Hi guys. I am finishing up my junior year studying electrical engineering, and have a question regarding internships.
Last year, I received an internship offer from a company, and at the time, the offer stated that the position would entail “work related to the student’s field of study.” Well when I got there, I found out quickly that a lot of the work was industrial engineering based (statistics, modeling, optimization, etc). I will say that from that experience, I learned a little about things I probably won’t explore in the traditional EE curriculum; however, having said that, it was also really boring (idk why but I have just never liked statistics since high school, and at times, there wasn’t really a lot of work for me to do). That company ended up offering me another internship, but I asked the HR department if they could instead place me in a more EE type internship, as they had asked us to specify if we wanted to work in our current department or switch departments. They said they would try to do so, but were unable to find a position for me, so I am back in the same department.
At first, I did not worry too much because I had applied to many other positions with other companies and thought maybe I could land an internship that is more EE related from some other company. However, having finished all the interviews and not receiving any second interviews or offer letters, I now realize I will probably go back there for another summer.
My question is, how much will it hurt me that while I have internship experience, none of it is really relevant to what I’m learning in class? I have a high GPA, but I only have one semester of undergraduate research experience thus far. As far as my actual EE experiences go, that’s it. I’m just starting to feel a little worried that in future interviews, I won’t have much to talk about outside of my coursework. I was really hoping for an EE internship this summer but was unfortunately unable to land one, and I guess it’s the combination of having to go back for another summer plus worrying about my credentials for job applications that is leaving me a little worried/upset.
Any help/advice/answers would be much appreciated. Thanks!