicant considering work in Switzerland, SEM’s official working FAQ distinguishes permission from an offer. Its study-related internship answer requires a residence permit for gainful employment and an internship integral to study. That general answer does not determine this optional route’s classification or your eligibility. Obtain the exact process from the institution and competent authority. A host in another country requires that country’s own check.
Do not treat ordinary student part-time permission as the answer to a full-time internship. Record the activity and destination before asking about permission. If an employer wants an earlier start, establish whether the academic and official conditions can be met before accepting the timing as workable.
Build three funding cases
First, map a confirmed internship case. Use the actual agreement to enter the start, duration, payment schedule, accommodation obligations and travel costs. A proposed wage stays outside available funds until its terms are established. Even a paid role may leave expenses due before the first payment.
Second, map a delayed-start case. Use your own chosen delay for a stress test, clearly labelled as hypothetical. Identify the housing and everyday costs that continue while you wait, and which academic dates might be affected. Ask whether you can remain in the accommodation you budgeted for, or would need a move. No delay length or local price is assumed here.
Third, map an alternative-completion case. Ask whether choosing or switching to the thesis is permitted for your cohort, who approves it, and whether there are supervision, assessment, fee or timetable consequences. An advertised thesis option does not establish an automatic remedy after a failed host search. Build this case only from the written answer, keeping missing figures visible.
For each case, separate costs you must fund from income you merely hope to earn. Reuse the full-course budget guide rather than counting a possible internship wage twice, once as living-cost support and again as money available for tuition.
Set a decision checkpoint before payment
Your one-page record should identify the exact route; the learning task you want; every selection and approval step; the written funding terms; and the alternative if the arrangement cannot begin. Add the date by which each answer is needed, based on your actual payment and housing commitments.
If a missing answer would make the course unaffordable or undermine the reason you chose it, keep the decision pending rather than filling the gap with a recruiter logo or a success story. If the thesis route independently fits your goals and confirmed resources, assess it on that basis. The project-versus-placement guide explains the general distinctions; your offer and applicable rules must resolve the specific commitment.
The useful outcome is a choice whose work, access and downside you can explain. It is not a prediction of a host offer, salary or graduate job.
