<p>Hi!</p>
<p>So, how difficult is it to get an internship at Microsoft, Google, Apple, Facebook etc?</p>
<p>Is it like reserved for only the MIT 4.0 GPA guys or something? Do students in state universities at least stand a chance?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>If you’re a top student at schools like Berkeley, UIUC, UMich, probably a couple of others, you definitely have a chance.</p>
<p>I saw a presentation at UMD-College Park and they mentioned that they often have recruiters from Microsoft, Google (especially since the cofounder attended UMD), and Apple and students get jobs/internships at those companies. I think that as long as you’re at a school ranked in the top 20 in CS/Engineering you can have a chance at getting an internship at one of those schools.</p>
<p>Oh you definitely have a chance, probably a good chance, If you take school seriously. Even from state universities. It’ll be tough, but you should go for it if it’s something you’re interested in. The only real advantage a 4.0 MIT student will have is extra confidence.</p>
<p>I’m currently an intern at MS. I go to UT Austin. I just finished an internship at Intel. There are lots of state school kids here.</p>
<p>What year are you and how wa your gpa? I go to UT also. Any tips on landing internships?</p>
<p>Hopefully before you’ve applied, you’ve taken an algorithms course, an OS/systems-level course, an OOP course, and hopefully a software design course where you’ve created a medium/large group project:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Algorithms/OOP/discrete math will help you prepare for the tricky questions.</p></li>
<li><p>Your Software Design project will help you come up with answers related to your programming/work experience-- Hopefully you program in your free-time also or have a previous internship to talk about.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I think a systems-level course (i.e pipes, threads, processes, sockets) is utterly essential to be a knowledgeable and competent developer at any of the big CS employers. Know about C and pointers.</p>
<p>Try and have a major GPA of 3.6+.</p>
<p>You don’t need to be at a T20 CS program, but that’s the easiest way to get in touch with recruiters (on-campus interviews). You can come from pretty much anywhere if you’re good at what you do (but having a previous internship under your belt really matters in that case).</p>
<p>Edit: Actually, at a T20 (like Austin) it may be a little tougher because there’s a sort of implicit quota: they probably don’t want to hire 50 interns just from UTA ;)</p>
<p>Also, how do land a first internship when u have no previous experience. Is it all about your grades and interview for your first one?</p>
<p>I’m a 4th year EE with >3.9. I don’t know this for sure but I heard MS only gives interviews from people they like at expo (that also pass their mysterious GPA requirement). MS has an “explorers” program that is specifically meant for freshmen and sophomores without work experience. For the first round, they’ll ask you a few coding questions to flesh out your basic programming abilities. After you get through the first round, they’ll ask you a bunch of technical questions related to the position you’re applying for at an onsite interview.</p>
<p>Does a Mechanical Engineer have any place at a place like Microsoft or Google? :(</p>
<p>^ i’d like to know that as well</p>
<p>Oh man…when did you get your first internship? I am going to be a sophomore And was planning on going to the Expo in the fall…except my gpa is only 3.4 and I doubt I know enough to answer questions they’ll ask.</p>
<p>Do sophomores typically get internships for the next summer? With a gpa like that?</p>
<p>Not really. Unless somehow Microsoft and Google branch out into robotics and actual engineering, which I highly doubt - so you’re not really in luck.</p>
<p>Schools that Google or Microsoft will target first: MIT, Berkeley, Stanford, CMU, perhaps other schools with near-the-top CS depts, like UIUC, Cornell. After that, they’ll probably resort to top 10-15 CS depts/engineering schools.</p>
<p>Why would somebody interested in mechanical engineering want to work for Microsoft or Google?</p>
<p>you’d never know until you apply. </p>
<p>DS got MS Research internships, post masters CS/HCI, but his undergrad was ME and HCI. His project was electro-mechanical. His second MS Research internship was also mechanical related as applied to touch screens.</p>