I am a Freshman at Howard University, Washington DC this year. This is also the first time I come to US so please pardon my (maybe) naive questions on the topics:
- Is it possible for an Intl student to participate in Internships? Does my chance rely much on which College I am studying? Or is it the location that determines my chance?
- So I could apply for an internship as a Freshman? If so where and when is a good start for my application process? (i.e Is there any essential resource I should read first?) I am reasearching too. Yet, I am somewhat overwhelmed at the large number of topics.
Job opportunities for foreign nationals in the United States is extremely restricted. Odds are that at every company you might apply to for an internship, one application question will be whether or not you are authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship. Most employers do not wish to endure the bureaucracy of obtaining approval to sponsor a non-U.S. citizen for work in the U.S.
Yeah it can be hard for international students to get internships in the US due to sponsorship problems. You’ll have to search for places that will sponsor international students.
Your visa may not allow you to work at a paid internship. Check with your school international students office and ask.
Given how few paid internships there are for undergrads, I wouldn’t worry too much about that part!
Howard has an internship section in the careers office: https://www.howard.edu/careerservices/internshipprogram.htm. Go spend time with them- they are there to help.
Remember that an ‘internship’ is just a way for you to get experience in your field of interest. So, whatever field you are hoping to work in, that is where you start looking. The internships that you get will help you learn about that field, what you find the most interesting, what you are good at, and so on. The experience of an internship will let you see what it is like to actually work in an office/school/clinic/etc, and you may discover that you don’t actually like it that much. Learning what you don’t like can be as useful as learning what you do like!
DC has lots of internship possibilities- and lots of students competing for them. Work with the careers office to make sure that your CV is good, and to identify opportunities that are a good match for you.