<p>Just curious as to how your college freshmen have successfully landed paid summer internships. Did they find a listing online, learn of an opportunity through the college career center or campus job fairs, or rely on personal networking? What worked?</p>
<p>D had a nice internship last summer that she can return to if needed, but wants something different for this year. It's late in the game, she knows, and deadlines have passed for some programs. Still, after hours looking online, she found little that was applicable. Many internships were not for the summer, or they were unpaid, or they required more years of college or higher level courses in a major. </p>
<p>Also, a related question regarding internship requirements: do you think AP courses would count as undergraduate courses? One internship program requires a certain number of classes in the field. D is short, unless she can count her AP classes.</p>
<p>As an underclassman, you really just need to get lucky or know someone. What major is your daughter? Some industries don’t often hand out paid internships, while in others it is expected.</p>
<p>I didn’t get an internship the summer of my freshman and sophomore years despite much effort. My friend got one as a freshman without too much effort, because of her perfect first semester GPA.</p>
<p>Paid internships are difficult to come by, even for jrs and srs - - that’s why a growing number of schools give grants allowing students to work at unpaind internships and “earn” some money during the summer (summer income contrib is often factored into need-based aid). </p>
<p>Your D’s AP class might count as college courses if she actually rec’d college credit for them, as reflected on her transcript (not just the fact that she sat for the AP exam and rec’d a score of 4/5).</p>
<p>After his freshman year, my S had a restaurant job. He loved it, it was a great growth experience, and it is good to have a job that requires fairly intense work and customer service on your resume. After his sophomore year, he had an internship that paid a small stipend. He was lucky to have a personal connection that got his foot in the door, but not the kind of connection that guaranteed his hiring. The job was more related to his field of interest and also was a good resume builder. This year he’s doing a summer study abroad program for six weeks and I hope will be using those restaurant skills to earn some money before he goes!</p>
<p>My advice: Find something, anything, that makes productive use of your time and ideally results in a good reference from an employer (paid or volunteer). Invest some time in applying for internships, if you can find them. But be prepared to pound the pavement for another job–retail, restaurant, babysitting, volunteering, etc.–as a backup. It’s still a tough job market out there.</p>
<p>I agree that much depends on the field the student wants to work in. After his 1st year in college, S returned to the job he had done summer of his JR & SR years in HS–working at a summer science & afterschool program. He enjoyed it a lot & it allowed him to destress. It is very tough to find internships after only one year of college.</p>
<p>With the tough economy, it’s increasingly tough to get any PAID internships and she may have to try for a volunteer position for the experience & to position herself for future opportunities.</p>
<p>One kiddo was able to get a summer internship based on family connections when an underclassman. She said it was the toughest thing she ever did–worked very, very long hours doing tedious work but it was good experience and really helped her resume. (She hopes never to have to transcribe 12 hours of interview tapes of people mumbling ever again). </p>
<p>Our other kiddo found his own internship job (EE) through a friend he knew from 8th grade who was working in a lab but would be gone for the summer. Both were happy to have S fill in so the job would be available when the friend returned to resume it & S returned to his U. The next year, he applied much sooner & more broadly & was happy to land a paid internship with NASA, which he feels was helpful to him in getting a full-time job with the federal government upon graduation.</p>
<p>STEM students with high GPAs and previous work experience (related or unrelated) have a good shot at a lot of the NSF paid research internships. You can find these via Google. At least one of the pharma companies in the Boston area usually has a lot of internships for bio/chem students too.</p>
<p>Since she’s only a freshman, she hasn’t declared her major yet. But she is interested in economics, public policy, and environmental science. Her work experience relates more to the latter two fields than to business. She took AP Economics in high school, but hasn’t taken any college econ. courses yet. (working on distribution requirements and math pre-requisites at present)</p>
<p>Econ internships are generally unpaid, especially if they’re dealing with public policy (at least in my friends’ experiences). I’m a computer science major, so paid internships are the norm in my field, but even my junior-year friends have issues getting paid internships in some other fields.</p>
<p>TheGFG–my adult kids do environmental canvassing, which is part fund-raising but also environmental advocacy and education. (D was a government major in college.) They hire summer staff which is generally college kids, and the office director will work with the student to turn the job into an internship if possible. It’s tough work, but my S and D do it full time and really like it.</p>
<p>I went on google and found that the EPA has internships but the application deadline was in early January. Many internships have deadlines in January, February and March and it’s best to start looking at them at the beginning of the winter break.</p>
<p>The Student Career Experience Program at EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) provides students with paid internship employment leading to non-competitive appointment to the target position upon successful completion of at least 640 hours of on-the-job training and receipt of their degree. Applications must be received by January 14, 2011 for consideration for the summer 2011 positions. Positions during the school year are limited in number and cannot be timed to coordinate with academic schedules. Students may apply for positions in a variety of job series located as noted:</p>
<p>DD is a freshman neuroscience major and found a list online of various internships throughout the United States. Many were only open to upperclassmen but did end up applying to 9. While chances are slim, her department chair encouraged her to apply anyway on the “nothing ventured, nothing gained” premise. If none of these work out this summer, she will apply again in future years.</p>
<p>Thanks all. BCEagle91: I had already looked at the EPA site and found some grant-based internships whose deadline is in a few weeks. Of the few that were open to students below junior year, these required 4 undergraduate courses in a field related to the research topic, eg. air pollution.</p>
<p>garland: my D applied for an environmental canvassing job for last summer, and landed a team leader position. However, then she got a better job offer and had to decline it. A friend took it, though, and told her it was a shady operation. He left, as did another student we know. But it looked like it could have been a nice thing to do under the right supervisors!</p>
<p>Paid internships are highly prized and not always easily obtained. Yet internships can offer important learning opportunities and sometimes future employment. In our family, one student did an internship (unpaid) during the summer and earned money in the off hours. Her area of interest does not routinely offer paid internships. It was busy, but worthwhile. She did receive course credit. It worked because expenses were minimized by the student living at home. If it doesn’t have to be a formal internship program, consider any networking options in the field of interest. Maybe arrangements can be made that is a great experience, but not an internship.</p>
<p>AP Courses don’t count as undergraduate courses. </p>
<p>The for those that have just completed freshman year, the best way is to try to look for a family friend or colleague or some other connection who might have an opening at their business. Don’t aim too high, the first internship should be something strictly to build on, and if it’s just barely in your field of interest, that’s ok. I was a poli-sci major and I did my first internship in the local district office of a congressman (of a different party than my own), writing letters and answering phones 3 days a week. Then I worked a part time job the other days of the week. Good summer, great building block. </p>
<p>Once you get to Sophomre and above, start early, apply widely, and take advantage of your student career centers to find alums in your area of interest who might be able to help you. Also use whatever resources the career centers provide. Don’t assume you know how to write a cover letter or a resume, because hardly anyone does, so make sure you have those reviewed by the career center early on. </p>
<p>As for funding, that’s hard to come by unless you can qualify for NSF funding or a major internship with one of the big firms in your field. Try to get a grant from your school or else try to intern closer to home or try to intern only part time. Remember that internships usually have strictly limited hours, so you may be able to get another job to supplement your income. I made good money babysitting while I interned, because it was flexible work that paid well and usually took place in the evenings after I was finished. </p>
<p>Most of all, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. High level internships like DeutscheBank or the State Department or major publishing houses are highly competitive. Even if you are a great student, there are probably ten or more out there just like you. So try to find places where you can have some kind of inside help and also don’t be too picky. You never know where something will lead and any kind of experience you can garner, even if it’s not your top choice, will be beneficial.</p>
<p>gfg–there are definitely canvassing places which shill for the highest bidder. The one my kids work for is connected to one major, well-known and respected organization. They work on long-term, deep level campaigns, and she knows the top state organizational leaders, the kind of folks who are go-to for quotes on in-state enviro issues (like they might be quoted on Christie’s vetoing of the LNG terminals off the cost of NJ today, which they’ve been working on). Unfortunately, the more shady operations get confused with those with integrity.</p>
<p>Re ways to find “internships.” Not an official internship, but DS found a paid position in his field (Engineering) simply by going online to one of the (few) tech firms in our home state. He did this quite late, btw… he was already home for the summer after his sophomore year. They snapped him up literally within hours of his submitting his online application. IDK if it was actually called an “internship”, but it was a job listing targetted to current college Engineering students and for the summer. It paid somewhat less than what a couple of his peers were getting for house painting jobs that summer, but was… of course… golden. Certainly he felt it was a key part of what helped him have more than one offer post-graduation in the horrible 2009 economy.</p>
<p>So cast around all different ways for companies of possible interest, not just official “intern” programs, I’d suggest. And don’t ever think it is “too late.”</p>
<p>Your D might be better off just finding a job at a local “green” company, or something of the sort. It’ll give her experience and $$, and they’re probably more likely to hire a freshman.</p>