I have a son studying Mechanical Engineering at our state flagship (not commuting distance from home).
I’m looking for at least cost-neutral ideas of good ways to spend the summer after freshman year. He has about half of the sophomore year curriculum completed, in addition to the freshman year core, but that’s probably not enough to get a relevant internship.
We live rurally, so coming home and getting a random summer job would be unlikely – there just aren’t all that many opportunities here.
He has a full tuition scholarship, and a little money in the bank (and we’re covering his room & board & books) so he doesn’t necessarily have to make money this summer, but we also can’t afford to send him off on some expensive program either. But a free or very inexpensive program would be suitable, or something where he could earn enough to cover his living costs.
Any creative thoughts out there? He is working on learning about options through his department and his school’s career center, but just trying to think outside the box a bit here. He could get a “regular summer job” up in his college town, which should be enough to cover living expenses there if he gets a cheap sublet, but I wonder if there are good options. Taking classes isn’t really an option, as his scholarship doesn’t apply to summer classes.
Are there any summer jobs at his college? My kiddo worked full time at her college the summer between sophomore and junior year. But she could hav done so after freshman year as well. Some of the summer jobs even included summer housing. I would start there.
Can you afford to have him stay on/near campus this summer, and volunteer in an engineering lab? If he’s actively involved in a research lab this summer, it would strengthen his internship applications for next year.
We can’t afford to have him stay on/near campus without any kind of income, but he might be able to do something like volunteer part-time and work part-time.
Mathmom…some of the college summer jobs at my kid’s school included FREE housing for the summer. Some has housing on campus at very reduced rates. See if your son’s school has any summer employment that includes housing…or if they have reduced cost housing for those who work for the college on the summer.
Someone else on this forum said their Civil Engineering son worked a summer doing road construction. I thought that was a great idea, since it will give him good insight into the people he may work with after he gets his degree. For a Mechanical Engineering student, I wonder if a comparable summer job might be entry-level work in a machine shop or doing fabrication or welding. If he likes the automotive side, he could rebuild a motor or volunteer to work with the pit crew of an amateur race car driver.
Thanks Thumper, we have been looking for such opportunities, but haven’t seen much yet. Hopefully he’ll find some interesting options up there – that seems like the best bet if he can find something.
I think he might love doing “entry-level work in a machine shop or doing fabrication” if he could find such a job. He might even be qualified – he has taking a couple of machine shop type classes by now.
My mech E son did stuff during the summer through his matriculated university and other times through our local uni. Sometimes he worked in the engineering labs and other times on research projects where they needed someone with advanced math skills who could help with other lab research (mostly life sciences but also physics labs). He might want to look around at other departments that might need what he can do vs. what they typically look for.
Other son (who went on to med school) worked in the botany dept. They were looking for someone who could apply the research in a medical capacity, great fit and a great LOR and publications for med school without having to deal with other pre-meds all wanting to do the same thing. Looking outside the box for my kiddos usually led to some fruitful discoveries!!
Both took classes during the summer that they did not have time for during the fall/spring. They did ask financial aid and the respective depts. if any extra money would be forthcoming to help them out for the summer. Cannot hurt to ask.
After his freshman year (engineering) DH ended up working at the mall in the tools/equipment section of Sears.
At his state u. the fraternities/sororities houses rented rooms to students in the summer months. That’s where DH lived and had a blast.
If he just wants to do mindless labor and live in his college town for the summer…S2’s university hires kids to paint all the dorm rooms during the summer.
After DS freshman year (engineering) he volunteered in a professor’s lab. It did not come with reduced housing, so it ended up costing a lot (but that’s Boston). It did get him in the door for an interview for a coop this year that does not usually talk to sophomores so it turned out to be a good investment.
Very similar situation for my D but with a different major in engineering. She has applied to a few internship positions but the chance is always low for freshmen. On the other hand, she is planning to take Physics 240 this summer in a community college so that she can finish all pre-major sophomore classes by the end of the summer. So she would have an easier schedule down the road and can graduate with dual major in ChemE/MSE in 4 years or less. She is not so eager to graduate early, but she may have one semester for study aboard or internship.
My son is an ME major finishing up his sophomore year. He actually got a great internship last summer, at an engineering firm, through connections. He was hoping /planning to intern there again this summer but 2 weeks ago they told him there is no funding for interns this summer. (They are a small start up company). Now we are scrambling trying to line something up. He goes to school about 1 3/4 hrs away so if he got something at school he would need to find housing too. Thanks for the ideas. Will have him start checking out some options.