<p>Hey everyone, I just had a few questions on internships. First off, I'd prefer to do summer internships rather than co-op and take longer to graduate. Anyways, here they are:</p>
<p>1) When do you suggest applying for an internship? My guess would be trying to get one the summer after sophomore year.</p>
<p>2) Where do people work? Are most of them in the Atlanta/Georgia area, or are there some that are out-of-state as well?</p>
<p>3) Are most paid internships? This isn't a huge deal for me as I would be doing it mainly for the experience, but I'm just curious as to how many are paid and how many or un-paid.</p>
<p>4) Would you suggest working for the same company each time? Again, I'm a little unsure about all these things and it might not be possible to even guarantee this.</p>
<p>I'd be entering Tech as a freshman this fall and plan to major in Chemical Engineering.</p>
<ol>
<li>As soon as possible. When you get on campus, make sure to register with the DoPP (Division of Professional Practice) - [Georgia</a> Tech :: Division of Professional Practice](<a href=“http://www.profpractice.gatech.edu/student_information.php]Georgia”>http://www.profpractice.gatech.edu/student_information.php). A very valuable department at Tech. Each engineering department will often also forward via email various opportunities specific to that major when they are advised of openings.</li>
</ol>
<p>My daughter (finishing her first year, AE major) was able to obtain a wonderful internship opportunity with one of the NASA facilities this summer. So you don’t have to wait until after your sophomore year.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Internship locations vary depending upon the company or organization. Some are in-state and many are out-of-state. My daughter’s position is out-of-state.</p></li>
<li><p>Most internship positions will pay a stipend. Again, as an example, she will be receiving a stipend for a 10 week position, travel expenses, some meals and housing is included at no cost to her. However, some of the positions she applied to did not include housing or meals. So there is a wide range of inclusions.</p></li>
<li><p>Internships are different than co-ops. As I understand it, co-ops are usually done with the same company and internships can be with different companies or organizations.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I think this varies a lot depending on the company; most internships I have looked into have been salaried. Whether it is paid (stipend or salary or hourly) or unpaid will depend on the field, the economy, and most importantly the company itself. I wouldn’t worry about that until you have options, though; you are wise to be focusing on experience more than money in this economy.</p>
<p>Typically, government and research positions are on a stipend (a fixed salary quantity for the semester). Private companies are hourly. Companies can usually not get away with declaring an intern as exempt, so you generally don’t see salaried interns.</p>
<p>I have never heard of an unpaid internship position coming through the GT Division of Professional Practice. I’m sure it does happen, but it’s incredibly rare and not something you would deal with unless you have an exceptionally low GPA. With a chemical engineering major, internships generally start around $15/hour as a freshman, and increase to mid-20’s by senior year. Some interns make in the $30’s/hr.</p>
<p>Most students (especially chemical engineers) work outside of Atlanta. You’ll either need to rent an apartment for a few months, or some companies have programs with apartment complexes / universities to house you. If you co-op, on occasion students on alternating semesters will rent apartments in Atlanta and on site together and just switch off.</p>
<p>Regarding internship timing - you go to the department of professional practice in your first week at Tech. Literally, your first week. Many companies will interview in September 2010 for Summer 2011 interns and co-ops. Even though you don’t have a GT GPA, people will still interview you based on your high school GPA. Once you have that first experience, it’s easier to get your second, etc.</p>
<p>I did not know that this was normally true. I personally have a salaried internship for the summer at Microsoft, but I might be the exception rather than the rule?</p>
<p>Microsoft is probably claiming you as an exempt employee using the Computer Employee clause in the White Collar Exemption. Other companies can’t get away with that. They use the Professional Employee clause to claim engineers as exempt, but generally can’t use that with a non-degreed intern.</p>
<p>But many interns are de facto salaried. A company will pay you $XX/hr then tell you that you can only work 40 hours.</p>
<p>For any of you who have scholarships (not the Presidential), how has the money you have earned from internships effected them? I’m wondering since I have one scholarship for $5k/semester, and if I tried to get money from an internship to pay for college, would it actually help in paying for school, or would my scholarship just be decreased to offset the newly acquired money?</p>
<p>Internship income will not affect your current scholarship. While your total aid cannot exceed the cost of attendance, money from an internship is not considered aid. However, if you start saving money, you will have to report those savings on your FAFSA form and that could affect your EFC. Under no circumstances would changes in income or savings affect scholarships based on your current FAFSA or scholarships based strictly on merit, but savings could affect your calculated need and potentially future scholarships based on need. However, I think it is safe to assume you make more from working in an internship than what you would make from future scholarships based on need, and most of Georgia Tech’s scholarships are merit based, so this should not be an issue.</p>
<p>If your scholarship is renewable and you have questions regarding the criteria used to evaluate continued eligibility, you should contact the financial aid office.</p>