My sense is that many college students now focus on getting internships as early as their freshman year in college. When I was in college it seems like internships didn’t become a focus for most students until summer before their senior year. Has the landscape changed significantly on this or is my view skewed from the unique microcosm represented on CC?
One of my kids graduated from college in 2007 and the other in 2010. Neither one ever had an internship. One spent a good portion of each summer at a music festival, and worked the rest of the time. The other worked full time…all summer long.
Both worked at the same summer jobs for multiple summers and had excellent LOR from their employers.
I think the landscaped has changed and landing the first internship is the hardest. By the time you are a junior and apply for an internship, they are asking what your prior internship was. My oldest DS only interned between Junior and Senior year. Prior to that it was a normal summer job. My youngest DS landed an internship after graduating HS and will continue on that track.
My 2016 graduate is hoping to go into a field where internships seem to be reserved for students with at least junior standing (or even grad students), so she is going to have to work a regular job and hope to find some volunteer opportunities (also hard to come by without a one-year weekly commitment).
Probably specific to the demographics found on these forums:
- Students with high end academic credentials and high end career aspirations.
- Parents from the upper income "middle class" and high end aspirations for their kids (i.e. money to support the students in unpaid internships that they perceive as "necessary" for some career aspirations).
My son worked a paid full time job in the evening and a part time unpaid internship in the morning. That internship experience helped him get a paid full time internship during the next summer.
My daughter worked two part-time jobs last summer - one that was part of her career training and the other that was just for spending money.
My son will be working a part time job in addition to a career oriented internship this coming summer. My oldest was in banking so he was paid for his career oriented internships.
My daughter graduated from undergrad last year and will graduate with her masters in a couple weeks. Math/Econ/Finance major undergrad with a high GPA. She searched for but never got internships (other than the unpaid variety which she declined). She worked “normal” jobs in the summer - amusement park, lifeguard, waitress. She has a job waiting for her notwithstanding the lack of internships.
Depends on the industry and how high career career aspirations are.
Aren’t they one and the same? The internships for engineering students are jobs.
The reality is, even the student wants to find an internship in related field, it is almost impossible for a freshmen or even a sophomore. With some connection, my D found an internship after sophomore year in a somewhat related field.
@Sybylla I’m trying to assess percentage of current college students working “normal” summer jobs like those that @BethsMom referenced vs. those who specifically sought work (whether paid or unpaid, whether expressly called an internship or not) at a company related to their potential future career.
Most of the careers I was interested in didn’t have paid internships. I didn’t have the luxury of taking an unpaid internship (though I did one semester on top of my job and classes… it was the worst semester of my life).
I did, however, find jobs that were in my wheelhouse of things I wanted to do: worked at a school, in a domestic violence shelter, etc and then I had jobs on top of those that paid more but were unrelated to what I wanted to do (though, ironically, one of the higher paid jobs is where I ended up several years after undergrad).
One of my kids worked normal jobs during the summer and is currently in grad school. My other one had a research position the summer after freshman year and this summer she has an internship ( research based). I guess we are 50/50.
It would depend on the field. In engineering and business an internship would be a big plus on your resume. if you hope to pursue a PhD in any area a research internship would be close to a requirement. Pre-meds should do something related to healthcare even becoming an EMT.
Depends on the field, I think. Kids we know in engineering had paid positions after freshman year. Other kids interested in government had unpaid internships after freshman year, and every summer thereafter, leading up to the full time job search (which also seems to involve a window of unpaid work as well). For our family, that was another benefit of choosing the affordable school, with no debt and money left over – the unpaid internship was an option. That being said, one kid had paid grunt jobs for two summers, then hit the unpaid internship trail.
My D (non-stem major) had an unpaid “fellowship” the summer after freshman year (working for political party), and this summer she’ll be a camp counselor.
Both my kids majored in history at different top LACs. Older kid did unpaid internships every summer, only one was full time. Received a grant from her college to help pay for housing that summer. She also worked part-time the summers she had part-time internships in regular jobs - nursing home and retail.
Younger kid never did an internship. Was a summer camp counselor and worked in a warehouse and drove a forklift. His study abroad junior year was on a different calendar system so he got home too late to do anything that summer.
Both also worked part-time during college.
My son, a CS major freshman, has a software engineering internship this summer, but he did have several positive interviews where they told him “come back next year.” He was planning on taking a couple pre-approved courses at a local university over the summer to ensure he could get out in 3 years, but then got a good position at a small firm. I totally agree that it depends on the major and what kind of career or grad school objectives a student has.
I didn’t really see much difference other than the type of work. Mine worked freshman and sophomore summers and interned junior summer. They earned slightly more interning but not significantly more.