For Parents of kids in Engineering - what is the internship market looking like for your student?

[Anonymous]

My DD is a junior studying Mechanical Engineering and she is getting discouraged from all of the rejections for trying to secure an internship for this summer. She has excellent grades, prior internships and leadership in clubs so I am at a loss for why she is struggling. This seems to be the case for many of her peers as well. I thought the market for CS students would be difficult but not so much for kids studying engineering. Just wondering if others are seeing this...

[Anonymous]

Maybe DCUM can suggest places to talk with.

Which flavor of MechE? Looking to intern with a PE firm? With a manufacturer? With someone working on spacecraft thermals?

[Anonymous]

Only a sophomore but agree that the internship search is concerning…trying to just support.

[Anonymous]

Has she considered applying for civil internships? There is a lot of overlap and there are fewer civil engineers graduating…

[Anonymous]

Many engineering internship offers are not out yet. That being said, sophomore last year had a prestigious internship, has one offer already for this summer and is waiting on 4 more in the next 4 weeks. Most of their friends secured spots last year as well and have noted there seem to be many more options this time around, due to being a junior as well as having a strong resume with prior experience in the field.
The most prestigious ones are highly selective and had apps due over break or shortly after. There are many less prestigious options that pay decently that are still open. Alternatively yours could secure paid research at their school or a different engineering school. Some of the standardized program-based research options(engineering REUs) are already closed for apps, though.

[Anonymous]

Possibly useful for next year....

The several government STEM internship program applications are usually due before Thanksgiving with decisions in the spring. These usually are competitive. And most are still happening.

[Anonymous]

She's looking to get into industry, ideally aerospace or robotics but has applied for positions in anything requiring a MechE major. She plans to do research if she can't secure an internship. She's been applying on LinkedIn and each job has over 100 applicants so the odds are already less than 1%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many engineering internship offers are not out yet. That being said, sophomore last year had a prestigious internship, has one offer already for this summer and is waiting on 4 more in the next 4 weeks. Most of their friends secured spots last year as well and have noted there seem to be many more options this time around, due to being a junior as well as having a strong resume with prior experience in the field.
The most prestigious ones are highly selective and had apps due over break or shortly after. There are many less prestigious options that pay decently that are still open. Alternatively yours could secure paid research at their school or a different engineering school. Some of the standardized program-based research options(engineering REUs) are already closed for apps, though.

Agree. This is a good option.

[Anonymous]

My kid is a sophomore MechE major, and both last year and this year applied to dozens of programs starting before Thanksgiving both within the college and from independent research into opportunities. Companies, government, research program. Has received only rejections and some just never reply at all. Last summer ended up taking classes to keep busy. Has a very good GPA and lots of on campus involvement. Has been working on cover letters and essays for programs in addition to all the demanding work of being in school. So I share OP’s concern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is a sophomore MechE major, and both last year and this year applied to dozens of programs starting before Thanksgiving both within the college and from independent research into opportunities. Companies, government, research program. Has received only rejections and some just never reply at all. Last summer ended up taking classes to keep busy. Has a very good GPA and lots of on campus involvement. Has been working on cover letters and essays for programs in addition to all the demanding work of being in school. So I share OP’s concern.

It will happen. Sometimes just takes a bit longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She's looking to get into industry, ideally aerospace or robotics but has applied for positions in anything requiring a MechE major. She plans to do research if she can't secure an internship. She's been applying on LinkedIn and each job has over 100 applicants so the odds are already less than 1%

I am not in this field but most advertised jobs that can be found online have hundreds of applicants. That will always be true. She should expect that. Tell her to network with alums and not to count on postings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many engineering internship offers are not out yet. That being said, sophomore last year had a prestigious internship, has one offer already for this summer and is waiting on 4 more in the next 4 weeks. Most of their friends secured spots last year as well and have noted there seem to be many more options this time around, due to being a junior as well as having a strong resume with prior experience in the field.
The most prestigious ones are highly selective and had apps due over break or shortly after. There are many less prestigious options that pay decently that are still open. Alternatively yours could secure paid research at their school or a different engineering school. Some of the standardized program-based research options(engineering REUs) are already closed for apps, though.

These sound like great outcomes? What school? Do you think career services is good there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Possibly useful for next year....

The several government STEM internship program applications are usually due before Thanksgiving with decisions in the spring. These usually are competitive. And most are still happening.

Parent of an engineer. Many govt ones are not due until January. Nasa still has one that has not passed the deadline; there may be others open. Our kid asked upperclassmen and professors and even recent alums and did a ton of searching. Profs review resumes as does the career center. Friends have done the same: talk to everyone and gather ideas early in sophomore year, then reassess at the start of junior year depending on what one did after sophomore year. None of them have had much of a problem finding internships —all had success summer 2025 and are on track for summer 2026, though decisions are not out for many of the competitive programs yet. All have professor connections that they will levy as a backup if they do not get a top offer. None of them did the linked-in job search. It is too low-yield.

[Anonymous]

^ivy for engineering but have friends at another ivy, CMU, and hopkins who have hd similar success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has she considered applying for civil internships? There is a lot of overlap and there are fewer civil engineers graduating…

+1. My CivE freshman had 3 internship offers for this summer.