Ok, so I earned a sub par gpa my first semester in college so I just assumed I would not get any summer internship this summer so I found a study abroad program with my school that would let me get ahead in my course work. But it seemed like their is a possibility that some people from one of my engineering classes will be hired for internships this summer. For one of our class projects, my group took our idea and competed it in inventing competitions with our teacher as our “supervisor”. Long story short, our teacher says that some of us may be offered internships at a company that’s had its eye on our team this whole year for this summer.
BUT I was hoping to study abroad this summer . The trip goes from late June to early August and my school is paying for virtually all of it so it feels like a once and a life time chance. I have until April 13th to decide if I’m going abroad or not and I am torn between if I should take the experience or the trip abroad.
I am open to suggestions or advice. I could use some advice. We won’t know who is getting an offer until our final competition (April 27th) but they plan on taking at least one of us (confirmed) .
Summer internship or Study Abroad Program ?
PS - I know its dumb, but is it possibly an option that if I were accepted to ask to work from may till I leave at the end of june? (I’m a freshman and I don’t know if this is a thing)
Also, since I know someone will mention it, I wanted to point out that this study abroad program is being ** paid for ** by the school(mostly, not the plane ticket) . So their is no financial aspect to this issue that I am concerned with.
But i am open to hear what issues I should be concerned with.
This question has a clear answer: take the internship and for the entire period offered. Don’t risk insulting your supervisor by asking to just work for one month. My spouse just turned down a summer intern because the student wanted to do exactly what you’re asking. My spouse’s thought was, “what could the student accomplish in one month?”
What if this internship were to lead to a job after graduation? Since you don’t have a stellar gpa, this sounds like a godsend.
I get it–going abroad would be a lot of fun, but there is a very real possibility that the internship could be fun, too.
Since you don’t even know if you will get this internship, I would be inclined to stick with your original plan to study abroad. Many freshmen do not have internships, so you would not be alone in that. If, as you say, the study abroad would help you get ahead in your course work, that is a bonus. Concentrate on improving your “sub par gpa.”. That will be important in improving your chances for internships going forward.
What’s the deadline for backing out of the study abroad? If it is flexible, why not move forward on that path until you know for sure about the internship opportunity? If you put all your faith in the internship route and don’t get it, you risk having neither.
If you are offered the job, and it is relevant to ME, I would recommend taking it. When it comes time to hiring we highly favor people who have worked on interesting real world projects.
Almost all employers are going to favor those with internships vs study abroad. Study abroad is more for your personal growth than career experience. So this is a personal choice that only you can decide.
@eyemgh I need to chose to study abroad a full week before I will know if I do or don’t get the internship. So I would need to chose between one or the other by next week.
What factors would you guys think about would help you decide, knowing their is a chance that if you don’t study abroad you also may not get the internship? Because I didn’t even think about relevance to major or lightening my course load in the future.
Take advantage of the study abroad opportunity. As an engineering student, it is challenging to take a semester of study abroad and get in all the required engineering courses. This sounds like a perfect opportunity to see a bit of the world. You will have more opportunities to intern after your sophomore year of college. Hats off to you for getting your funding through the school. Enjoy!
The biggest thing you need to know is that most students in your shoes don’t do either at that stage. Most internships are after junior year and most engineers don’t study abroad because it doesn’t integrate into the curriculum. Given that the overseas program will only cost you a flight and is a sure thing, that’s what I’d certainly advise.
These are the tough choices in life. Pick one, stay the course and don’t look back. If you decide to forgo the study abroad, you’ll be accepting the risk that if you don’t get an internship offer you will have neither opportunity.
I ended up choosing the study abroad program and I’m really glad I did. First off, I wasn’t selected, but my teammate that got the internship spends half of his summer either reading or working with data in spreadsheets before they let him try anything significant. Meanwhile I got to take some hands on classes abroad where I developed a robot from scratch(down to machine language) to perform humanoid tasks. I also competed and won a Hackathon for $7k USD in an effort to develop my Coding skills. And I made some connections from the hackathon that are advancing me to the final stage of their interview process when I get back home for internships in SoCal and Florida (i.e. no gpa requirement ! ). So I feel like I got some valuable engineering experience and a great international experience and everyone I traveled with had a similar options to develop in their technical skills.
And @eyemgh is right; most people don’t get to chose between the two
So for anyone stumbling along this thread, I strongly encourage you to study, teach or volunteer abroad as a freshman or for a gap year if you have an intrest in doing it for your collegiate career. In reality, your most productive internships will come after sophomore year anyways and when you go abroad you can find technical options to give you projects for your resume. Sure it may be “better” to have industry projects to some companies, but having international projects is still an impressive feat if you choose to look for them on Facebook or EventBrite or what ever school you are studying abroad at. International hackathons normally have free tickets for American - Canadian - British companies and students so you will make a good network . And often with people looking for interns next year.
I don’t regret this choice and I’ve put myself in a good position to do better at the career fair next year and earn an internship.
What is the study abroad program? Would you just be taking some courses in your own language and enjoying sunny beaches in another country or will you be involved with another culture? Will you doing research.? There is an educational value to a rich cultural experience.
The cultural experience is a “bird in hand” and is paid for. Look more closely at the breadth and depth of the study abroad program. Educationally, they can be a life changer that gives you a different perspective on the world. Depending on the quality of the program, study abroad can be an educational eye opener. A broadened perspective also adds to an ME’s marketability upon graduation.
That is fantastic! The $7k Hackathon award is a nice financial perk and will also make a very impressive resume bullet. It sounds like you made a good decision.
"my teammate that got the internship spends half of his summer either reading or working with data in spreadsheets before they let him try anything significant. " - Know that it may be same for you on your first internship (and your first job too). Sometimes that is how it works… all good experience.
