Hello everyone,
I’m currently a third year undergraduate in Chemical Engineering. I have no qualifications except for a 3.41 GPA and work experience at a chemistry storeroom. Every time I look for an internship I feel like I am under-qualified and get discouraged to even apply. What should I do? Am I too late to even look for an internship? Am I behind?
Have you gone to any job fairs to see what employers are looking for? It seems like there is still time to integrate them into your schedule.
There is still time. Don’t worry about your qualifications if they offer you a position then it is likely that they think you can do the work. Furthermore, as an intern, they will not expect you to walk in and know everything already. That is what the internship is for…
This is about the proper time to look for an internship. I wouldn’t call it late at all.
If you make a strong resume, someone in your position could very well find a good internship. And don’t be too intimidated to apply - it’s not like your classmates are so good that they will simply blow you out of the water with their qualifications. And in the end that is who you are competing against for job positions.
After your third year is the typical summer for an internship in most engineering fields. You have enough background to be somewhat useful to a company. You are not expected to have much, if any, engineering experience (other than what you may have gathered at school). Many companies use internships as very long job interviews, so an internship can open some doors for you.
It can be late for some companies but there are still certainly companies out there right now trying to line up their interns for the summer. Just don’t delay any longer.
A 3.4 GPA is, somewhat depending on the school, a good GPA and something to be proud of. When I was looking at college students for internships and full time work, I also calculate one’s STEM GPA (I wasn’t all that interested in your art history grade as it applies to engineering work) and the trend of your GPA. A rising GPA was always better than a falling GPA.
You should do fine.
Don’t ever assume that you can objectively determine your own qualifications for a job (or internship or whatever). If you want it, go for it. You might not ever hear back, but even then it doesn’t necessarily mean you were *under-*qualified so much as it means that there were other people who were more qualified.
You are not too late. You may have missed deadlines for a few internships here and there, but most will not decide this early and overall you are still in the hunt. So get moving.