I posted this under ‘Internships, Career and Employment’ but traffic there seems almost non-existent, so I’m posting here.
I am a high school sophomore, and I live in a STEM focused (especially agricultural engineering) college town. I would like to contact one of their colleges in hopes of landing an internship. Unfortunately, I don’t really know what to say, because I don’t want to come off presumptuous.
Should I just ask to volunteer or help out? What should I include? I am very concerned that they will ask me for a resume and things like my GPA, EC’s, classes, etc. because they are very low (3.4 this year) and not very impressive.
All help appreciated!
Well, this was my experience.
When I was looking for an internship in research laboratory for last summer, I contacted the program director for the subject area I was interested in. I sent an email with some info on my stats, limited experience, interest areas, etc. and just said that I would really appreciate a position as a research intern in one of the labs.
She told me that I should just email the professors whose research I was interested in directly. I contacted two professors whose research interested me. In my email, I provided a little background of myself, some of the stats, but made sure to demonstrate that I understood their research and was interested in it. I think that is key to actually landing a position.
One asked me to come in for an interview which I did. The other had more experience with hs interns in her lab so she asked me to fill out a resume and short application before my interview. In the end, I got an offer from both labs and chose the one I preferred to spend the summer with.
Good luck!
Thank you so much!!! This is super helpful, and I’m glad it worked out so well for you!
Do you mind telling me your stats? I’m very concerned because my GPA has never been this low, and since we are on break I can’t pull it up till January. I also want to contact another one in a completely different subject area (engineering vs. philosophy), and I’m not quite sure how to handle that.
Also, could you elaborate a little more on what you said specifically? I really don’t know how to start the beginning of one, and I tend to be very wordy.
Again, thanks!