<p>I just finished my junior year and will be entering my senior year as a civil engineering student. I was hoping to get an internship this summer but I didn’t even get offered an interview. My ambitions were to attend graduate school immediately after my undergrad. I know not getting an internship might have put me in a really bad position. So I was wondering how bad of an impact this has on my admission chances into a solid grad program?</p>
<p>My Stats:
GPA: 3.5
Involvement: Chi Epsilon Honors Society, Steel Bridge Club, Tutoring, ASCE
Experience: None.
Undergrad University: Regular State School
Grad Courses: I have taken structural analysis at the graduate level and might also take advanced mechanics of materials (both 500-level courses)
GRE: Not taken, will this summer</p>
<p>Grad Schools I originally wanted to attend:
Purdue
U of Washington
Cornell
U of Michigan
U of Colorado
Northwestern
Notre Dame (I know, not that great in engineering but I am a fan of Catholic universities)
Carnegie Mellon
UCSD</p>
<p>I understand these are fairly strong universities. I also understand that my lack of experience is not a good thing. So it would be very helpful if you guys (and girls) could tell me where I now stand. Honest answers will be helpful. Do not be afraid to give me bad news, it will benefit me in the long run. It would also be helpful if I got some feedback on my alternative plan below. </p>
<p>Alternative Plan:
In state tuition is not expensive at all and I could easily afford to add a 9th semester. The reason for this would be to add an additional summer to get an internship. I could also spread out my course load and probably add another 500 course to my transcripts.</p>
<p>I’m not going to be able to chance you, because I don’t know anything about grad school admissions, but I can tell you a rank or relative level of respect is probably important for the school. Are you talking top 20? Top 30? Top 50? Lower than that?</p>
<p>I can tell you for UMich, they guarantee admission for UMich undergrads with a 3.5 or higher (except for Biomedical where they only require a 3.2). I imagine if they guarantee it for them, someone applying with a 3.5 has to have some chance. Other than that, I don’t know.</p>
<p>The fact that you didn’t even get an interview is a little surprising, but in this economy I guess it really isn’t. You can get an internship in between undergrad and grad school in any case.</p>
<p>I don’t think grad schools look at internships that much. they look at research a lot more. I would say you definitely have a pretty good chance at getting into at least one of those schools, assuming you keep your grades on par this coming semester.</p>
<p>QwertKey, I do not have access to the US News rankings but I am almost certain my university ranks slightly below the top 50 mark. So ya, clearly I do not attend stanford university haha. I can tell you that I am pretty far above the average GPA but like I said, its a regular state school</p>
<p>Aggie10, you stated it better than I could - its suprising but at the same time its not. I was aware I had very little chance given the state of the economy so it was not a huge slap in the face I guess</p>
<p>hfkjds, like you said, it could be possible that the internship thing is not all that important -especially if I choose the MS which is supposedly a more research and academic degree as opposed to the career oriented Masters of Engineering.</p>
<p>I would try to get some research experience asap. Most professors are on campus during the summer doing research so I would try hard to get involved with some of it. Also, your chances should be decent, but you need to do well on the GRE and also get some research experience - both of these things can be worked on over the summer.</p>
<p>It really seems like you should have been able to obtain, at least, an interview. I understand the economy is not the best at the moment but even with that I don’t think it should be that hard to get to the interview stage.</p>
<p>Have you had your career center check over your resume to make sure it’s well written?</p>
<p>Where did you apply for these internships at? Over the internet? Career fair?</p>
<p>purduefrank hit the nail on the head. If you can stay on campus for the summer, talk to a professor in an area that you enjoyed and see if he could use an undergrad researcher. Getting undergrad research done is far and away more important to graduate schools than internship experience. If you can’t manage to stay on campus for the summer, then get yourself in a lab for the fall/spring. Having that research experience not only proves that you can research at a graduate level (very important to grad schools), but also gives you vital connections with professors that can write spectacular letters of recommendation if they know you in a research setting.</p>
<p>Grad school admissions is a lot different than undergrad admissions. It is more than just an ACT/SAT score and a GPA. Your GPA is good, and 3.5 makes you at least competitive at a lot of places. If you do well on the GRE (780+ on quantitative, 500+ on verbal, 4.5+ on writing) that will help. If you have research experience, that will help a lot. If you have good letters of recommendation, that will also help a lot. That is why getting that research is so important. Not only does it really look good, but it is the best way to get good LoRs.</p>
<p>If you are diligent in keeping your grades up and you managed to get yourself some research experience, I wouldn’t be surprised if you got into almost all of your top choices.</p>
<p>Also, I would refine your list of schools some. You may be a fan of Catholic universities, but at the graduate level, it is all about what you research and who your advisor is. Make sure your school, first and foremost, has a lot of research in the area in which you are interested, and if at all possible, try and get a professor as your advisor who is well known in that field. The industry and academic connections of well known professors is invaluable when it comes time to moving on after grad school.</p>
<p>why can’t the OP just tell us what school he goes to? WHY? maybe someone will see and give relevant specific information… what is the big secret? especially when it’s a big state school anyway?</p>
<p>I’m in the same boat as the the OP. I’m entering my senior year at UF (ranked 18th for civil engineering) with a 3.8 GPA and couldn’t find anything. I put in lots of work at the fall career fair, filled out countless online applications over the past year, and even made some cold calls. I’ve received no responses. Companies are still posting internships and I am still applying, but I am not counting on getting anything. It honestly makes me feel like an idiot. None of my work has paid off. I really wanted to do an internship this summer to see if I want to enter the industry after graduation or go to grad school. It’s very frustrating.</p>
<p>Are you a US citizen? If so, I would strongly recommend having someone look over your resume. There’s an obvious problem if you’ve applied to 10+ internship positions with a good GPA and haven’t heard a response.</p>
<p>Yes, I’m a US citizen. My resume is fine. Recruiters at the career fair told me specifically that they look for GPA, computer program literacy (AutoCAD, etc.), and current class status (prefer juniors/seniors). I have all those on my resume along with some extracurricular activities.</p>
<p>I’ve been trying to get an internship for the past 3 years and have yet to even receive an interview. The first two years I assumed that I wasn’t considered because I was an underclassman. Now that I’m a senior I guess I’m just going to blame it on the economy.</p>
<p>Civil is the reason, it’s just been hit the hardest. While all hiring is down I really don’t see a huge problem with any of the IE, ME, EE people I know. With a 3.8, and junior/senior status you would be raking in offers if it weren’t in Civil, at least from my experience. I guess I really don’t know any Civil’s here to compare to, but I’d be willing to bet this is the problem… It’s a respectable major, just a bad time to be graduating as one.</p>
<p>There hasn’t been a problem finding internships at GT. With the decline in FT hiring, there have seemingly been more internship positions out there. </p>
<p>Same with me. I’m a civil engineering major (3.2 gpa) at the University of Maryland and a rising senior. I applied to a bunch of internships too, but no luck. I might be doing research with a grad student this summer but I’m not sure. I’m not sure if it’s the economy, my grades, or the fact that I changed my major three times during college. Junior year was my first year as a civil eng major. Sophomore year I was EE and freshman year I was ChemE and BioE. I won’t be graduating till Dec. 2011. I’m so depressed about everything I cry every night. I don’t know if I’ll be able to even get a job after graduation with no experience. Does anyone know if there’s any hope for me?</p>
<p>Have you talked to your career services counselors to find out what the issue is? UMD is an excellent school and should attract a good number of employers. The career services people can tell you if it’s an isolated problem (maybe something in your resume or cover letter turns people off) or if it’s a systemic issue (i.e. no one is getting a job).</p>
<p>If you can’t find a position through career services, there are other options. Use Linked-in to search for positions (thousands are posted daily). That’s a much better site than Monster, et al (but look there, as well). Look around for networking events at churches, alumni chapters, etc. Meet those people and see if they have any contacts - you’d be surprised who you meet through people at those events. Go to local professional society meetings and talk to people. And worst case, start searching for and contacting people on Linked-in. Find civil engineers with considerable experience that are relatively high up in companies. Tell them you’ll work for free to gain experience and a reference. No one wants to work for free, but sometimes it’s worth it.</p>
<p>If you can’t find anything, don’t just sit around and wallow or work at the local convenience store. You need to show that you’re improving yourself. Study for the FE exam and take it in October. Take a class, do some professional development, or even learn a foreign language. Just do something to make yourself more valuable than you are now.</p>