Should my college senior apply to summer internships if no full-time offer yet?
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Anonymous
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DS, graduating college May 2026, is currently interning around 30 hours a week on top of school.
Doesn't love the exact department he's in (the team doesn't typically do full time offers anyway) but has been networking with other teams to see what they do. Given dire state of job market for all especially early career professionals, should he be applying to summer 2026 internships (most of them are for class of 2027 and 2028 though) given there is no full-time offer yet. He's been applying and networking about post grad jobs but no outcome yet so he was thinking having at least a summer internship locked in could be a buffer in case there is no offer to start full time right after graduation. |
Anonymous
| I've seen many internships for recent grads. Smart to include in search. |
Anonymous
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Yes, good back up plan to apply or internships.
Know a few kids who continued interning after graduating and there’s no shame in it, especially in today’s crazy market. |
Anonymous
| Just make sure the internship is open to him as a graduate. Many internships are able to be classified as such because they require at least one or two more semesters post internship |
Anonymous
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OP here.
Should he also consider applying to masters programs? He has friends already doing that as a backup in case they don’t land something by spring. |
Anonymous
Is him taking classes after graduation from college? What classes? |
Anonymous
| My company hires fresh grads as interns. They typically give them job offers at the end of the summer if they think the person is a good fit. |
Anonymous
Parent of ‘25 grad here and I’d say yes, apply far and wide, things changed so much in last 12 months and may well again. My dd and her grad cohort faced a really hard job market and the ones who had given themselves the most potential pathways have fared the best. Applying things doesn’t obligate him to anything. |
Anonymous
What industry was/is your daughter looking at and in? |
Anonymous
| If STEM, then understand that the Federal "hiring freeze" is very porous for those positions. So applying for a civil service STEM job would not be silly. Many will require US citizenship. |
Anonymous
| Depends. Some internships are only for continuing college students, not for those who graduated. |
Anonymous
Absolutely, but he may be too late for fall 2026. For example, UVA’s cut off for most masters programs was in Dec of by Jan 15. Also he needs to take the qualifying exams. I gather he is making the most of his career services office? And speaking to all of his professors? |
Anonymous
| I’ve seen many companies using recent grads for internships as pseudo contracting jobs honestly. Can lead to a full time offer. |
Anonymous
| I'd encourage him to keep focusing on a full-time nobody search, rather than splitting his time applying for internships too. He should be networking in his workplace, and also reaching out to alumni of his school on LinkedIn who work in relevant roles as well. |
Anonymous
| *job search |