GloOmySunday

Hi,

I'm an electrical engineering major at a decent top30 public university and I was just wondering if anyone has advice for a sophomore looking for summer engineering internships. The problem is, I pretty much have no experience or ECs and stuff so nothing really stands out of my resume except my GPA (3.43 good enough?).

So my question is what does it take for a sophomore to get an internship with no experience whatsoever? Is it even possible? Thanks.

I AM planning on getting more involved next quarter and next year - I recently got invited in my honors EE society and I plan on joining more engineering-related orgs soon because I really am finding more and more interest about my major, but for now I'm kind of sheltered in terms of extracurricular activity.

md5fungi

I'm a Sophomore in Computer Engineering with a 3.28, and after applying to many companies this year for internship/co-ops, I can tell you the ones who accepted me indicated they did so on the basis of my experience.

From what I've heard companies really like prior experience with programming, layout, hardware familiarity; working on projects with teams looks really nice. Companies also don't want to hear what organizations you're in, and instead, what you are DOING in the organizations.

For someone without experience, I'd probably say that expressing your interest in the field and the company you're applying to with supporting facts to these claims might just help you get a position.

RacinReaver

Yeah, at that point it's more about how much you can hype up what you've done in your classes and how interested/motivated you are in the material. Getting a job (or into grad school) is pretty much the opposite of getting into college. They want you to be very focused on what you're learning and have a true passion for it. Being involved in 20 ECs won't do a thing if they're not furthering your education in your field.

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Well, I was in your boat last summer. I ended up interning with a fairly large company, Hawker Beechcraft (formerly apart of Raytheon). I didn't do anything EE related, actually. It was fine though, because at least I had an internship and when I interviewed with companies for the upcoming summer, it helped to talk about it.

I did more of a systems/manufacturing engineering type internship. Your post-junior year summer should be the one that's CompE/EE related.

Plus, I had a 3.1 overall GPA, but tons of EC involvement (VP for IEEE, advisory boards, etc...). Those help, too.

RacinReaver

Heh, my girlfriend is graduating this year and has been interviewing for jobs in EE. Just about every company she talks to wants her to do systems engineering.