summer internship

Awesome feedback! I appreciate you all taking the time to offer some solid advice! A new adventure and experience for us and my son. Thks!!

I think it depends on how structured the internship is. One summer internship that my son had was so loosely organized (disorganized, is more like it) that he had no problem disappearing for a week in the middle to attend an out of town wedding. Others have been more regimented and a week’s absence would have been unacceptable.

None. Interns are interns. They don’t get vacation. Do not even think of asking. Example: My D’s friend asked for ONE day off to attend her brother’s wedding across the country. Company begrudgingly said OK. End of summer, this intern was the ONLY one who did not get a return offer for post-graduation.

Take your vacation before or after the internship.

I ran few summer internships. There were usually around 10 weeks, from beginning of Jun to first week of Aug. We allowed some interns to stay longer if they wanted to, but didn’t want them to start later or leave early.

At one point, we had 4+ nieces and nephews doing summer internships. We ended up doing large family vacation end of May, and maybe another small vacation (my immediate family) in Aug. We didn’t have our kids take time off from their summer internship.

“Interns are interns” “Don’t even think of asking” “…bad impact on his professional life”

Certainly not my experience. So, I’m starting to really think that this is industry related (or maybe company size). It would be informative if posters indicated the industry of the internship experience they are posting about.

D has been in the “find a summer internship” process for a couple of months now, issue this year being she is studying abroad and will not return until the end of June. That means ALL the structured 12 week internships are out (she’ll have 9 weeks before college starts back up). It’s been a challenge for her to find ones that are OK with that schedule and that meet her goals. She has academic offers (and one is OK with being a backup) but really wants to try a business one this summer, in part to decide if she wants to work or go right to grad school next year.

If she gets what she’s looking for, she will NOT be asking for time off.

@blossom, @OldFart @brantly what if the high school kid is being recognized for achievement by a major institution and those dates, when she will in other city, are during the paid internship time at a fortune 500 company; no family vacation but we have told our our US senator already and confirmed the dates that daughter will be there for recognition ceremoney. Do we tell the compnay that she has to be absent for two days. Not trying to steal the thread. Issue is, she is only high school student who has been offered a summer internships in artificial intellegence after extensive interviews along with other PhD students. The both are very prestigious opportunities.

Do not care about money as opportunities are awesome and she is lucky to have multiple internship offers for paid internships. She chose this one as it is the hardest and in cutting edge work in the field.

NYNY, no YOU do not tell the company. Your D tells the company in a respectful way that she is the guest of a United States Senator on dates X and Y and is happy to make up the time lost at work at either the beginning or end of the internship if they’d like. And the company will be very happy to accommodate her.

There is a difference between what you are describing and a trip to the beach.

blossom, With my broken English, I will never write. Daughter is the one who will tell as she is meeting company official and is being flown away to company headquarters over the school march break. Thanks

Put me in the “none” camp for vacation. Need a day for a family wedding or to handle all the pre-school professional visits (doctor/dentist/optometrist-assuming work right up until school starts), you’re probably ok, but it’s something to ask about before accepting the offer. Think about it. As an employer, you had your choice of lots of promising interns to accomplish or help with a particular task and then one says, well, gee, I want to go on vacation, so I’m going to miss about 20% of the experience (2 wks of vacation) or even 10% of the experience (1 wk of vacation). As an employer, I’d be wishing I’d offered the internship to someone a little more committed.

If it’s a sort-of informal internship, I suppose it does not hurt to ask. If it’s a formal internship program that’s highly competitive to get, then no, you cannot ask for vacation. For example, my daughter had three interviews for her internship – one by phone, one in person on campus, and then they flew her to NY, all expenses paid, for the final “panel” interview. Ten students were selected out of hundreds who applied. You do not ask for “vacation” in a situation like that.

None. I would not ask.

I am reminded of my friends in who had athletes in high school who did football training in the month of August. Here in the east, August is a big go away on vacation month. Those families were not going anywhere or their student wasn’t playing football for the entire year.

The fact that your son got an ME internship as a Sophomore is a GIFT. (My son graduated with an ME degree and he barely got a summer internship as a Sophomore) Plan some weekend fun and wait until Xmas break for a real vacation.

Many REU types of internships specifically state that the student must be able to attend the internship as scheduled, no starting late or ending early.

I would also recommend time with family before or after the internship. My daughter asked for a day off to fly to a family wedding. Her manager was great about it, and she was invited back the next summer. There were about 60 interns. None took a week off for a family vacation.

12 weeks will go fast, and interns want to get the most out of this experience. There are work assignments to be completed, but also speakers and other activities for interns, assuming this is a formal internship program at a larger company. I would strongly discourage asking for a week off.

My D would give her left hand for an internship right now, she has applied to 125 companies across the states, has been interviewed by 6 and rejected by 2 so far. From what I can ascertain most start no earlier than the first of June and some not until mid-June. She is studying abroad and can be home by May 25th so that would essentially give her at least one week before an internship…that would be her vacation time. I would not suggest asking for time off, especially if you are interning at a company where you are hoping for a career offer. These internships are hard to come by, treat them as such.