Internships/Research as a Freshman?

<p>Hey all,</p>

<p>I've been getting a lot of mass emails about joining internships at places like JPMorgan or Cisco and places like that. It's also been mentioned several times at some club meetings that I go to. How often does a freshman join this kind of internship, or is it too early? I'm a biomedical engineering major so I'm not even sure if these internships could be useful to me, but is it good to put on a resume that I've been doing this kind of thing for a while?</p>

<p>Also, how can I get involved in undergrad research for this summer? I'm still in intro level classes so I'm not sure my intro to chem professor can really help me out with this, but I'm really looking for this kind of experience.</p>

<p>Any help is greatly appreciated!</p>

<p>If you have not done so already I would recommend setting up an appointment with your academic advisor to discuss your questions with that person to begin with. Involvement with research/internships would look good on your resume but I feel that in most cases these areas should have some at least connection with your major. There is a lot of research being conducted in the Biomedical Engineering Department and I’m sure there would be opportunities for you to become involved with some of it at the appropriate time. IMHO for at least your first semester you should concentrate on doing well your studies, sent up good study habits and develop good time management skills, and then begin to explore involvement in these other areas in your second semester. These types of things usually work out best if they are well thought out and planned rather then just jumping into things for the sake of getting involved. I kinow of some students who jumped into these activities right away and then later found out what they had chosen was not of much subsequent interest/benefit to them but once they made a commitment they were stuck. Obviously this is just my opinion, others might feel differently. Best of luck to you.</p>