<p>I know at least seven freshmen that have internships, and all of them just happen to have family members that are high up in the companies.</p>
<p>Here are some of the people:</p>
<p>-A girl has an internship at food processing plant despite having just above a 2.00 GPA. She said that she had no interest in engineering other than the paycheck. Also, she said that the only things she did outside of college is getting drunk, attending football/basketball games, and hanging out with the football players. Her dad is a senior manager at one of the production plants.</p>
<p>-A guy who had a DUI (and rear-ended a police car) in high school has an internship at John Deere. He also annoys the professors at every lecture.</p>
<p>-My roommate has an internship at an engineering firm in Ireland because one of his siblings own the company.</p>
<p>-A girl said that she founded a company during high school. Wouldn’t tell me the name of it though, or how it generates profit (Odd…). She did mention that her mom was a senior HR manager at a healthcare equipment manufacturer.</p>
<p>-A freshman got an internship at Cargill, even though the company’s HR recruiters at the career fair told me that they don’t recruit any freshman. Both of his parents are Cargill employees.</p>
<p>I’m sure it’s more common in some circles than others. I’ve heard of a few cases (notably at GS) but those were people who were otherwise qualified who might have gotten in on their own accords, or might not have. Otherwise, I haven’t heard of anyone who was clearly unqualified getting somewhere based only on family connections. </p>
<p>Freshman internships are hard to get. If you’re a freshman worried about not having one, don’t. Most people are in the same boat as you here. </p>
<p>I’m just annoyed that some of the people who seem to lack work ethic are getting far ahead. I haven’t used any of my free movie theater passes due to coursework, internship/research-position applications and being involved with 3 engineering organizations.</p>
<p>It’s all about those connections. However, I don’t think the kinds of people you mentioned are even close to being a majority of engineering students. One of my classmates, who I do admire, is in frat and got his internship through frat connections, even though his GPA wasn’t too competitive. Some people have advantages due to their family, this is hardly new in any major.</p>
<p>Connections are important.,my husband becomes popular every spring when associates want their kids an engineering scholarship at his firm. You can make a good impression at college work fairs too. He never has problems finding interns, they seek him out. It is not certain though, there are always several. My point, make an impression at guest lectures, college work fairs, etc. opportunity is knocking. </p>
<p>Very common, although people usually call it “networking”. Most companies see it as a cheap and easy way of pre-interviewing candidates since, generally speaking, people tend to trust their friends/family more than random strangers.</p>
<p>I agree that it’s not entirely fair, but it is one of those things you just have to learn to live with in our society.</p>
<p>You can have a hand in creating your own opportunities by networking. For example, in middle school, S was in math league. S transferred to private school for HS, but took driver’s ed at local public HS. While there, he re-connected with one of his math league team mates. They both were thinking of going into engineering and kept in touch. </p>
<p>Fast forward to sophomore year of college. His former team mate stayed in HI and was doing research for a prof there. He planned to do a summer program at MIT and asked S if he wanted to do the research in HI for the summer. S and he and the prof communicated and worked it out. S was also offered another internship (that he had applied for but it didn’t allow him the flexibility he wanted). Of course, S worked hard during school to learn all he could to be a useful research assistant. </p>
<p>That fall, he hustled to find internships and was offered several and accepted one at NASA, Newport News. </p>
<p>He made his own connections. When he was applying for permanent positions, interviewers were impressed with his willingness to relocate, as well as his doing research on campus with profs and working on journal articles. </p>
<p>Being upset about opportunities others have is not going to help you create your own network and opportunities. Life isn’t necessarily fair, but one can do his/her best with the options available to him/her and create opportunities. </p>
<p>I’ve yet to find any decent job or internship that wasn’t directly due to being friends with someone already working at that company. No family connections yet, but you can bet your butt I’m going to milk every last contact I have come graduation time. It’s just good business.</p>
<p>I should mention that I also have connections, though they haven’t really worked out.</p>
<p>There’s a senior engineer consultant (that I talked with occasionally) that retired this year.</p>
<p>A family member and her best friend both worked at an engineering firm, that just laid off 70 production engineers at one facility last year, and plans on laying off senior engineers this year.</p>
<p>Some of my professors said that they already accepted enough research assistants. Others are sitting on the fence.</p>
<p>One HR recruiter I know quite well said that his company only accepts 20 interns/co-ops nationwide per year, but said that he could help me once I graduate from the university.</p>
<p>But my main complaint was that lots of people I knew were getting internships as freshmen despite not show much interest in engineering, breaking HR rules (no freshman allowed, hires freshman anyways), or being unqualified (2.00 GPA, criminal charges in high school, etc).</p>
<p>Friendlyfire, the advice and reasons given are what they are. Sounds like you are motivated to find an opportunity, and working hard to do so. It might just not work out, no matter how much you want it and how good your qualifications are.</p>
<p>Keep seeking out and networking. Your friendliness and skills/knowledge/abilities will work in your favor.</p>
<p>Have family and friends brainstorm. Seek out companies beyond your college placement office/internship office has worked with - look at various other companies ‘in the news’ or with connections to other universities.</p>
<p>Sometimes someone doesn’t follow through and drops out (offered two internships and selects one) and creates an opportunity.</p>
<p>This is same as complaining about why some kid got into that college. Doesn’t turn the tides for you. If they really didn’t deserve their opps, life will catch up with them. And if you do deserve a shot, do the work to connect, life will work out for you, too.</p>
<p>And there are other freshmen who get internships and work very hard for them and to keep them. You have a handful of people that you know that got internships, but that doesn’t mean that that’s the norm. And besides, if you really believe that these people are unqualified, they’ll wash out in the company regardless. Family connections can get you in the door, but if you’re dead weight, some hefty weight from family to keep you there in the long run. Life isn’t fair, but if you had the connections to get an internship as a freshman, I bet you’d take full advantage of it, regardless of how qualified you may or may not be.</p>
<p>Also, keep in mind that GPA generally only gets you an interview. It doesn’t get you a job. I know many people with <3.0 GPAs who got very good jobs because they managed to snag an interview and did very well in it. I’m not saying that’s what happened with your example, but you don’t always know about someone’s qualifications based on their GPA. And many, many people go into engineering for the money. That doesn’t mean they aren’t qualified, and that doesn’t mean they can’t do the work. That’s really the only one that I can see you being really upset about.</p>
<p>I know people who had DUIs who still have very good jobs. You don’t know what the technicalities of that were, and it’s really none of your business. And I’d wager that it’s not so much that he annoys professors, but that he annoys you that really bothers you. Also, the HR person said that they don’t recruit freshman, not that they don’t hire them. I highly doubt any company has a rule that they can’t hire freshmen ever. They probably just don’t actively recruit freshmen. I doubt she broke any rules.</p>
<p>I get that you’re upset, and it seems unfair. But it is what it is. Work hard, keep networking, and you’ll be fine. The people who get in from solely family connections but can’t cut it on their own likely won’t go very far. Let it go.</p>
<p>I did not have the benefit of any family members getting me internships. I was asked a few times at my various internships though whether I had a parent working there. So apparently it is pretty common.</p>
<p>As I worked through all three, went through multiple career fairs, etc, I did gain a lot of contacts. These contacts were huge in getting my full time job. So, in a more general sense, having contacts (networking) is huge no matter your major</p>