<p>My student has submitted resumes for several engineering co-op's and internships for this coming summer. He has landed a few interviews (and second interviews) and is very happy with the process so far. How much time is normally allowed to think over an offer before having to give a definitive response? It's tricky as the timing is all over the board. How do other students navigate doing this? Is it too early to commit to something now if it is one of your top choices? If you do that, do you just politely cancel your other scheduled interviews?</p>
<p>Lake Jr. also discovered that the timing of application deadlines for engineering internships at corporations is very tricky.</p>
<p>As you no doubt discovered, many companies’ deadlines for summer 2014 applications fall in November 2013. Lake Jr. is just going to play it by ear. That is, wait to hear back (hopefully with positive responses) from the firm(s), engage in interviews and ask about offer/acceptance deadlines when and if the appropriate time comes.</p>
<p>My recommendation to a student applicant is to thoroughly think about where one would like to work. A bird in hand is always good, but keep everything in context; job location, duties, etc. You mileage may vary.</p>
<p>Generally two weeks. Tell your student to be open with other companies he is talking with and to let them know if he has an offer. If they want him/her, they will make it happen.</p>
<p>CO_kid says at his college he thinks there is a guideline that prevents them from committing until mid November.</p>
<p>Just wanted to add some info from my small sample of three (son and two of his friends)…all three landed internships with large Fortune 500 companies. One was given less than 24 hours to come back with a decision (till noon the next day), one was given three days, and one was given one week to return the signed contract. So, I would say to have your company research done earlier rather than later - there isn’t a lot of time to mull things over once the offer comes in.</p>
<p>I was given a week to commit to the company by signing the terms and conditions</p>
<p>Well Southmom, at least your son and his pals now have an idea of the “corporate culture” at the firms they applied to. A company that gives you only 24 hours to make an important decision sounds like it is about as sensitive to employees needs as Mr. Potter, the dominant business owner in Bedford Falls.</p>
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<p>I think someone told me that this (or something similar) is the policy at UIUC. Seems unusual to me that the university would restrict employers like that. There’s no such policy at Michigan.</p>
<p>Anyway, it varies heavily by company (at Michigan), so heavily that you’re not going to get a useful rule of thumb. It will literally vary between a couple of days to several months. Maybe even a greater range than that.</p>
<p>As others have said, it varies widely. Last fall DD1 got her offer just before Thanksgiving and had about 10 days to decide. It was an easy decision as she had no other offer and the company was a good one. </p>
<p>This year, the same company offered her another internship but only gave her 5 days to decide. That deadline was clearly designed to have her commit before the upcoming job fairs at her school. Fortunately, she bought more time, did some interviews, got 2 more offers but quickly figured out that the first offer was the best all along. Not sure how quickly the other offers wanted responses as she turned them down immediately.</p>