I am a chemical engineering major, and I just finished my 3rd semester. I did awful last semester so my CGPA s 3.429. I attend OOS school.
When should I start looking for internship/Co-Op? Thanks
Starting your sophomore year is ideal, but also a longshot. You absolutely should have one by the end of junior year. If you can’t manage an internship, you should definitely find some other worthy activity that will help you get that internship later (research, clubs, honor societies, etc).
Why sophomore year? Start your freshman year. The sooner you get experience interacting with recruiters, the sooner you will become proficient at it, even if you don’t succeed as a freshman.
It’s never too early to start looking. I wouldn’t expect to have much luck until your junior year though.
If you can find one now, do it. Never too early to start the search. My daughter applied for a few for this summer (after sophomore year) but wasn’t successful. She’ll make as much money at another job, but would like the engineering experience. Next year.
I would start applying as soon as you can. Even during you freshmen year it is possible if you put the effort in.
During my freshmen year, I heard a lot of the same remarks suggesting that it was impossible for freshmen to get internships. This is a very negative mindset that I wish people would not transfer on. I myself and others have done it before, but you have to put the effort in and want it. Here are some tips I would recommend to set you in the right direction.
- Actively be involved in some clubs. Your first and second years are great for trying clubs and activities until you find the best fit. Even if you don't settle down on one club right away, showing on your resume the different projects you participated on definitely helps.
- If possible, take an officer or leadership position within a club or organization. Not only will you build leadership skills, but you'll definitely learn more and participate in more design work. This is because almost all organizations follow the 80-20 rule meaning that 20% of the people do 80% of the work. If you're in the 20% you'll learn much more, but you'll get much more out of it.
- Utilize your college's career center. I know fourth-year students who don't even do this. They're there to help you optimize your resume and hone your interview skills so use this resource wisely. I had ~15 drafts of my resume at the end of my first year.
- Network. I know this sounds cliche, but it definitely works. The best students don't always get the best positions, partially because they don't have the best interpersonal communication skills. Just talking with professors has helped me find out about multiple internships, scholarships, and research opportunities. It also helps to have killer letters of recommendation.
- Career fairs work well, meeting people face to face is much more rewarding and often works much better than sending resumes off into the abyss online. Some recruiters have even told me exactly how their system sorts out candidates and what keywords they look for.
- Learn how to write a good resume. (Hint: use your college career center). Like all pieces of literature, you will need to edit it many times. Take out that irrelevant fluff and highlight just the important content. Make sure the formatting is excellent. (Hint#2, look up the basic graphic design rules). Challenge readers to find at least one mistake or one thing they dislike about it.
Lastly, think from the perspective of an ideal candidate. Do you think what you’re doing is what a NASA, Boeing, Apple etc. candidate would be doing?
Just my 2 cents, but it should help.