Tell me about UA engineering

MikeWozowski
Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:20:00 +0000

i will echo jrcsmom on the lack of attention to internships.

we are from another state, and around here, most students do internships, not co-ops. in fact, i do not know a single kid that goes to one of our big state universities that has done a co-op. i am sure there are some, but i haven’t heard of any. PLENTY of them do summer internships, and, around here, MANY companies hire a bunch of summer interns.

of course, co-ops are good experience, but not every student wants to add an additional year to their schooling to do one. if that works for you, then great, but it is not ideal for many students. if a student wanted to and was able to work an internship each summer, he would have experience with three different companies doing, possibly, three different things, rather than three semesters with one company in one industry. of the kids i know at UA with co-ops, most would not be interested in working for that company after graduation. it is nice experience, for now, but not seen as a long term thing.

i have had similar experience as jrcsmom - blank stares upon the mention of internships. i even emailed the person who is supposedly in charge of engineering internships, only to be told that UA absolutely does arrange internships blah blah blah. when i asked this person to send a letter to a potential employer for an internship that we found on our own, she refused. um, what? her reasoning is that she didn’t “know” my student and she couldn’t recommend her. um, she is a UA student with a near perfect GPA, and your job is to advocate for UA engineering students …

anyway, no help at all from the career center in finding an internship. none.

so i think UA needs a LOT of work in this area. they can say and think that co-ops are the only way to go, but it is just not true and not the way things are done around here at all. maybe they need to build relationships with more companies that do offer internships, because a student like mine (and a few others i know from this board) with very good grades and a good resume should not have any trouble landing a summer internship if they want one.

btw, mine is working at an internship now. she found it through a professor, not the engineering contact at the career center.

those of you who will want an internship for next summer, they recruit for them really early (like in the fall!). for example, almost every oil company has made their offers by the first of november. there will be exceptions, but if you want an internship for next summer, go to the career fair in the FALL (NOBODY was looking for interns at the spring career fair.)