D has put out almost two dozen internship applications for Summer 2018 from Boston to Baltimore and isn’t having any luck. She’s a Math/CS double major with (as of today after 5 semesters) a 3.96 GPA. She hasn’t heard back from many of them, is that normal this time of year? She was rejected from one in Natick but isn’t sure why, obv they don’t have to explain. Can someone point us to good opportunities for paid summer internships?
Generally, the practice is apply to tons of places, and it is usual to not hear back from many if any. So your D isn’t alone there.
What type of internships is she applying for? CS / Software? Data Science? A mix? Generally, data science internships tend to be harder to get and want more experience, anecdotally speaking personally.
Many of the big tech companies more or less only hire people with past internship experience - I’m guessing your D doesn’t have any prior tech work experience? Those companies also tend to be the ones hiring this early, while many others won’t even start their process until January-March range.
Some places to look / things to do:
- Career center listings by the school tend to have a better rate of at least hearing back usually, as the company specifically took the effort to recruit from the college in most cases, or often have a track record / relationship with the school.
- Simply apply to more places. I think my first internship I applied to 20, only hearing back from 3 (two months later), and getting one.
- Check for a resume red flag, just in case. Big spelling error? Bad email / phone number? Those types of things?
- Generally for tech resumes, make sure you have a Github link and put up some projects, even if done in classes. Add a side project in the spring if she has time. A good starting point is a flashy personal website coded by hand (not a WordPress site, etc) and have that code up publicly on Github. Github pages is perfect for a beginner with web development.
Places to look: internships.com, Indeed, Linkedin - I’m guessing your D is already checking all three, but just in case.
Some companies list their internships on LinkedIn; she should look out there for companies she is interested in. Also, sometimes companies list them on their own websites, so she should keep an eye on their job postings as well.
Does her school have a job fair?
@intparent, I know she has a LinkedIn account and has had at least one company recruit her but a quick look at their website and we both agreed that it wasn’t a good place to spend the summer, not to mention the pay was minimum. She made a list of many companies that she is aware hiring interns and pay well and applied to several but hasn’t heard back.
@nw2this, she has been working with the career office at her school this past semester but is now leaving the country for study abroad. She was hoping to wrap up her internship before she left but that clearly isn’t going to happen.
@PengsPhils her career center at school tends to promote the companies in their location, in this case upstate NY areas such as Syracuse and Albany, neither of which she would favor for the summer unless it was a well known and respected business. She is using all three websites you listed, the most offerings on Indeed from what I understand. She is trying to get another half dozen applications out before she leaves in a few days. I’ll tell her about the Github link and project suggestion. She has already developed and promoted a website, I’m in the dark about “coding” so I’ll pass that info to her verbatim.
To answer the question about what type of internship…she is pretty open but has found that she is better qualified for ones in math arena. She has completed her undergrad Math requirements and then decided to double major in CS and is only half way through those requirements (no 300 level classes completed yet). Her study abroad is in Software Engineering/CS in Budapest and will fulfill three more CS requirements, I believe all equivalent to a 300 level.
Thanks everyone for your help.
Many companies, often especially those not well known, can offer a great and useful internship experience. Sometimes the bigger names will offer inferior experiences as people usually go for prestige over the work and experience itself. I’d advise applying to those local internships as you would safety schools. In the worst case, it’s interview practice. In the best, she finds something for the summer. For a first internship, getting something under your belt is the most important thing, no matter the prestige, as employers the year after will love that section of your resume and it will open up a lot more doors.
Good luck!
@PengsPhils, can I get some course advice from you? My D is at her study abroad and is trying to choose her classes. Computer Visions, Semantics, Dynamics of Complex Networks, Declaritive Technologies are some options. Her prof at school told her to skip Graph Theory unless she her plan was a graduate Math degree. She has chosen two of the five classes now…Mobile something lol and a graphics class of some sort. Would love your input.
^ outside of math/cs major courses, make sure she takes a class that relates to the country’s culture. It’ll make her stay that much more enjoyable and useful.
Looking online at the university catalog, it looks like good choices so far with Mobile Software Dev and Computer Graphics. One practical CS course that the industry will love, one subfield that intersects well with math.
Other recommendations:
- Data Mining - good to know, very practically relevant to data scientists, a common job for Math/CS majors
- Applied Cryptography - specialized but practical and a good intersection of Math/CS
- Theory of Computation - still very theoretical (obviously) but a bit more CS relevant practically compared to graph theory
5 CS classes seem like a lot though - is that supposed to be balanced with classes in other areas as suggested? The school seems to list some options for that. I would recommend sticking to 3 as suggested, with data mining being my pick, and filling the others with non-CS/math courses.
@MYOS1634 She actually went three weeks early to take part in a cultural class (language, sightseeing) and is considering auditing one of the humanities classes but she wants to take four CS classes and is only allowed 5 total so we’ll see. She has met a great group of kids who also enrolled early and they have become travel buddies already. Eight of them just took a 4 day trip to Krakow and have many other weekend plans.
@PengsPhils, that was so nice of you to go to those lengths and look at the catalog. I will pass the information along to her. Today is the first day of add/drop and she’ll have two weeks to define the schedule. For some reason she is set on taking her data mining next semester, not sure why. Much appreciate your efforts and advice.
@NEPatsGirl DS is also in the process of trying to procure a summer internship. It is tough.
I know one parent remarked their kid applied to over 60 companies, only heard back from 10, and interviewed w/ 3. All I’ve read indicates they have to cast a really large net over the entire country, and sometimes it doesn’t pay off financially, but at least they get the experience, which companies now expect from college grads.
At today’s count, D has applied to nearly four dozen, admittedly all on the East Coast. She made final rounds for a well-known company and is keeping her fingers crossed but I’ve reminded her that she needs to keep putting out the apps. She feels like this is nearly as stressful as applying to colleges and isn’t enjoying the ride much. She is not in a position to take anything unpaid, her summer earnings are a big part of our college budget.
I wish her the best of luck on that final round! Hope she gets it!
@NEPatsGirl, Hello!! We’ve connected in the past and I saw your post. I just wanted to say hello and wish your daughter luck in her search!! My DS is starting his search now for an internship or full time job so I know what you’re going through!! 
All the best wishes for you. Good luck.
Thanks everyone. Also, one of the reasons she chose her study abroad in Budapest is the IT companies located in the same industrial park as the AIT campus have partnered with the school to recruit as many as a dozen students to do summer internships. These companies include Microsoft, Graphisoft, Canon and some other familiar names. There are 75 students attending this semester so the competition is tough and these kids are no slouches lol. I’ll keep you posted
If it’s what I’m thinking of, this Budapest program is well-known and does gather superb peers from all over the country. It’s like a sieve for all the top companies. I hope she proves herself and is chosen!
Just wanted to update this thread. D ended up applying to 122 companies for a summer internship. She had about a dozen interviews, three of them leading to second interviews. She was offered all three positions and has accepted an offer in the NH Seacoast area with a Fortune 100 company. Great pay, housing stipend, 5 flexible vacation days and diverse job duties. The location was the selling point and she wanted to be closer to home for the summer and this is just 2.5 hours away. She is very happy to be done with this process and is now planning a trip to Greece for the week between her study abroad and her first day!
So glad!!! Im very happy for you and your daughter.
Congratulations!
@MYOS1634 thank you. I think it’ll be a great summer for her !