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

[Anonymous]

My DC is a MechE major at a top 20 school. Really wants aerospace internships. But hasn't had any luck there. But DC applied broadly both last year and this year and has gotten internships at Fortune 500 energy companies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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...

She needs to target smaller companies. We were always hiring interns for paid positions. We were a small firm of about 6 engineers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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...

She needs to target smaller companies. We were always hiring interns for paid positions. We were a small firm of about 6 engineers.

Where do you and other small firms advertise your internship opportunities?

[Anonymous]

Just sent a text to my Junior to see if she has applied to any internships yet…ChemE at Ivy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid never interned...summers were busy.
She is now a well paid engineer at a defense contractor

If she only has a BSE and none of her summer work related at all to stem /engineering then she must be more than 5 yrs out, likely 10 yrs out. That is not how it works anymore. They need at least one summer stem job or research, unless they have extensive research or a local internship during the school year. The good news is that there are many paid engineering related jobs for college students, in government or industry or through universities. As long as they have above a 3.5 and do not target only the competitive ones, they are not hard to get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just sent a text to my Junior to see if she has applied to any internships yet…ChemE at Ivy.

All my ivy kid’s engineering friends spent thanksgiving to Feb 1 applying to all the big ones and most have either secured backup research positions or applied to “backup” ones that admit 30-40% of applicants. They all had paid engineering jobs after sophomore year; this year has proven easier so far with fewer cancellations and cuts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are many Engineering internships but the best ones already closed applications

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is Comp Eng at Brown, also having a very difficult time finding a summer internship. Has sent out tons of apps, that's about all he did over Christmas break. Still nothing, planning on doing research over the summer unless something pops up. It's tough out there

I was wondering if there was a difference in opportunities for Engineering students based on Engineering Program ranking?

In DC’s experience, being at a top 5 program has yielded better results than friends at other schools. DC did a coop for first semester sophomore year, then an internship summer before junior year. DC was asked back by both companies for this summer. DC also made it to second interviews at some very selective internships, based upon his school and prior internship experience.

Many of DC’s friends do not have any internship experience. The career fairs at their schools have not resulted in summer jobs. These are students at Pitt, PSU, Auburn, VT, and GMU. I recommend considering coop opportunity. It may push graduation back a term, but students gain valuable experience and industry connections.

DC is in various consulting and engineering specific groups at his school. Many of his peers have gained internships through the group's connections with industry. This is another way I think top ranked programs out perform lower ranked schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just sent a text to my Junior to see if she has applied to any internships yet…ChemE at Ivy.

All my ivy kid’s engineering friends spent thanksgiving to Feb 1 applying to all the big ones and most have either secured backup research positions or applied to “backup” ones that admit 30-40% of applicants. They all had paid engineering jobs after sophomore year; this year has proven easier so far with fewer cancellations and cuts

Research job last summer which was fine. Her engineering friends did not all have internships last year- a lot of regular kid jobs. Kid has not mentioned it, so likely not a big cause of stress in her friend group. I think they will all be OK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My experience as a parent of CS kid...apply in Fall. Waiting for Christmas break is already too late.

Also, a misstep by my kid. He did not finish a semester early like the rest of his friends. They had jobs lined up and they started at the end of first quarter.

Thankfully, my kid did get a good job based on his three internships.

I think the same is true for engineering students. Internships are super important, you need to start applying in Fall, and also try to be a semester early applying for jobs so that you are not in the market with the rest of your cohort.

+1 And apply to a lot, like 100+. I think DC started applying at the end of summer, even.

-parent of another CS major kid at a state flagship with five internship offers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is Comp Eng at Brown, also having a very difficult time finding a summer internship. Has sent out tons of apps, that's about all he did over Christmas break. Still nothing, planning on doing research over the summer unless something pops up. It's tough out there

I was wondering if there was a difference in opportunities for Engineering students based on Engineering Program ranking?

In DC’s experience, being at a top 5 program has yielded better results than friends at other schools. DC did a coop for first semester sophomore year, then an internship summer before junior year. DC was asked back by both companies for this summer. DC also made it to second interviews at some very selective internships, based upon his school and prior internship experience.

Many of DC’s friends do not have any internship experience. The career fairs at their schools have not resulted in summer jobs. These are students at Pitt, PSU, Auburn, VT, and GMU. I recommend considering coop opportunity. It may push graduation back a term, but students gain valuable experience and industry connections.

DC is in various consulting and engineering specific groups at his school. Many of his peers have gained internships through the group's connections with industry. This is another way I think top ranked programs out perform lower ranked schools.

At the top privates with engineering(MIT, stanford, ivies, hopkins, CMU) coops are NOT needed. They all graduate in 4 yrs unless they choose a 4+1 masters. The students almost always get internships after sophomore year, sometimes freshman. By junior year they have much more experience than a coop would give.
Research or startup participation is available on campus through professors and their industry contacts. The students get into Top-20 phD easily or are hired by industry and top tech consulting if they choose that route. MBB recruit on campus and target the engineering students, even this cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is Comp Eng at Brown, also having a very difficult time finding a summer internship. Has sent out tons of apps, that's about all he did over Christmas break. Still nothing, planning on doing research over the summer unless something pops up. It's tough out there

Brown is not great for engineering. For students who want ivies plus engineering you need Princeton Penn Harvard or Columbia, plus Cornell if one is ok with more of a large cohort/public feel.
Yale is up and coming and has invested $ in it the past 10 yrs.
Brown and Dartmouth do not have the world class research base needed to get the top professors and industry connections.

[Anonymous]

I am not the poster but wanted to say no one asked for your opinion about Brown. It offers accredited programs and that is what is most important when it comes to engineering. Brown has a very small engineering school so its metrics are impacted when it comes to rankings etc.

[Anonymous]

FYI, if you go on the MIT subreddit there are students recent grads having trouble finding jobs so there is that too.

[Anonymous]

I'm the parent of the Brown student- yes, we realized it wasn't the most highly ranked program when he applied, but did figure that it was accredited and he'd be fine even if he decided to switch majors. He also looked at Penn, MIT, JHU, CMU but fell in love w/Brown and decided to ED. Sometimes I wonder if its ranking in engineering has been a barrier to securing an internship, but on the other hand, he's having an absolutely amazing college experience and has been very involved in clubs, a club sport and was able to study abroad. So hopefully it will all work out, no guarantees in life but I do feel confident he'll end up gainfully employed. And he loves his department and professors.