______ is an Indian c/o 2025 undergrad studying Symbolic Systems at Stanford.
While going through his [Linkedin profile], I saw that he was a ‘Research Intern’ under Dr. _____ at MIT Sloan School of Management for a month in the summer of 2019:
Research Intern
MIT Sloan School of Management
May 2019 - Jun 2019 2 months
Working under Dr. , Senior Lecturer of System Dynamics at MIT, I did the following:
→ Researched challenges and opportunities facing early stage enterprises in creating inclusive teams, particularly in hiring and on-boarding employees with disabilities.
→ Gathered and analysed both primary and secondary data; collaborated closely with faculty researcher in intensive working sessions.
→ Co-authored article in preparation for submission to the Sloan Management Review.
How does one land such an internship ?
Is it connections, or just emailing professors, because I’m having a hard time believing a 12th grader with no exceptionally exemplary achievements up to that point was able to land an internship with a professor at MIT by just emailing her.
People lie. The person you mention might have simply been lying.
You’ve posted numerous times looking for info about how to get internships. If you are a high schooler, the best way is to have a helpful parent, have some connection to someone employed in the field of interest, or get some inside info from a teacher or other person who knows such people.
There is no easy way to get such internships. Apply to as many as you can, and foster good connections with teachers who might hear of something. Keep at it.
I assume most users do not want their own private information shared. In the same vein, don’t go posting someone else’s. Aside from some people finding it creepy, it’s not in the spirit of this site.
the same way that the vast majority of HS ‘internships’ work: connections via family / friends / school.
The ability to get these sorts of ‘internships’, and the ability to afford the doing of them, most frequently reflect a level of privilege that universities are beginning to recognize, just as they have in the ability to do fancy summer programs.
That’s been my guess as well. I doubt you can get an internship, do college level research or publish a paper in your HS junior year unless your family has the right connection or you are using an expensive private counsellor that provides that connection.
I wonder if this is true though. At least in observing the posts of many CC’ers - I see a lot of kids who claim to have done research and published papers, run a business, started a non-profit, etc. getting accepted into (multiple) T-20 schools whereas others with an apparently similar level of academic and EC achievements but without those “special spikes” aren’t. So looks like the elite colleges are still valuing these achievements very highly?
(adding disclaimer that yes, we don’t know the full strength or weaknesses of anyone’s applications based on info posted on CC)
I wonder if this is true though. At least in observing the posts of many CC’ers - I see a lot of kids who claim to have done research and published papers, run a business, started a non-profit, etc. getting accepted into (multiple) T-20 schools whereas others with an apparently similar level of academic and EC achievements but without those “special spikes” aren’t. So looks like the elite colleges are still valuing these achievements very highly?
This is exactly what I’ve been wondering. Though such internships/summer programs/initiatives do not necessarily reflect academic/extra-curricular achievement, they do show that the applicant is privileged and well connected, which I suppose T-20 schools value.
I think an internship like that is usually via a parental connection. The student might also live in the area, so it could be a neighbor etc. Someone said that it’s possible the student is lying which I don’t think is the case ( and I would not make any assumption that someone is lying, it’s just bad form).
I do know of students who connected to professors via Summer programs and that even led to acceptance at a college. Kids could reach out to professors. I think the difficult thing is for a professor at any school to get the paperwork done to allow a kid to intern. Some schools have Summer internship programs and there are often lots of kids applying.
I know plenty of kids (my own son included) from our local public school (a good, not great school) that managed to get research assistant type positions without connections. They pounded the pavement, got a fair amount of rejections, but those that were dedicated eventually hit pay dirt.
Now, many of these won’t pay - some universities are not able hire kids under 18. So, if the situation is one where the student can’t afford to do some work without pay, then this will be more difficult. My son worked two jobs - one paid.
100% believable. They’re a doer, a go-getter, connections or not. Hats off to them.
Editing to add: OP, I would just message this person through LinkedIn. I would imagine they’d be happy to explain to you how they found this opportunity and would likely advise you on how you might do the same.
Kudos to your son @DadSays. Well done!
There are definitely self driven motivated kids like him who able to seek out and secure these opportunities. Not doubting that at all.
I was answering more broadly whether a lot of kids rely on family (or private counsellor) connections. Certainly did not mean to imply no one does it on their own, so apologies if it came through that way.
Sometimes there are programs within high schools as well.
We have a family member whose high school placed dozen of kids in and around the Boston area for internships and research. It was a well developed partnership between a variety of universities and companies.
That’s great to know! I wasn’t aware high schools did that.
However, OP is asking about an applicant from India. As suggested above probably best for them to reach out via LinkedIn and ask how the got this opportunity.
Yes, we get high school intern inquiries from the local medical college and they sometimes write the high schools into their outreach grant applications.
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