How is it going for college freshman getting internships for the summer?

[Anonymous]

My freshman is going to go back early for summer school so just a regular job for him this year.

[Anonymous]

Mine didn't bother.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is hard to determine if any colleges do a better job than the next with respect to helping kids get internships/jobs.

Seems like in one breath someone will say my kid is at a top 10 and got this great job…but in the next the kid applied to 400 internships online.

I gather the strength of the program helped the kid get interviews and land the job…but it’s not like they got the job through career services or an on-campus job fair.

It almost seems like there is an inverse between school prestige and how much the school feels it is a primary function to help their students get jobs.

No, it isn't about the school; its about what the kid can show the potential employer. If you are at MIT, but have zero code to show, you are not as interesting as the kid from Wherever U with a strong online portfolio of work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:after going thru it twice, I won’t say frosh summer “internship” is mandatory, but that first internship is certainly a critical one - whether it’s frosh soph or junior year - as it is the first step in a progressive process. Landing something good frosh year - like my DC did this year, and older bro didn’t do a couple years back - will presumably allow that to act as a stepping stone to something better next year. Kinda sux these kids can’t be lifeguards or work in a bagel shop like I did for 4 summers, but is what it is

They still can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is hard to determine if any colleges do a better job than the next with respect to helping kids get internships/jobs.

Seems like in one breath someone will say my kid is at a top 10 and got this great job…but in the next the kid applied to 400 internships online.

I gather the strength of the program helped the kid get interviews and land the job…but it’s not like they got the job through career services or an on-campus job fair.

It almost seems like there is an inverse between school prestige and how much the school feels it is a primary function to help their students get jobs.

No, it isn't about the school; its about what the kid can show the potential employer. If you are at MIT, but have zero code to show, you are not as interesting as the kid from Wherever U with a strong online portfolio of work.

Yeah, I get it. Would be interesting which college career services seem to more actively help all students (from Frosh on up) secure internships vs. more passive ones.

[Anonymous]

To be fair, scoring an internship freshman year reflects more on college's career services and parent's social connections, less on student's IQ or academic strength. For a student with no help from parents or school, it takes good luck and lot of hustling to get one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s more common for a freshman not to have an internship than the other way around.

This^.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To be fair, scoring an internship freshman year reflects more on college's career services and parent's social connections, less on student's IQ or academic strength. For a student with no help from parents or school, it takes good luck and lot of hustling to get one.

Not true in my older kid's case. Did it all on their own.

[Anonymous]

My daughter will work her summer job from last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To be fair, scoring an internship freshman year reflects more on college's career services and parent's social connections, less on student's IQ or academic strength. For a student with no help from parents or school, it takes good luck and lot of hustling to get one.

Not true in my older kid's case. Did it all on their own.

Same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My freshman DS got an internship in cyber security with one of the government contractors because my sister is an SES level with the fed. She called one of the PMs and asked and DS got hired for this '24 summer. It is an eleven weeks internship and the pay is $40/hr.

This is an ethics violation and she could be fired for using her federal status to gain advantage for her family.

Yep, ethics violation.

I work in recruiting at a government agency and did not use my own access to get my college kid an internship. My applied through usajobs at a different agency and got the job through their own effort.

People do that all the time, and nobody that I know of has ever been fired. It is rampant in both government and private sectors[b].

But in the government, it is unethical/illegal. (Nepotism in the private sector may or may not be illegal/unethical, depending on the situation. But in the government, it is unethical/illegal.)

Do you think government contractors are not the private sector? Um. I would say at least 75 percent of kids I know with internships or who I have hired as interns have been through some connection - friend of a friend, or old neighbor or whatever. It's annoying but its the way the world works. While plow through 100 resumes when the smart neighbor kid you've known for 6 years is looking? Human relationships matter a lot. Thus, make human relationships.

[Anonymous]

This is how DD landed her internships:

Three years in high school - did unpaid volunteer projects with a family friend who works for a HHS nonprofit and also runs her own nonprofit on the side. Also held a very part time job for spending $.

Freshman year - worked and also taught/supervised more junior (high school) level interns at the side-nonprofit; applied for and received a scholarship in recognition of her unpaid work (or, she could/should have sought academic credit for it).

Sophomore year - landed a paid internship at a mid level corporation in the same general area of business as the HHS nonprofit.

Junior year (now) - applying for paid summer internships with fed govt or higher-level corporation; hopefully that will lead to a post-graduation offer.

[Anonymous]

Tough even for a sophomore

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tough even for a sophomore

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My freshman DS got an internship in cyber security with one of the government contractors because my sister is an SES level with the fed. She called one of the PMs and asked and DS got hired for this '24 summer. It is an eleven weeks internship and the pay is $40/hr.

This is an ethics violation and she could be fired for using her federal status to gain advantage for her family.

Yep, ethics violation.

I work in recruiting at a government agency and did not use my own access to get my college kid an internship. My applied through usajobs at a different agency and got the job through their own effort.

People do that all the time, and nobody that I know of has ever been fired. It is rampant in both government and private sectors.

I'm sure this is what Fani Willis told herself when she got her boyfriend Wade his job paying $650,000