<p>I'm currently a 3rd year at a top 15 engineering program. I got a good Summer internship offer from a good company way back in the first quarter of this year (software engineering). That company was recruiting super early: way earlier than any other companies were. They gave me a deadline on accepting that offer, so I had to accept despite the fact that I didn't have a chance to interview with any other company yet. I mean, what was I going to do? Turn it down hoping that I could get a Google internship in four months? It seemed like I had no choice but to accept it since it was a good internship and they gave me a deadline. </p>
<p>However, this is not my top choice internship and I'd really like to take a shot at some other internships. Can I do this? I didn't sign any legally binding contract, just an online thing that said I was accepting the offer. I know for a fact I could TECHNICALLY drop the internship, but would it be wrong and/or hurt my reputation in some way? Would they call neighbor companies and tell them about what a jerk I was? Clearly I would be as apologetic and nice as about it as possible if I decided to quit. This might be my last opportunity for an internship and I want to take a shot at some dream internships. </p>
<p>Did you get this internship through your career center(did the company recruit on campus)? If you did, they may have some strict policy about rescinding an acceptance. If you violate their guidelines, it may prevent you from using their service again (senior year). I would check with them first.</p>
<p>You don’t have to rescind until you have something else. Also Winter recruiting is starting to wind down, so if you haven’t already gotten a move on it your options are dropping every single day.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be rescinding until I got something else. Basically what I’m saying is I’d like to apply for some dream internships and rescind if I got a fantastically better offer.</p>
<p>Please follow #2. I am a parent (with a kid who got her internship through her school) AND I also have recruited on campus. As an employer, there were strict guidelines we had to follow, in turn, there were guidelines for students to follow too. If you were rescind on your current offer, and they took the trouble to recruit on campus, they may have an issue with it and they would let your career center know. </p>
<p>You are certainly allowed to change your mind on where you want to work, but it is something to be handled very carefully.</p>
<p>I know one person who ended up rescinding a job offer for a direct competitor of that company. Sure, she burned a lot of bridges, but she did what made sense for her. </p>
<p>That said I don’t think that rescinding an internship would be that great of an idea, especially if you don’t get a full-time offer at your “dream” employer because then you’d be out left kind of out on the rocks without your school’s career services or the company you reneged on.</p>
<p>It isn’t as big a deal to rescind an internship acceptance than for a full-time offer, BUT it is poor form to rescind your acceptance. Recruiters talk (I found that surprising), and beyond any official repercussions that you might encounter, it could be detrimental to your future job prospects, assuming you don’t sign with the company you wind up doing an internship for. </p>
<p>You are free to do what you want, but I’d advise against pursuing other opportunities after you have already accepted an offer. What this company did to you was unfair – companies are supposed to follow general guidelines regarding their recruiting, and you were given what is known as an exploding deadline. It is very unprofessional for companies to do this, but when they do you need to recognize your worth and tell them that you need to make an educated decision about the job; if you are pursuing other companies, they need to know that you won’t just roll over when they say something.</p>
<p>^^^Actually that’s not true. Companies have fall and spring recruitment. The reason is a lot of juniors go abroad or take a semester off. Most juniors do spring recruit rather than fall. There are 2 separate deadlines for fall recruit and spring recruit. OP didn’t have to interview in fall, he could have waited until spring. </p>
<p>Fall recruitment’s deadline for decision is in Nov, and Spring is mid March.</p>
<p>Whoops! Didn’t catch that. I presumed that it was a company doing interviews in December, not September. In this case, yeah, the company didn’t do anything wrong at all…</p>
<p>My son accepted his first summer internship offer in late October and then a much better offer from another company came four days later. We struggled for a few days and he went to talk to his career service counselor about it. At the end he stay with the first offer. Hopefully he will have opportunities with both companies for a full time job after he graduates.</p>
<p>If you were my kid, I would tell you to speak with someone from the career center. Be honest with them. I think they would understand why you interviewed in the Fall, and now are thinking about doing something else. They may be able to work out something that would be a win-win for everyone. </p>
<p>What you should say is that you are still very excited about the job, but you are just wondering if it is absolutely the right internship for you, then ask them what they would advise you to do. It would get them to be part of your solution. If they tell you that you have to take the job, or else…You then know where they stand. But maybe they would think it’s ok for you to look for another internship.</p>