<p>Im a high school senior who will attend college this fall. To utilize the summer holiday, Im thinking about finding an internship in the field of engineering. Im good at physics and math, but I dont have any knowledge about engineering. So the question is whether it is possible for high school graduates to find an engineering internships or not. If yes, what can they do?</p>
<p>It's not at all likely that you'll find an internship as a high school senior. Have you considered volunteering to take on a role at a company that's in an area of engineering that you find interesting? A larger company may not have something available like this (but you could always ask the HR rep there), but a smaller company may allow you to shadow and work with a resident engineer to see what the job responsibilities would be. Who knows, you might be able to list it on your resume as a 'roll-your-own' internship.</p>
<p>I've never heard of that, 21th Engineer. I only got a single offer as a freshman here, and I applied to probably 50 different places. Ended up turning down that offer because it wasn't nearly technical enough (I just don't have the upper-level technical skills yet to really do much). Just one of my friends got an offer, too (a single offer). His was maybe a bit more technical but its still a lot of ***** work.</p>
<p>So anyway, (1) you are thinking about this way too late, most companies have deadlines in March of earlier for summer intern applications, and (2) as a high school senior you really don't stand much of a chance at getting a real internship.</p>
<p>Try shadowing. You might even be able to get with different engineers to see different areas of the profession. First of all, it is really late to find an actual internship. Most people are already hired and will be working very soon. Also, I noticed that quite a few companies only want engineering students with a year or two of college under their belts.</p>
<p>I see. Is non-technical internships/volunteer in other field still Help me in the future? Is it worth to only gain some social experience at the expense of part-time job, in which I can earn some money?</p>
<p>I definitely think shadowing or volunteer work is valuable. High school students (and college students too) don't really know what goes on in the actual workplace. You have to go to the workplace and LOOK! If you go to a particular kind of job and love it, great! If you go to a particular kind of job and hate it, even better...then you know one type of work or one type of work environment you DON'T want to do. Any knowledge you gain will benefit you.</p>
<p>Any social skills you can sharpen will only help you also.</p>
<p>I second ikf725 - any job, any stupid job in an engineering environment teaches the culture and standards of the profession. </p>
<p>High Schoolers learn huge amounts just working with adults in a WORK environment. Who cares if you're just making copies or cleaning the tow tank!</p>
<p>And don't underestimate the value of a summer job in a car/airplane repair place or metal fab/electrician/carpenter job. One of the greatest concerns of Engineering school deans is that today students arrive with great academics, but no idea of which end of a screwdriver to use. Example, Umass engineering had to turn to the local tech school to build the form for their concrete canoe. None of them knew how to use power tools. </p>
<p>Engineers - get your hands dirty.</p>