Quick question - S24 is in the process of applying to a lot of internships for next summer - many of them ask for salary requirements and he doesn’t know what to put. Any advice from those with experience?
It varies dramatically by field and industry.
My coworker’s daughter got a summer internship doing CS at an IB firm that paid $60k for the summer 
My D’s boyfriend is currently on paid engineering co-op at a manufacturing company getting $30/hr (plus a rent stipend).
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Majors in other fields will likely be paid less unless working in consulting or IB. Both my kids had internships that paid in the vicinity of $20/hr though that was a few years ago. One was an economics major and one was Political Science.
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We never worried about salary for internships. To us the point was to get the experience. If they could cover room and board (which I think that they mostly did) then we thought that was pretty good.
However neither daughter was in a major that was particularly known for high pay, particularly at the lower levels. I do think that this is something that will vary by field and industry.
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And location. Most of my daughter’s offers were around $30 an hour, a bit higher in nyc but she ended up in NJ at $35. Salary for internships weren’t important to my kids, one had clinicals where of course she wasn’t paid at all, and she paid for the experience.
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It’s hard to answer that without knowing his major, industry and location. It can also vary significantly by company.
My daughter, a CS major, had one internship that paid $35/hour and another (with a different company - not IB) that paid $63/hour plus free housing in a major city, and airfare.
So it varies a lot. If you can share a bit more information we might be able to provide better guidance.
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Agree there is not enough information. Perhaps he can reach out to career placement and/or a prof. in the major.
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Maybe this is an ignorant question, but don’t all interns at a particular company get paid the same rate? AFAIK ours do.
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In my experience, yes (but can vary by location).
If this is a question on many applications, it seems like he could give a number based on researching typical internship pay for that field and major and adding money for a housing stipend if that is generally offered for the companies to which he’s applying. My consulting kid made about $30,000 for a summer, and I think they gave some for moving but not housing expenses.
OP needs an answer. The salary will be the salary but you have to put something. The bees - like car or housing - will be what they are too
So the major will matter.
The risk is if u put too much will they reject you ? You can see if anyone posts on Glassdoor ?
$15 minimum I’d say per hr but u might put more if tech. But not more than $20.
The goal here is to get experience…not to be rejected for greed.
They’re not going to pay what you list here if it’s a big company. They’re going to pay what they’re going to pay.
So be safe and understate.
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Some more questions, @Thorsmom66…
Is this a mandatory field? If not, skip it.
Is it a text field? If yes, you can write “market pay”.
Is it a range?
If none of the above (meaning, it’s a mandatory numeric field), make an educated guess. It really doesn’t matter for internships - most companies have a predetermined number and that’s what they’ll pay regardless of what you say in the application. It’s likely a holdover from their common application form.
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If he can’t leave it blank, he can talk to the career center to get the averages for his major.
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This was 2020/2021 MechE internship offer in Dallas that offered $60k annual salary prorated for the time he was interning - that was their lowest base salary for starting engineers. Covid hit and internship was canceled. I do not know if that is normal or not but it was definitely enough to pay for a short term rental lease close to their office.
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Thanks for the responses. He is an Econ major applying for various analyst or consulting internships at a wide variety of institutions (meaning not just the “name” places). He wants to stay in the Boston area (where we live) for the summer although I am encouraging him to consider NYC. He isn’t looking for some big pay day - just enough to cover expenses (in the event he doesn’t stay local) or make some spending money. For reference he made $22/hr this summer working for the state of MA so I think $20 per house would be an absolute floor. Although he is only a sophomore he is on track to finish his undergraduate degree (at UVA) next May so he is technically a junior (in terms of credits). I’m not sure how competitive an applicant he’ll be but he does have 3.8 in college (and got a 1580 on the SAT which, surprisingly, some of these places look for). Any other words of wisdom are welcome.
If he’s interviewing at places which typically hire a cohort of interns- what he writes won’t matter. They pay what they pay. If he’s interviewing- for example- for a finance role at the Boston Aquarium, where they may hire lots of interns, but mostly for animal care/conservation type roles, he can put his last year’s salary as a benchmark.
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Honestly, the experience is what matters - not the $$.
The $$ will be what they’ll be. It sounds like the roles/firms he’s applying for will be well aove $20 an hour - but I would use $20 an hour…just in case…so he’s not screened out.
If they pay their interns $40, they’ll pay $40.
But at this point, getting experience is what matters - not if he makes $30 or $20 for 12 weeks worth of work.
That’s truer today than prior - because you need an edge when applying for full time jobs - and an internship gives you an edge.
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Thanks. No idea of how many people each place is hiring. He was just thrown for a loop as he expected that they’d tell him what they offer as opposed to asking him about what he is looking for ( experience).
I think @DadOfJerseyGirl or someone hit it b4 - they don’t have internship apps. They use the same application as full time jobs and those ask for salaries….some companies may not even look at what you write - but often it has to be a # and then choosing hourly or annually.
So you take your best guess - and hope it doesn’t hurt you.
But kids today are not playing from positions of strength….so they should maybe not be as aggressive - IMHO.
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You are right. But S24 was a little put off his game by the question so I thought I’d ask. It will be lucky if he lands anything (and he isn’t counting on it) but at least he is taking initiative and starting early.
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