D is deciding between two summer internship opportunities this weekend. One is near our hometown, she could live at home, drive our car, eat our food, she would love to be here and we would love to have her around. It is a good offer with a good company but it is the second best fit, career-wise. The other offer is in the western suburbs of Chicago. The one in Chicago is a really great offer–it’s clearly a much better fit for her career goals.
We think we can arrange housing with some effort, but transportation is proving to be a bigger problem as she does not have a car. The location is not near reasonably priced housing, a train station, or any bus stops, so logistics are difficult to say the least. Has anyone recently dealt with finding a car for a summer internship or short term situation and found something workable? She does not need or want a car when she’s at school in the city. She will be 21 which affects ease and cost of renting. It’s much too far to drive one of our cars out. She’s looked into Uber from the train station–available but quite expensive for daily use.
So, she’s 21 now? Is she likely to graduate in spring 2018? If so, will she seek employment then (as opposed to grad school)?
If the answer to all of the above is “yes”, then most likely she’ll have to fly on her own, 12 months later. If the Chicago opportunity is sufficiently superior to the local opportunity, and you have at least some ability to help her financially, then it SHOULD be workable.
Find an inexpensive rental, ideally furnished (plan B could be cheap Craigslist furniture or the like). Possibilities include local colleges with empty dorms in the summer, or subleases near such colleges from students with off-campus housing, or just a short term apartment or corporate rental, or even a low-end hotel. Of course, be safe, but I’d guess there are many options. The hiring company may offer suggestions.
Arrive in town 3-5 days early to get squared away.
Obtain a vehicle. Conceivably, a bike could work, if she’s really close to work. More likely, a cheap car. Craigslist or used car lot? I think Enterprise may do longer term rentals, and some lower end local car lots may do something similar, perhaps at lower cost. You (the parents) may have to cosign.
Another thought - does the company in question hire multiple summer interns? If so, perhaps a shared apartment and carpool might be possible?
How far is “much too far to drive one of our cars out”? It might be more doable than you think. Why not make it a fun family road trip? With 2-3 drivers it might be the easiest way to move her and her stuff in/out and enjoy some vacation time in Chicago on either end. Several airlines are now running cheap shuttles (<$100) one way to/from Chicago so the other driver(s) could get back home for less than a summer car rental. And you get all that great conversation time during the ride! Who knows when or if you will ever get that chance again?
@MWDadOf3 She graduates December 2018 with co-terminal degrees. She has one more summer after this for another internship. She recently changed her master’s to structural engineering which added a semester. She will be seeking employment and not grad school. She already has done two good internships related to the bachelor’s degree. The Chicago internship is purely structural, in a sub-area of interest, with a desirable firm. The other one is in her bachelor’s discipline, but the also desirable firm is multinational, does structural and knows she preferred structural (took someone closer to graduation for that position) and said they may let her do some structural this summer, but what she’s actually been offered fits the bachelors more than the master’s. If this was also a structural internship, she’s probably quit agonizing and come home.
Financially, what the Chicago firm has offered will at least cover even our very high estimate of expenses, the cost just eats up the salary, so the money is a factor but not the biggest one.
Chicago is her college town, but she still has to find housing. This location in the suburbs is a two hour commute on public transport from her campus which is in the city. I think we can find housing closer than that, but the car will be almost essential, as housing close enough to work for walking or biking looks unlikely from our research so far.
And the car—driving our car out is a pretty large obstacle, @Cheeringsection It’s 1700 miles, she would not be the one doing that driving–she will be in Europe for the weeks prior to her start date. It would be different if she was heading out from home but it would be me driving, as my husband can’t take the time off. My son could come–it would get him lots of practice hours on his permit so he could get his actual license after he’s 16! It would certainly be quite the road trip! And we need the car back for the other college kid to take to Texas in the fall.
I don’t know if the company has multiple interns but I can ask her.
This is a good problem to have, I guess. Last summer’s internship process was an adventure too. She gained a lot of good experience in handling various crazy situations, including housing gone bad. There’s something to be said for taking the easier route this year…but she really prefers that Chicago offer…
I am not sure where you are vs your student currently. Housing: sublet is an option. I found a summer sublet for my son via Craigslist. Are there any colleges nearby? Students from other schools can sometimes secure a dorm room in the summer. Have you/your child been to the working place? You need to get a feel for the need for a car. Can a 21 yr old even rent a vehicle? Cheaply? You might have to give your child your car and you rent a vehicle for the few months.If the internship is superior, I would find a way to make it happen. Good luck.
We moved from the western suburbs - if you give us a better general idea of where she’d be working we might be able to come up with some ideas. For example, there are colleges like Elmhurst College and North Central College in Naperville If she can find a summer sublet in the general vicinity of the work location, maybe she can get close enough to Uber. There are commuter PACE suburban bus lines; assume you’ve checked those out.
@Marillyn Work location is in the Oakbrook, Willowbrook, Hinsdale, Burr Ridge area.
She’s been to the location. It was a $10-15 Uber from the nearest train station, one way. That’s expensive but doable if she can get close enough to a train station on the right line. I don’t think it’s the same one that goes through Naperville and such. The nearest Pace line seemed still a fair distance from the work location. It might also be fine if we could find housing very close to the job, but the area seems pricey and not full of easy sublets. Maybe I’m missing something?
That’s where we lived and no, there aren’t really sublets around there. It is an upscale area. But it looks like there might be some Air b & b around the area if you’d consider that. This is the PACE bus from the Hinsdale station to Burr Ridge/Willowbrook:: http://pacebus.com/pdf/maps/668map.pdf The Hinsdale station is on the BNSF route that goes on to Naperville and Aurora; there really isn’t another train line that comes close to the communities listed.
@Marilyn Thanks. It sounds like we aren’t just missing something. My D has dubbed it “apartment wasteland.” I’ve spent more time today researching and so has she. I got hopeful about some nearby apartments that do short term rentals but the reviews are really terrible. There’s one more option with more reasonable reviews a little further away but the office isn’t open till Monday to ask. We can make it happen if we look further away and do a sublet or airbnb but it is absurdly expensive when we factor in the need for a car.
Check Airbnb for someone close by the worksite, in that expensive area, who is renting out a room in their house. My son is on an internship for the Spring and arranged a 3-month Airbnb room rental in a nice, big house. With Airbnb they normally give you a big discount if you rent long-term, don’t get scared off by the per-night fee. It’s working out well for him so far! That way your daughter can live close enough to work to possibly not need a car.
She’s really torn. She hasn’t been home for a summer since she left for college and she’d rather be home, but Chicago is clearly the better opportunity. But the costs look like they’ll devour the much better salary and quite a bit more, and be super hard to arrange. She had a bad summer housing experience last summer as well–personal recommendation, everything checked out, and it still turned out to be awful.
I think I’ll get DH to help make some phone calls tomorrow and see if we can find a housing/car option workable enough for her to commit to this.
Yes I agree that it really is too far to drive. I wish you lots of luck with finding workable options. It might be worth contacting the company to mention how very interested she is but how much difficulty she is having working it out. They may have a housing suggestion and/or be willing to pay more for the right intern. The engineering field is so competitive that she really should be paid at least the cost of being there for the summer. The company may not realize what a challenge their area is for housing and transportation.
She’s made the decision to stay in Chicago. She found an incredible housing situation this afternoon with a friend that is free and within three miles of the work location, which made the decision easy. It’s better than any best-case scenario we had hoped for. Transportation is suddenly not such an insurmountable problem and she can plan to fly home for a couple of weekend visits over the summer.
@twoinanddone her other option was home—in Arizona. She wouldn’t call Chicago hot in the summer! But she does like baseball, and that’s arguably better in Chicago.