Potentially backing out of internship offer?

Student Lounge College Life
1

I am a sophomore applying to some biotech/CS-related internships for the summer. I’ve sent out a large number of applications. So far, I have only received one interview. However, there are a few programs that I applied to, and feel I have a good shot at, that have not yet closed their application deadline and are scheduled to begin interviewing in Feb/March.

Yesterday, I interviewed with a small company for a summer intern position. While the position is somewhat related to my career interests, it would not be my top choice of positions. They mentioned that while I had CS experience, I would need to learn a new programming language for the position and asked if I would be willing to do some remote training during the semester (it would be unpaid). I said I would be willing to learn, but assumed it would be for just a few weeks before the internship itself started.

Today while in class I got a phone call from them (and later an email) saying that I had been accepted into the training program (which would start next week until April), and that if I wanted to do it I would need to fill out an acceptance form and let them know my decision by tomorrow (they only emailed me at 12pm today, so this is giving me like 12 hours to decide.)

On one hand, I really want an internship for the summer and this is somewhat in line with my career interests: I don’t want to pass up what could be a good opportunity and end up with nothing. On the other hand, I don’t want to be stuck in a job that I might not like when there might be more convenient, more beneficial opportunities. I am also somewhat skeptical of putting in a lot of unpaid time training, and feel pressured by the fact that they want me to make a decision this soon, one day after the interview.

So, my questions are:

  1. Do you think I should take the offer?
  2. If I do take the position, and a better offer does comes along, can I/should I back out of this position? I wouldn’t ever quit a position if I had already started doing real work, but since I would just be doing online training modules they wouldn’t really lose progress if I left after a few weeks. They are also a very small company, so it is unlikely that I would run into their recruiters again.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

2

I would only consider it if you’re really interested in learning this new language. Otherwise, I would pass. One, you say it is only “somewhat” related to your career interests; Two, you say “it would not be my top choice of positions”. Last, you just started the process, so I would continue with your Feb/Mar interviews. Good luck!

3

It is March.

You have not accepted the job. You have gotten no interviews/offers. How do you feel?

You have accepted the job now.

Which makes you feel worse?

I think you definitely have to accept now or decline as another student would have to start learning the programming language now.