I’ve been lurking and posting in these forums since high school and stopped like many do after I’ve entered college. And as prepared I was to do well in my first year, real life just didn’t work out. A combination of unbelievable laziness and social crisis made me end up with a less than preferred 3.4 GPA and no side projects to show any outstanding work. And again I am sitting here in the summer as I did last year thinking of ways to maximize my next year. The thing is, I always hear that companies take in all their interns during the fall. I’m hoping to perhaps get into a research project, join this club project that I am really interested in, possibly even start a private project, and raise my GPA to around a 3.6 during the fall. I don’t want to put something on my resume that I’m not really even invested in yet and so I feel that I would need to wait until the second semester to get started with Job Fairs and raise my GPA. What do you guys think? Do companies even look at sophomore without anything really relevant outside of an average GPA? Should I bother going to Job Fairs in the fall and start applying for internships then? Keep in mind that Im not in some top 10 university, its a flagship state university, but nothing more. Any pleasant anecdotes would be great to lower my anxiety.
In my limited experience through watching my son, landing an internship is very much like fishing. If you toss a line or two out and wait, not much will happen. If you’re super active though, going to all the job fairs, sending out blind emails and letters to companies you’re interested in, parlay any and all family and friend connections no matter how insignificant they might seem, and then get a little lucky, you will greatly increase your odds of landing an internship. Also, no matter how promising it sounds, no matter what they say, you don’t have it until the paper is signed. Keep “fishing” until you have one officially “in the boat.”
Now for an anecdote. There once was a ant and an elephant… No seriously, my son was able to land a spring break mini internship and a summer internship as a freshman by being active and lucky. He thought he had a summer position for months, but didn’t have an official offer. They bailed on him at the last moment. I told that story to an acquaintance who is an engineer. It turns out his intern bailed on him! My son sent a resume to him, interviewed and now has a position.
Active + Luck = Internship
Just go to tech fairs. You get the practice and don’t give up. 3.4 is not bad, it’s only 1 year. You have time to raise it up.
I agree, your GPA is not that bad and the only way you will land an internship is to apply for a lot of them and hone your interviewing skills and resume. I see lots of students who don’t go to the career fairs with one excuse or another and that is a bad mistake. Go early and go often.
"A combination of unbelievable laziness and social crisis made me end up with a less than preferred 3.4 GPA and no side projects to show any outstanding work. " - That’s a pretty respectable GPA. If you were lazy and got decent grades, I’m impressed.