That is totally not my style but I have counseled my daughter and she has done all she can and she is simply not even getting a response from her school let alone assistance on potential solutions or work arounds.
So she had a secured internship at one of the Big 4 accounting firms. In its original form it exceeded the hours requirements for her major (Cyber Security) of 150. She goes to college in Ohio and we live outside Philly, so the internship is in Philly this summer. Because of Covid, the firm is still running the internships but in a different and abridged format AND they offered them all jobs at graduation which is FANTASTIC.
The rub is that the program is now only 80 hours so she is 70 hour short. She sent a message to Internship coordinator who basically said oh well things are starting to open us and half of the internship sites she knows of have continued foward. Ok well not that helpful. She was told to write to her academic advisor. So she did.
That was two weeks ago and she isn’t even getting a response! She also followed up with a message on the advisors phone, still nothing. She is also a college athlete and so she had everything set up for summer and her next two semesters. (Well she did until Covid)
Is it time for me to make a phone call? Like I said, not my style at all but this is getting critical for her to graduate and be able to ACCEPT the job at the Big 4 firm. She already approached the recruiter but she was hesitant to give her an exception she could not give to everyone on hours.
I really feel like both the lack of flexibility and the lack of response especially given the environment currently with Covid is pretty unreasonable.
I would not step in as a parent, yet (if ever). I would see if your D can find other resources at the school to escalate too. Who does the advisor report to? Can she contact her school’s dean, or another mentor within the school? I think I would have her just keep trying people at the school until she gets some assistance.
Especially since your D is a senior and this is about her internship and future employment, my opinion is that this is hers to figure out. I understand that it is a hard and stressful situation for you both, and the threat of her not graduating is scary. And it is bad that her advisor isn’t calling her back. But IMO your D still has things to try, and it’s not your place, and very soon, she really won’t have the option of you stepping in.
Perhaps she could suggest something else? An internship at the college in the fall? Ask at the current internship if there is a special project she could work on during the summer and remotely in the fall? Talk to the other kids and find out what they are doing? Ask if there is an internship available over winter break?
If the employer knows she needs the extra 70 hours, they might have a suggestion. Even if they can find her 20 more hours, that would help her chip away at the requirement.
I have stepped in for my kids when they were in college. Sometimes adults ignore young people. I have seen cases when my kids couldn’t get a response and I could. This is a fairly serious situation. If this is not resolved, OP’s daughter may not be able to graduate, which is ridiculous.
That is the thing – she has tried several different avenues and chains of command (it is not a big school) and I am really pretty aggravated she is just being ignored. She did in her correspondence say she was trying to figure out something else and even asked if it was possible to do something for the dean etc. during the fall semester (which is light for her) to make up these hours.
UPDATE: I counseled my daughter to try one last time to resolve this herself and to forward the email correspondence she sent to her academic advisor (and got no response) to the person responsible for internships and approvals. So she did and got a message back saying that her advisor can give her an additional assignment during school to make up the extra hours needed and that she has provided guidance to all the faculty supervisors to work with students in these situations.