Next summer's internship opportunities for engineering rising sophomore

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Hi all,
I am an international student who finally made it to a top 10 University/Engineering program.
Although I'll be a freshman in few weeks, I am trying to explore internship options for next summer as I really want to have a look at the tech/industry's world.
I am not sure what specific field I am majoring in! At first I thought of Mech/Aero but now I am thinking more of Elec/Computer hardware(perhaps software eng)!
The courses I am taking this year do not have any Eng intro : CALC II/III - PHY - COS (2 courses) - CHM -and a freshman seminar where we'll use Autocad(re-modelling a motorcycle or sth like that)!
Bottom line, what are the possible internship opportunities for rising sophomores ! How is the pay(All I care about is covering the expenses(housing+food+transport), that's all) !
And which tasks are interns at this stage(rising sophomore) are assigned to ?
Another question : which extra-curricular activities should I target? And which leadership positions would the recruiters consider? Does being an international help or reduces my chances ?</p>

<p>Thank you in advance !</p>

2

<p>Freshman Internships are tough to get, but not impossible. And for international students, it seems to be even tougher. Do you have authorization to work in the US after graduation or will you need sponsorship?</p>

3

<p>Most companies I know about won’t consider a rising sophomore for an internship and rarely a rising junior. Your best bet would be some small company where you have a personal connection. </p>

<p>Your status in the US would have to be such that you would be allowed to work.</p>

<p>A better bet would be to work for a professor at school, probably unpaid and maybe get credits for the work. You would be wise to start talking to the professors you are taking classes from and maybe looking at the research that is going on in the department you wish to get your degree in.</p>

4

<p>Thank you all,
But you make it seems impossible while I can’t help seeing dozens of Rising Freshman and sophomores on this forum talking abt internships they had in F50 companies and the huge Hourly-rates they had!
I am not looking for A BIG F500 company nor a huge pay but for a reasonable internship?
Is it harder to get that bcz I am an engineering student, but these kids study engieering too and I go to A VERY TOP 10 UNIversity? SO why not ?</p>

5

<p>

Freshmen in engineering generally don’t learn much that is directly applicable to most internships. That said, I also know a number of freshmen who did complete engineering internships this summer.</p>

<p>Being international will make it harder. The US government requires that you have a valid work permit and visa in order to live and work in the United States. Many employers will not go through the difficulty of sponsoring you for a visa. I am not an expert on immigration, so you might want to try the international students subforum or maybe ask your university for information.</p>

6

<p>NO, there is not problem with regulation and all. I have an F-1 Visa which permits me to have optional practical experience without any problems: all I need is an attestation that I am having an internship related to my major.
So other than being international, which many people here found confusing, what shoulf I do to maximize my chances !!</p>

7

<p>Ghastn: WHY NOT? You have made up a fairy tale for yourself and you think working in the US will be easy. It will be extremely difficult for you if not impossible. Plus your attitude is very arrogant: “I have an F-1 visa which permits me to have OPT”. Go to the US government website and READ/RESEARCH it CAREFULLY about OPT: You have a “Student” visa which does not allow you to work off-campus. </p>

<p>The OPT (which has to be applied for in advance) allows you to work, off-campus after completion of a full academic year IF you get approval for it. Plus, you only get 12 months total throughout the lifetime of your academic career. </p>

<p>Most students use their OPT near graduation to gain work experience or to develop their resume after Junior year for a relevant internship position. If you choose to try to do an internship (or can even find one!) after freshman year, you’re using up part of those those 12 months. </p>

<p>Now lets hand you some HARSH realities about your education in the US. You won’t have any viable engineering coursework yet, and why would any company pay you as an inexperienced, unskilled student in engineering? We have plenty of those students in the career centers! </p>

<p>Engineering firms are unstable now, and they’re not going to hire an international unskilled student (rising sophomore). My husband conducts interviews at his EE firm (and layoffs). Most of his company’s contracts are with the US government-so, his positions go to well-qualified US citizens. </p>

<p>Contrary to popular belief: there are lots of U.S. students coming from the universities with good backgrounds in engineering and they are not LAZY. These are students that work long hours and work hard because they want good job references. They know hardware and software engineering from academic coursework and lab work; they know how to network; and, because they are required to write and RESEARCH well (presentations, etc.), their use of grammar/syntax is exemplary. Additionally, they can get the almighty: SECURITY CLEARANCE. </p>

<p>My husband gets hundreds of resumes from all over; from time to time he mentions tidbits about people who are unskilled and aren’t authorized to work in the US. Your lack of knowledge in these areas: your insistence that this is how the world has to work for you, along with an arrogant attitude about your OPT, plus the fact that you won’t have any engineering courses (check your facts) would not even be given a consideration. </p>

<p>So yes, it will be extremely difficult for you to fulfill your fantasy world.</p>

8

<p>Do you have authorization to work permanently after your internship?</p>

9

<p>For your first summer I believe your best option will be to participate in undergraduate research. Other people are right, many internships are given to second-year or higher students (this isn’t always the case, but it is the tendency).</p>

<p>However, undergraduate research is different, they will take any student at any level. They will sometimes even take high schoolers who are interested.</p>

10

<p>@aunt bea : thank you for the information, although I feel you’re a bit irritated to see an international seek internships and calling his request a FAIRY TALE :frowning: !!! and under-estimating every single quality he might have and even calling him unskilled while you do not have any idea abt his qualification :confused: ??? Fantasy world ? really ?
Anyway, I don’t want to make a big fuzz about. As for the OPT I read through the website a dozen times before writing this thread.
As for me saying that permission and regulation aren’t problems, that was because I wrote this thread to seek opportunities and learn about the ways to maximize my chances not to read about the issues of international students.
It seems that this attempt has been a failure with very unhelpful people who couldn’t help but to pour their hatred towards international students !!</p>

11

<p>@aunt bea, I am really sorry for you :’( !! Almighty security clearance, skills I don’t have, Knowing the mighty Hardware+Software and NOT LAZY !! I am wondering if I have ever offended you once before or whether you have issues with int’l students in general !!</p>

12

<p>AuntBea - Your reply to the OP makes it appear that you have some issues with international students. The OP was asking for help. If you don’t have anything to assist then perhaps it would be better to say nothing.</p>

<p>Ghastn - Yes, freshman engineering students get internships. I can’t offer any specific guidance other than to attend your school’s career fair in the Fall and discuss potential opportunities with the companies that attend. Also, get to know your professors they may be able to help. Good luck. If nothing else getting some face time with companies your first year will help when you apply in year 2.</p>

13

<p>Now, that is what I call a beneficial piece of ADVICE!
Thank you ChrisTKD and TomServo!</p>

14

<p>Ghastn: I don’t have a hatred of international students. I am being realistic. I used to work for a university department (work study student) and had lots of international kids come through who would be very upset and would relay sob stories because things didn’t work out the way they had planned before they left their country. </p>

<p>They were upset, or shocked that their visas weren’t continued, or that financial aid fell through or that a professor who was supposed to give them an internship went “suddenly” on a sabbatical or something that was not a fault of their own. The really sad ones were those that didn’t have monies to fly home or continue school or pay rent, etc. They were stuck and upset. </p>

<p>So when I tell you to research your information, you really need to look at all avenues-Not just what you think SHOULD happen. You need to know that it will be tough, especially if you have to do all of the pre-requisites in linear calc, and physics classes before your power engineering courses.</p>

<p>You really can’t work off-campus for pay without permission and paid internships are extremely difficult to get. My daughter is a senior in EE at a NY university. She got a well-paid internship last year (early May) without a problem. This year, none of the companies that were recruiting her last year, hired interns, including my husband’s company. </p>

<p>Through my sports connections, she was finally was hired in June but the application and security application took a month, since they had to send documents from California to Virginia. She was the only EE intern hired by the local company. (A big plus for them is that she is female.) Her EE friends (both US and Internationals) who had paid internships last year, couldn’t find jobs this year. Research thoroughly so that you don’t get stuck.</p>

15

<p>I don’t think OPT is the allowance for internships. OPT is exclusively for working after you are done with your studies, you have 12 months to work in a related area of your graduation. The F-1 visa allows, however, to work on a internship off-campus, without using the 12 months. It is called the Curriculum Practical Training, CPT. Being myself a junior, i see that most of my peers didn’t get an internship in the first 2 years due to the before mentioned lack of experience. It is a fact that you don’t have enough classes taken by the time you finish your freshman year to get an internship. You probably took some basic engineering classes, math and gen eds. It is obvious that if you have 2 applicants with basically the same resume, but one is a freshman and the other a sophomore, the sophomore will get the spot. I got my first internship this summer back home in Brazil, after being denied a bunch of times during my freshman and sophomore years. Now, the fact that you are an international student only hurts you if you are trying to get an internship in a defense-related company or somewhere that requires security clearance, since companies won’t have to sponsor your visa. Just make sure you have a nice, well-written resume, don’t get frustrated if you can’t get one and keep applying to them. Hope I could help</p>

16

<p>@ecjuventude1913 :thank you for elucidating this int’l student matter.
AS for the skills needed, an internship for a freshmen doesn’t have to be extremely related to my field, nor do I want a paid internship(just experience + resume). I do have some programming skills and am going to work furthere on them(JAVA+python). I will try to ge involved(Solar car competition for example) and I will be having a class (FRESHMAN SEMIANR abt optimizing and remodeling a motorcycle + LEARNING to use a AUTOCAD)!!
WHat othere skills should U target and which fields should I search ?
Best :)</p>

17

<p>I don’t think companies have unpaid internships in the USA, but don’t quote me on that. I would advise working hard this next year, find an area that you like and see if you can engage in research with your professors. This will give you experience and it looks good on the resume. Do your best, show up every day to class, talk to your professors and make sure they know who you are ( networking is extremely important). And, unless you need the money, which i don’t think you do, since you would be willing to take an unpaid internship, don’t worry too much about it. You have 3, maybe 4 years to get one. Another tip is, I’m not sure where you are from, but you might want to consider applying to summer internships in your home country. Usually, it is really easy to get one, since the US education stands out and looks amazing on the resume (as told by my boss)</p>

18

<p>I am not against internationals getting internships but most companies won’t look at you. Why? Because their internships are really 3 month long interviews. </p>

<p>They are looking for college students that they will hire after graduation. If your visa won’t allow you to work in the US after graduation, they aren’t interested. They also won’t sponsor you for a visa as there are plenty of college grads that already can work legally in this country.</p>

<p>And how do I know this? Because I was (now retired) a manager and I hired many summer interns and those were the constraints I was given; rising seniors only and citizens or permanent residents only.</p>

<p>It still can be done, just will probably be a small company or an alternative arrangement.</p>

19

<p>Spot on HPuck… I have been told the exact same thing by many recruiters.</p>

20

<p>Nobody said it would be a piece of cake getting an internship as a freshmen even if I were an American citizen! And I am not looking at a huge companies(ALTHOUGH HUGE COMPANIES LIKE GENERAL ELECTRIC DO HIRE INT’L FRESHMEN )! And being an international has been making everything harder from the very beginning of college applications(3 times more selective than for Americans)!! (As for the internship there is no sponsoring issue , the only issue is when one is applying for a work visa and that needs sponsoring from the employer!)
Now after looking at these hardships what can be done during this academic year to make me a better candidate for Freshmen internship spots :slight_smile:
Thank you!!</p>