Rising Juniors/Seniors: Have They Secured Summer Internships or Are They Still Looking?

[Anonymous]

DC is rising senior at Stanford. Had choice of internships - chose a big tech company. Will receive housing and make nearly $30k for 12 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Yes, dd is interning at a well-known consulting firm. She accepted the offer in November. $30/hour.

Marketing/information systems major at a public university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, dd is interning at a well-known consulting firm. She accepted the offer in November. $30/hour.

Marketing/information systems major at a public university.

Same pay for my rising senior also consulting in Chicago.

[Anonymous]

I meant - in Chicago Not also in Chicago

[Anonymous]

There are still a fair number to f companies looking depending on the field

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, dd is interning at a well-known consulting firm. She accepted the offer in November. $30/hour.

Marketing/information systems major at a public university.

Same pay for my rising senior also consulting in Chicago.

Same pay for my rising senior at a NoVA government/military consulting firm, data science major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm freaking out that my rising senior hasn't secured an internship yet. (Internally freaking out-- I know it doesn't help him to see me freaking out-- I think he is pretty demoralized already and doesn't need me to add to it.)

He applied to many places but evidently not enough. He is super friendly and loves to chat with people so if he could just get an interview I'm sure it would go well. But he has had zero interviews.

I don't think he did the shotgun blast of applications, but instead considered each employer individually and wrote cover letters specifically targetting that employer. His GPA is OK but not great-- like 3.3.

He is thinking that he will instead get the ball rolling with getting a co-op position during his senior year. He knows he is supposed to have a real internship this summer, but I'm feeling like it may not happen and instead he will be waiting tables. It's not the end of the world-- it's just tough to see him struggling so much, especially as I'm sure he would be a great employee.

Has his school’s career center been of any help? Can he tell them to reach out to some of their contacts? Schools oftentimes work with a myriad of employers (businesses, nonprofits, government) to place interns. Even if the opportunity isn’t paid there could be some grant funding that can supplement or function solely as full wage.

Pp here. According to him, no they have been of little help. Or I guess he would say they were helpful in that they told him to do research on a special website the school runs with internship info. I suspect he figured that was plenty enough help and that he should be able to manage getting an internship without any handholding. I guess he is learning the hard way that sometimes you need to ask for help.

[Anonymous]

What I mean is that I feel like they could be more helpful and I have to wonder if he were at a nice small private school he’d be getting more attention. But to him, there is nothing wrong with the schools way of going about this. If you were to ask him who is to blame if he doesn’t have a summer internship he’d likely say 1) not having an internship as a rising senior isn’t the end of the world and 2) to the extent it’s a problem it’s his fault and no one else’s.

[Anonymous]

Chem, pre-med. Large state U. Nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I mean is that I feel like they could be more helpful and I have to wonder if he were at a nice small private school he’d be getting more attention. But to him, there is nothing wrong with the schools way of going about this. If you were to ask him who is to blame if he doesn’t have a summer internship he’d likely say 1) not having an internship as a rising senior isn’t the end of the world and 2) to the extent it’s a problem it’s his fault and no one else’s.

There's only so much a career center can do. Typically, they check kids' resumes and give advice. They give access to the internship postings on a website. And they give advice about looking for internships beyond that website. But what else can they really do? It's basically the student's responsibility to do the applications.

Depending on the student's interest area, a lot of schools have student-led clubs that help with getting internships. For instance, for consulting careers, there's probably a consulting club where students get together, have speakers from consulting firms, do case competitions, etc. And usually the older kids mentor the younger kids on the interview process (which is unique and complicated). For banking, there's probably an investment club that has a similar set of activities. But these are relatively intense experiences where you get out what you put in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chem, pre-med. Large state U. Nothing.

Why would a company give an internship to a premed student? Internships are for recruiting and pre meds want to go to med school, not get jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chem, pre-med. Large state U. Nothing.

Why would a company give an internship to a premed student? Internships are for recruiting and pre meds want to go to med school, not get jobs.

Call it, "Summer job in a field that will give useful experience or application boost" instead of "internship," then. Is that OK with you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I mean is that I feel like they could be more helpful and I have to wonder if he were at a nice small private school he’d be getting more attention. But to him, there is nothing wrong with the schools way of going about this. If you were to ask him who is to blame if he doesn’t have a summer internship he’d likely say 1) not having an internship as a rising senior isn’t the end of the world and 2) to the extent it’s a problem it’s his fault and no one else’s.

There's only so much a career center can do. Typically, they check kids' resumes and give advice. They give access to the internship postings on a website. And they give advice about looking for internships beyond that website. But what else can they really do? It's basically the student's responsibility to do the applications.

Depending on the student's interest area, a lot of schools have student-led clubs that help with getting internships. For instance, for consulting careers, there's probably a consulting club where students get together, have speakers from consulting firms, do case competitions, etc. And usually the older kids mentor the younger kids on the interview process (which is unique and complicated). For banking, there's probably an investment club that has a similar set of activities. But these are relatively intense experiences where you get out what you put in.

Pp here— Ironically, my son is very much involved in the club/ fraternity/ for his major. In fact he was elected to a leadership position in the club and maybe he is spending so much time with planning the social events that he is shorting time that should be spent on applications. 🤷‍♀️

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chem, pre-med. Large state U. Nothing.

Why would a company give an internship to a premed student? Internships are for recruiting and pre meds want to go to med school, not get jobs.

Call it, "Summer job in a field that will give useful experience or application boost" instead of "internship," then. Is that OK with you?

This. An "internship" to me is any major/career-related summer job. Not all companies that hire summer interns have any intention of hiring those students the next year.

I used to run my department's internships (unfortunately lost to budget cuts). We had an intern slot year round, three per year (summer, fall, spring). We did occasionally hire an intern because the department had one entry level role that tended to turn over every 2-3 yrs so when I needed to fill that I'd look to recent interns. But that meant the great majority were never in consideration for a FT job. But I and my colleagues were always happy to help with connections, references, resume review, etc to assist with job search.

DD just got a "summer job" in her field which she picked over an offer that was labeled an "internship" because the summer job was more closely related to her desired career path and the manager there seemed to have greater potential as a long term mentor for that field. Regardless of what it's called, to me it fits in the internship category.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I mean is that I feel like they could be more helpful and I have to wonder if he were at a nice small private school he’d be getting more attention. But to him, there is nothing wrong with the schools way of going about this. If you were to ask him who is to blame if he doesn’t have a summer internship he’d likely say 1) not having an internship as a rising senior isn’t the end of the world and 2) to the extent it’s a problem it’s his fault and no one else’s.

There's only so much a career center can do. Typically, they check kids' resumes and give advice. They give access to the internship postings on a website. And they give advice about looking for internships beyond that website. But what else can they really do? It's basically the student's responsibility to do the applications.

Depending on the student's interest area, a lot of schools have student-led clubs that help with getting internships. For instance, for consulting careers, there's probably a consulting club where students get together, have speakers from consulting firms, do case competitions, etc. And usually the older kids mentor the younger kids on the interview process (which is unique and complicated). For banking, there's probably an investment club that has a similar set of activities. But these are relatively intense experiences where you get out what you put in.

Pp here— Ironically, my son is very much involved in the club/ fraternity/ for his major. In fact he was elected to a leadership position in the club and maybe he is spending so much time with planning the social events that he is shorting time that should be spent on applications. 🤷‍♀️

That's certainly possible. Kids can underestimate just how much time a good internship search takes. DS was struggling last Fall with a class for a minor that was taking a ton of time. A month in he decided to drop it because it was keeping him from really focusing on the job search and he thought that was more important than the value a minor might add to his resume. Was a good decision - he had a great internship secured by winter break.