<p>It boils down to what do you feel about A internship. I would leave the discussion of highly honorable people at A internship out of this. I also would check with your career center if it’s ok to back out. Good luck with your decision!</p>
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<p>My career center is very strict about this. They have a Code of Ethics for both students and employers. However, I kind of breached this Code because I applied to B way after I accepted A, under pressure from my dad. </p>
<p>The only loophole is that the Career Center at my school says that they will allow me to continue using their services on the condition that I speak to them. And I have spoken to them extensively since B extended their offer. They aren’t very happy about this, but they seem to have chilled a bit after speaking to them. At first, their answer was an absolute NO. </p>
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<p>B brought their offer on their table very, very late, and the main issue is that I’ve never been in this situation before (this is my first real year of seeking for internships and actually interviewing for them), so I feel ill-equipped to handle this situation. I know I want to work for B, but I don’t know how to say this to A. I only have 18 days until A’s internship starts, and I’m worried A will be PO-ed because they started their recruiting process very early in the game. By now, I’m worried they’re expecting me to show up on May 23.</p>
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<p>This is particularly worrisome for me, because I am brand new in entering the industry … I’m only in my second year of college. I absolutely DO NOT want to burn that reputation so early in the game. However, A is in an entirely different industry than B is, and B is much closer to the core interests that I have. (A is railroad, B is Silicon Valley). I also know that I would get more out of B than I would from A. </p>
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<p>This is what I would be doing in reneging A’s offer, which is deeply troubling me.</p>
<p>Talk to A, explain the situation, and see what they say. They may have no problem releasing you, so maybe all this angst is in vain…</p>
<p>But my Career Office advised me to take B’s offer first before I said anything to A.</p>
<p>Then there are CCers (and people I know at school) who tell me to talk to A first to see what they think.</p>
<p>Tell A now, don´t wait any longer. I would call, then follow up with an email. I think they would understand. Tell them B is a closer fit to your future career, don´t bring up monty (only do that when you want A to match the offter). You are very young, and most people would understand that you are still exploring what career you want to go into someday.</p>
<p>Accept B, then call A right away.</p>
<p>For a bit of background on me: when I played yard football as a kid, I was also the referee because they knew I would give an honest answer. When I interview, I admit if I don’t know something and don’t try to bluff. When I am undercharged at a store, I point it out. </p>
<p>I find this issue deeply troubling too, and I’ve done it with a job offer. And I did even worse once; I quit a job after three days when a better offer came. And they both still trouble me even though they were both more than five years ago. </p>
<p>But the way I think of it is this: 1 - when I quit the job after three days, my team lead said he didn’t blame me and anybody should have done the same. 2 - What about if I had been working for a couple years and got another job; there’s nothing unethical about that at all; your situation causes no harm to the Co A compared to having you trained and in the middle of projects. 3 - (my most troubling rationalization because it makes me sound the worst) The company has no loyalty to you whatsoever; why should the loyalty go only one way? 4 - Co Adequate doesn’t really have its act together anyway so they don’t deserve you. This last one is really true; pay attention. If they had been talking to you all along, saying “you’re going to do this project and learn this and accomplish that towards our long term goals”, you would be more enthusiastic about them.</p>
<p>I think you should do Co. Better and I would tell my child the same. However, if my child, who is even more honorable than I am, stayed with Company Adequate, I would applaud his honor while being frustrated with his lack of sense. If I had to go back and do it over again with the two companies I stiffed, I would definitely do it again. Welcome to adulthood, where not all choices are black and white. </p>
<p>As for how to do it: Just do it professionally. Oldfort #26’s post.</p>
<p>Good luck. Please tell us what you decide.</p>
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<p>I would be somewhat unhappy that I’d have to find someone else and make
arrangements on short notice but, in general, companies do not want
employees that aren’t happy in what they are doing. Those employees
will leave at the first opportunity anyways. We hired a few people in
the depths of the recession and they left when the economy recovered
(these are HYPSM grads). The negative in this is that you’ve taken so
long as that takes away from the time to get someone else. I would
guess that they wouldn’t have any problems in finding another intern
right now though.</p>
<p>Company A might be larger than Company B but they may have far higher
current growth or growth potential and also be able to provide you
with far higher career potential. In CS, you learn a lot of theory and
IT positions use very little of that theory. The chance to become an
architect or manager over dozens of hundreds of engineers at a
software company (or company that builds important software) gives you
a better shot at using your education and may have more personal
growth potential. Companies that don’t specialize in software often
pay their software people less and don’t have as much say at the
corporate level. A friend of mine moved from a software company to
a big-pharma and they had to jack his pay grade up a few notches to
at least match what he was making.</p>
<p>Regarding uncertainty in what you would do at A: this isn’t
necessarily a black mark - some employers get their interns, do a week
of training and then ask them what they’d like to do. They then take
their stated preferences, look at their backgrounds and then decide
what each intern will do.</p>
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<p>It’s very welcoming indeed. 
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<p>I honestly prefer high school over this trouble. But I guess this is the process of growing up. </p>
<p>@GeekMom63: Would you accept B first then deliver the news to A, or should I tell A first then go onboard with B? </p>
<p>Yes, I’m leaning more heavily towards B than before… My ethical side is crying out loud.</p>
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<p>This is why I feel like I would get more out of B. B will definitely train me, but I’m spending 3 more weeks there than I would at A.</p>
<p>And I’m a student at Michigan. It’s not quite HYP. Not even close.</p>
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<p>I’ve only had 48 hours to decide, with 3-5 hours left to spare. But in A’s eyes, they’ve had me for several months, so I see this as a problem for them.</p>
<p>I’m having trouble writing up my resignation letter to A … how would you guys structure it and what kind of reasoning what you use?</p>
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<p>Career Centers have relationships with companies and they don’t want
to jeopardize those relationships with students reneging on accepted
offers. So your career center isn’t necessarily looking out for your
best interests.</p>
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<p>You’ve already expressed the rational reasons for reneging here.</p>
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<p>There’s no need to and it wouldn’t really matter to A.</p>
<p>I can understand why Company B is not understanding why you haven’t accepted their offer immediately. Your dad reached out to someone from Company B who put HIMSELF on the line to recommend you highly for an internship–and then it turns out that you really don’t feel free to take the offer?</p>
<p>I think Oldfort’s advice is the best to make the best out of a non-optimum solution.</p>
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Don’t ever let go of one until you have the other locked down. </p>
<p>Since you have a time problem, I would accept B right away by phone and then email. </p>
<p>Then call A. There’s no way you’re going to be comfortable doing this, and there’s nothing you can do that will take away A’s pain at your desertion (no matter how little or how much pain they actually have). “I’m very sorry to do this at this late date, but I received another offer that is just too good an opportunity to pass up.” And then I would grovel and apologize for myself and embarrass us both. It would be preferable if you skip that part. Do it professionally and get it over with.</p>
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Actually the career center is looking out for ALL students by doing this. Without those relations there would be no internships and kids would have to find their own. The potential impact of Company A never returning to that school again is another reason to call Company A and explain what happened.</p>
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<p>The funny thing is that A has always extended offers to students at my school, but students usually decline them but they keep coming back. Not sure how A will react when I renege though… </p>
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<p>Do you see this as being a very short phone call?</p>
<p>I would accept Company B. Today, is the day to do that. I would then call Company A, or write an email, and thank them for the time that have taken with you, but note a personal situation has arisen and you will not be able to accept their internship. You are sorry and greatly appreciated their consideration. If you feel you need a more thorough explanation you may tell them another internship has been offered that is in the industry and location that you hope to begin your career and that you feel the experience and exposure is something that you can not pass up. I would not give out the name of Company B. </p>
<p>In my age group we would not have considered writing an email, but I know of a student who had several phone interviews for more than one company and I was informed that other than the phone interviews, the offer letters, interview set-ups, etc., were all done via email. </p>
<p>I am an extremely ethical person and once I give my word…I have worked in HR in SV. In that position you realize people are interviewing for more than one position and plans change. It means you have to keep searching to fill a slot that you thought you had filled, but life continues. </p>
<p>Please let us know what you decide to do. My advice–stop procrastinating. Call and write Company B immediately, then make contact with Company A, then celebrate and look forward to your work experience.</p>
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<p>I wouldn’t use this language. If I received such a note, I would feel insulted. I’d tell them something more along the lines of Oldfort’s thoughts: “I’m very sorry to do this at this late date, but I received another offer that is a closer fit to my future career.”</p>
<p>Don’t take this the wrong way but in reality, the benefit to the company of having you as an intern is far less important to them than having the best internship position is to you and your future. i.e. They’ll likely be able to either fill the position with another well qualified person or just forego the intern and have little to no impact on their business. You on the other hand, need to secure a position that will most benefit your future in terms of opportunities and the experience you’ll gain. You’ll have to decide whether that’s company A or company B but it sounds like it’s B.</p>
<p>People change their minds on job offers sometimes due to opportunities popping up or counter-offers. It comes down to a business decision. I once made an offer to someone, he accepted, then he contacted me a few days later telling me he was going to decline because the company he was at made a good counter-offer. I know he was troubled by changing his mind and having to tell me this but although it meant I now had to find another candidate, I told him it makes sense that he goes with the best offer and where he felt he’d have the best position. I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to hire him and have him distracted by the thoughts that he really should be elsewhere or worse, spend the time and effort bringing him up to speed and then him finally deciding after a few months to leave. I want employees who are happy to be there. </p>
<p>I also think that any company that requires the decision for a summer internship position in November (from an inexperienced young college student - no offense intended) should not be surprised at all that some of those students later decline because of receiving a better offer from another company at a later time. </p>
<p>When you tell company A you’re very sorry but you’ll be unable to intern there this summer because you received another offer that you feel is a better position for you, you’ll get a sense of whether they’re understanding of it and accept it with relatively little in the way of an issue over it or if they’re fairly upset that you’re not going to take their position. But at the time you call them to decline you should have already made your decision and follow through with it. If you already have the decision in your mind then it doesn’t matter whether you decline A before accepting B or not.</p>
<p>Realize that declining A may burn any bridges with them regarding future employment with them so make sure you have no intentions of working there in the future.</p>
<p>Again, you being at the company (either A or B) won’t have a significant impact on the company and they can usually always just get another intern so from their perspective whether you intern there or not isn’t really that big of a deal to them but being at the right internship position is very important to your future opportunities so it is a big deal to you.</p>
<p>Edit - the phone call to A (don’t just send an email) should be business like, you should not wish-wash - just tell them your decision. Anticipate that they may ask ‘why?’. They might even counter-offer to match the pay of B so make sure you know up front how you’d handle that situation. It’ll likely be a short phone call.</p>
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<p>I am going to side with B. They’ll probably call me later today. Career office said that I can wait until next week for me to resign from A so that B can prepare paperwork. But not after next week. </p>
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<p>Can I also mention that the offer is extremely difficult to pass up? I mention this in my resignation letter, as well as it being a closer fit to my interests as it’s in the high-tech industry and that I would gain more from the internship since it lasts 12 weeks as opposed to 9 weeks. </p>
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<p>No offense taken and I know interns aren’t terribly important in the corporate world. But the experience is worth so much more than numbers can put it, especially at this point in my career. </p>
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<p>I’m starting to realize that this is part of the optimal solution in my non-optimal position. </p>
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<p>B’s offer is double of A’s offer, so I doubt that. But what truly matters is the experience. I think that B will most likely deliver more effectively than A will. A is transport and 9 weeks; B is high-tech/SV and 12 weeks.</p>
<p>OP opted for the bird in the hand instead of holding out and hoping for the two in the bush - - that’s life. When my D was in the same situatin, I advised her to stand by her original commitment and not reneg. (And D’s career services office has very strict rules regarding this sort of conduct.)</p>
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<p>I disagree w/ ucsd-ucla-dad’s post above. My office runs a very competitive intern program and if a student back out late in the game, it is quite difficult to fill that vacancy – after having already said “no” to our 2nd and 3rd choice candidates in favor of the one who reneged. When this has happended, we have definitely contacted the career development office. </p>
<p>Also, any industry is a smaller world than OP is aware. If you burn company A, it could easily come back to haunt you if employees at A - -who most certainly have any number of contacts as B and elsewhere in the industry - - bad-mouth you.</p>
<p>“I am going to side with B. They’ll probably call me later today. Career office said that I can wait until next week for me to resign from A so that B can prepare paperwork. But not after next week.”</p>
<p>May I ask why you are waiting for them to call you? Have they stated they are going to call you for your decision? I am not trying to be hurtful in any way, but to make the company be the one to have to call you for your decision is not ideal. You need to show enthusiasm, initiative, etc., and contact them with your decision. </p>
<p>On a side note, will somebody teach me something? When you want to post a quote from another posting, how do you get it in the quote box rather than use the quotation marks like I am doing?</p>
<p>foolishpleasure: That’s clearly not the case here. The Career Services department has suggested he can wait until next week to notify Company A.</p>