With this years late start many formal internship programs start 2 full weeks before Spring quarter ends. The career office says it will be no problem to work out. My kid has never seen any sign of flexibility on final dates by Profs. Was offered an amazing internship position with a consulting group (that typically would lead to a job offer for after grad) but has to be there before finals start. Has anyone had experience with this? Does it just work out? They could take a very light schedule Spring quarter with some “easy” electives. But still have to take finals. Starting the internship late is not a possibility as they train that first week and then send the interns out to work in other locations the following weeks.
Is this a Metcalfe or similar internship made available via the Career Advancement office or something your student procured outside the UChicago career placement path?
you just start your internship a few weeks later with the other quarter system kids
It happened outside of the career office but is a company that recruits officially. Not Metcalfe. They just posted opportunities online much much earlier than the Career Fair. Last year due to how late in the process the Career Fair started, companies said they were behind on the recruitment timeline and would have better opportunities if they applied as soon as the internships were posted on their sites rather than waiting for the career fair. The Career office provided help with the resume and interview prepping. Not knowing who the Profs will be it’s really impossible to know what they will say but the career office made it sound routine. Was just hoping to hear real experiences that this will work. It puts students at a huge disadvantage if they can’t make it work. All of the best internships seem to have start dates no later than June 3rd this year. Some have May or June start dates but still not later than June 3rd.
D ran into the same situation. She worked with the company to take her finals a week early and start her internship one week late.
You should alert your internship contact on your own initiative unless Career Advancement says they handle it for you. Even so, your contact will want to know your schedule and you want him/her to advise on what to do. @HydeSnark has a good point - some of the interns will be coming from other quarter-system colleges or might be traveling right before starting; not everyone will be able to begin before June. They probably do accommodate with later training and placement for that 2nd group.
I wouldn’t toss away the quarter or sacrifice taking great courses to resolve this issue since it most likely has a very simple solution otherwise.
There are so few quarter schools left now mostly in California that the school end date seems to be shocking to a number of East Coast companies. The other remaining quarter schools seem to start earlier and have first quarter finals before Thanksgiving break which seems to be a better solution to stay on a similar schedule to other colleges. Thanks to those who said they were able to make it work.
There’s no one answer. It depends on combination of the employer and the professors but to the best of my knowledge it always works out. Your kid, not Career Services, will have the responsibility to find an acceptable solution for all parties. Keep in mind some classes have projects or papers instead of finals so that’s easy to solve by getting the work done early. You may find yourself flying your kid back and forth for the exams if the professor doesn’t have flexibility. Most workplaces are understanding about interns needing to skip a day of training for that reason. Chicago and California firm locations are used to this and are the easiest. New York and DC will be the bear as the UChicago and Stanford kids are just less in sheer numbers vs the combo from all the Ivies. In no case though should an issue like this prevent your kid from either taking classes or accepting an internship. It’s all surmountable.
Our S has had no trouble at all starting internships later than the “official” start date. He’s on quarter system.
As an employer, I have always worked with my interns to find a schedule that works. Some professors will allow students to take finals early and others have even let me as an employer proctor the final at my work location. Rarely has a professor refused to accommodate a student but in that case the student took a day off and flew back to Chicago for it. It’s in everyone’s best interest to make it work.
That would be VERY odd for the employer who as offered an internship (which means they really like your kid) to not make an adjustment to the schedule. Internships are great “learning experiences” not “decision making” experiences the latter of may require specific dates if employment, but a college student will not be making any decisions for a company.
Just as described above, our son on the quarter system also had to start his internship one week late because of finals. The company was very cooperative. He simply earned one week less pay than the other summer interns. At first there was the possibility that he would have to fly in for a day of orientation at the company before taking his finals. Then the company decided to let him do his orientation online so he didn’t have to. All of this was negotiated between our son and the company without any involvement of his college.
having retired from a consulting company after 20 years, i can say the ethos at these places is to try and accomodate legitimate people issues as best as possible. Trick is to talk to the hiring partner who will have a lot more flexibility in developing options than front line HR.
I have never started an internship before July. Quite a few students will do their visit home/traveling/etc. at the start of the summer, rather than the end. With some exceptions, employers get it.
Professors have to offer 10th Week finals for graduating seniors, because their grades are due earlier than those of returning students. Most professors will allow any student to take this final. That might help.