<p>S who current sophomore POL Sci/ Int Relations major started applying to internships in the fall. It seemed like he did all the right things. Had several meetings with Career services who helped him with his resume and poss leads for internships.Good GPA. Had several phone interviews. However despite his best effort nothing seems to be happening and the summer is almost here. His back up plan is to work for the Univ admissions department during the summer. </p>
<p>Any thoughts on what he should do better for next year? How many applications do most students do?</p>
<p>Your son seems to be doing the right thing. Just be proactive. Perhaps he can have his resume checked by his career center? Or perhaps he needs more interviewing skills.</p>
<p>My D’s boyfriend also didn’t get any bites on summer interships before his junior or senior year but he did work in the admissions dept. as a tour guide and then part time in the IT dept. at the college. Not getting that summer internship didn’t seem to affect his desirability because he ended up getting several job offers during his senior year. Tell him not to get discouraged and to keep at it. See if there is a club he could join where networking opportunities, like mixers with recruiters, are offered.</p>
<p>My observation is not many sophomore have meaningful/major related internship in the summer before junior year. So don’t worry too much. D could only sent out 5 to 6 applications (She restricted the location to be within commute distance to the school or home) between oct and now since most of the position have major requirement or at least junior standing requirement. She did get invited to the on-site interview from one of the employer, but was eventually received a formal rejection email last week. On her resume, she has two on-campus jobs, a club leadership role, and some other activities. She has a 3.6~3.7 GPA. So definitely take the on-campus job if your son doesn’t have other offers for this summer. Any experience/campus involvement should increase the chance, I think.</p>
<p>As for how many… well, some students apply to anything and everything they are eligible for, and others only apply where they would really want to be. I don’t know where he applied, but places like the State Department are very competitive (less than 10% acceptance rate in the summers). Is he interested in working locally (or in DC) for a politician? Did he apply to think tanks? Another issue that you should be prepared for is a lot of IR/polisci internships are unpaid.</p>
<p>He applied to local and DC internships. Also some think tanks. Also some non-profits. We were aware that most internships are unpaid. We were prepared to pay for housing in DC if he was able to intern there. I also think that perhaps because he is only a sophomore , maybe he will have better luck next year. He has has several leadership roles as well as currently working in admissions. He will be studying abroad in the fall.</p>
<p>That is great news! Yeah working/interning for your local congressperson is probably the best way to get your foot in the door in terms of poly-sci/international relations jobs especially as a underclassman. Even if it isn’t what you want to do in the future, it gives you nice related experience that looks impressive to just about any employer and makes you look a lot more employable the next time around when you apply for the harder to get internships and job opportunities.</p>
<p>As a college students we should not be picky if we are looking for a decent internship job to gain valuable experienced and future career choice. This summer I will be working as a [warehouse</a> floor markers](<a href=“http://stop-painting.com/]warehouse”>http://stop-painting.com/) marketing intern her in NC.</p>
<p>The rejection emails are coming in now for the REUs son applied for. One even came in for an REU that he didn’t apply for! It was one that his professor sent out to the kids in his class, so I wonder if maybe the kids applied for it in class, and son just never mentioned it to me. Either way, looks like son will be hitting the pavement looking for anything when he comes home in two weeks. He’s been busy submitting resumes, transcripts, applications to anything and everything that he’s finding on the internet, but is not very hopeful. He’s a rising junior, so he might start checking out grad school options this summer.</p>