<p>^^^Congrats, momreads! We are hopeful that once son gets his degree, he may actually be able to land an internship. If not, he’ll spend the summer traveling and spending time at home before heading off, hopefully, to grad school. Don’t know what the future will hold, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he does research again next summer.</p>
<p>I think REU’s are fabulous…you get a paid, housing is provided, and usually money for travel costs. </p>
<p>Usually housing is on campus, so you don’t need a car.</p>
<p>The experiences are awesome, but so is the networking with all the new folks you meet from all over the country. Both of my sons keep in contact with the people they met during their REU and VIGRE (math) programs. </p>
<p>For those who don’t know what REU’s are… the NSF provides grants to various research univs across the nation for these summer programs. The univs are expected to accept students from all over the country (they’re not supposed to load up with their own undergrads and would likely lose funding if they did). </p>
<p>These programs last 10-12 weeks and are both research and fun. the directors understand that this is summer and are usually very good about being social directors as well as research directors. BBQ’s, bike rides, hikes, trips to the beach, etc, are all part of the agenda. </p>
<p>Often there’s a “family lunch” at the beginning and a “family dinner” at the end. At the family lunch, each student is introduced so you get to see where everyone is from. You’ll see everyone from ivies, to flagships, to LACs, etc.</p>
<p>When I first saw this thread, I realised that you can interpret “find” two ways. My S ‘found’ this summer’s eng’g internship experience not entirely as he expected…but that’s another story. ;)</p>
<p>He ‘found’ his internship in the first place by using indeed.com (which was mentioned above). You have to use several different variations on the the search theme ‘intern’, like keywords intern, internship, engineering intern, intern/co-op, co-op, coop, and so forth - it recognises spellings very narrowly (IMO). He started looking at Christmas (after having gone to the on campus eng’g fair in the fall). Even though there are not always internships listed, sometimes just the eng’g jobs in general give you a flavor of what companies there are in your geographical area…and what jobs might be called for future reference…so, for example, the company my S worked for this summer did not have an internship listed, but they were looking for a more experienced person. With some sleuthing, he discovered that the company actually had an internship program (but just weren’t advertising it). He sent off a resume, stating that he was not yet qualified for the job that was advertised, but he was interested in learning more about the internship program. After ~3 months, he was contacted over Spring Break for this summer.<br>
So, my advice is to not completely give up on internet postings - you can gather a lot of information about what companies are offering (even if you yourself do not yet qualify for the positions they have). Like Malanai’s S, whose journey was documented elsewhere to landing a great job offer, putting in the TIME is a big factor to success in finding work. Time spent researching various companies and narrowing the search down is always time well spent, IMO.</p>
<p>Secondly, there is another online service to try, which is AfterCollege.com. Like a clearing house for scholarships (think ■■■■■■■■■■), this clearing house is for jobs. Based on a profile that you create, you can pick from a variety of industry-wide parameters, and even select specific companies that you want to work for. The site will automatically send you emails when those companies you are following have posted new jobs. Just last week, S got an email about a Boeing internship. From experience, these are only publicly listed for the minimum 3 days, and then they’re gone, so he applied straight away. This is for NEXT summer (already!), 2014. Kind of scary that that company is getting this organised so early, but it is what it is. Fingers crossed that he hears back.</p>
<p>As far as work experience goes, I think most students can fit in something during the school year on campus that will look great on a resume: tutoring, research, lab work, UA dept work, etc. Even a few hours a week is good. Professors are helpful in finding students work. As long as it is tied to your field of study, it is time well spent. UA has a virtual plethora of stuff that can be put on a resume, esp volunteer and community service work, as well as many organisations or chapters of nation-wide organisations that are industry-specific in the eng’g fields.</p>
<p>*As far as work experience goes, I think most students can fit in something during the school year on campus that will look great on a resume: tutoring, research, lab work, UA dept work, etc. Even a few hours a week is good. Professors are helpful in finding students work. *</p>
<p>Also…I know that the students get a ton of emails, but they really do need to open the ones that potentially can include internship, job, etc, opportunities. During the school year, profs often send out emails asking for students to apply to become a research aide. Usually the students are paid for this work.</p>
<p>I recommend freshmen and sophomores look into the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Undergraduate Research Experience at UA. </p>
<p>My daughter, a rising sophomore, just returned from her summer HHMI program at BAMA and is still flying high. It is just like an REU in that she got paid $10 an hour and worked with a professor 40 hours a week for 9 weeks oh, and got free housing. They do a poster presentation at the end of the summer also. Since REU’s are sometimes harder for freshmen with little or no research experience to get, this was a great option.</p>