atlhawks

I am really a huge noob when it comes to the whole internships deal.... The colleges (umich,uiuc,gatech) I have been looking at have multiple job fairs every year and they said on the tours people find internships/jobs at these fairs. I am wondering if the internships found at these are local only, or are they for interns out of the state as well? I am just curious becuase if they are usually local only, would it be better to choose a college if its in a better location?

Thanks for help

chuy

There are companies from the surrounding area and from other areas at those job fairs. All other things being equal, though, it's still not a bad idea to go to school where you want to work. If you want to live in Mich you're going to have an easier time getting a job with a UMich degree than with one from GT, for example. You'll just know more people that know more people that can help you out.

notre dame AL

Also, as son is now a soph in eng this year, I can tell you that companies at these job fairs are really not interested in Fresh or Soph eng majors just yet. I think the real internship ops open up after jr year.

merper68

It's definitely possible to get an internship freshman year, but since the fairs are usually in fall, it is much more difficult. With some luck though and a high GPA, you can get a job at a last-minute Spring job fair. By sophmore year, it's pretty doable to get an internship.

The chief problem, from my experience and what I hear, is people only go after a few companies and give up too fast. Just don't be too picky about what you're looking for and submit to every company that has positions in your major. Any position is better than none, unless you have other comparable plans for the summer like research or going abroad.

And to the OP, I've seen internships that place you in other countries. Fujitsu was hiring interns at my school to work in Japan, I remember.

md5fungi

"Also, as son is now a soph in eng this year, I can tell you that companies at these job fairs are really not interested in Fresh or Soph eng majors just yet. I think the real internship ops open up after jr year."

Definitely not true. A great deal of my sophomore colleagues that have applied to internship/co-op opportunities already have jobs set up for the summer and fall. An involved sophomore with a resume that displays motivation towards his specific engineering career can definitely get an internship or co-op with a decent company (Having above a 3.0/4.0 definitely helps, too)

notre dame AL

Oh-son was able to secure a very nice internship after fresh year--it has just been his exp so far, as mentioned by another poster, that since the fairs are in the fall, generally, *most* companies are not that interested. Let's face it-as a freshman, how many hard-core eng courses does one take? It as been just this year as a soph that he is really beginning to get the hands-on coursework that I am sure so many of these companies are interested in. Sure the internships are out there, and if you are really interested, you have to be persistent as a freshman or soph. Don't give up!

chuy

I'll back him up that most of the people there aren't interested in talking to freshmen. Some are, though, and your best bet for getting an internship after your freshman year (which you should DEFINITELY do,) is to send your resume in individually.