Career Advice: Summer Internships!

High School summer activities

banana stand resized 600

Just because there's money in it doesn't mean it's a good job.

 Summer internships? Already?

I know…for those of us on the east coast, the inevitability of winter is becoming clear as the temperature seems to drops closer to zero each day. Don’t get me wrong, I love the fall, but I’ll acknowledge that it’s an odd time to start thinking about the summer all over again!

Whether or not it feels seasonal, now is actually the time to start researching your summer options. There are several generic summer activities that are generally popular with college students:

  • A corporate internship at a large company (often financial)

  • A legal internship

  • A job at summer camp

  • A part-time job back at home

Just writing that list out is dismal. “Is that all there is?” I hear you cry. But no, that's not all there is! Yes, it might be a little bit harder to come up with something off the beaten path than it is to attend a corporate recruitment event, or to pick up the job you had in high school; with a little legwork, though, you can finding some far more more fun and creative options.

So where do you start?

  • Visit your career center or browse the website.

    • Check out the job postings board. You might find job postings on the site that are interesting to you and even better, these postings are from recruiters deliberately targeting students from your school, so your chances of getting the job are high!

    • Develop a project and pursue a grant! Some schools have money available to students for self-designed internships or trips that would be normally unpaid. For example, as a rising senior at Dartmouth College, I traveled to Argentina to work at a non-profit. I wrote a proposal and a college grant paid for my airfare and living expenses that summer!

* If you're “unsure about what you want to do after college”—a common lament—you might be inspired by choosing this route.

  • Talk to your professors:

    • If you are interested in research or labwork and want to pursue an academic opportunity over the summer, think about making an appointment with a professor you get along with, or whose class you’ve excelled in. Your professors are well-connected academics that may either be able to a) hire you for the summer or b) connect you to another professor or university looking for summer help.

* If you’re considering a career in academia, definitely pursue this option, or even a more structured fellowship.

  • Travel bug? Find a way to go overseas.

    • Study abroad: One of the easiest ways to get yourself abroad is to sign for a language immersion program. Many colleges offer opportunities to do a university exchange; if not, then there are a lot of companies out there with language programs available to you. If you are studying a more complex language, like Chinese or Arabic, a summer intensive is virtually essential to becoming proficient.

    • Lead a trip: If you are already confident in your language skills, consider leading one a summer abroad trip for high school students! It’s hard work, but it’s a free way to see the world!

    • Volunteer: There are so many projects round the world looking for volunteers. Either think of a region you’d like to travel to, or a cause you’d like to advance, and research the organizations driving the change.

  • Volunteer in the US. There’s a lot of good to be done!

    • Want to have a positive impact on the world? Check out Idealist.org. This website is a virtual job board for “do-gooder” opportunities. One of the site’s best features is that you can filter for all types of criteria, including the focus area, type of work, location, etc.

    • Save yourself time finding the right opportunity so you can dive in and get your hands dirty!

There are a lot of options out there, but that’s why you start researching early. If you’re not sure about where to go from here, talk to your college advisor about how the summer could be leveraged to drive your long-term academic and professional goals. 

Click Here to Improve your Resume!

 

 

 

Sophie holds an MPA in Public Administration from NYU and a BA in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth College. Outside of teaching, Sophie has spent her career working at the intersection of the public, private and nonprofit sectors to promote access to healthcare, education and employment.

Comments

topicTopics
academics study skills MCAT medical school admissions SAT expository writing college admissions English MD/PhD admissions strategy writing LSAT GMAT GRE physics chemistry math biology graduate admissions academic advice ACT interview prep law school admissions test anxiety language learning premed MBA admissions career advice personal statements homework help AP exams creative writing MD study schedules computer science test prep Common Application summer activities history mathematics philosophy organic chemistry secondary applications economics supplements research 1L PSAT admissions coaching grammar law psychology statistics & probability legal studies ESL CARS SSAT covid-19 dental admissions logic games reading comprehension engineering USMLE calculus PhD admissions Spanish mentorship parents Latin biochemistry case coaching verbal reasoning DAT English literature STEM excel medical school political science skills AMCAS French Linguistics MBA coursework Tutoring Approaches academic integrity chinese letters of recommendation Anki DO Social Advocacy admissions advice algebra artificial intelligence astrophysics business cell biology classics diversity statement gap year genetics geometry kinematics linear algebra mechanical engineering mental health presentations quantitative reasoning study abroad technical interviews time management work and activities 2L DMD IB exams ISEE MD/PhD programs Sentence Correction adjusting to college algorithms amino acids analysis essay art history athletics business skills careers cold emails data science dental school finance first generation student functions information sessions international students internships logic networking poetry resume revising science social sciences software engineering tech industry trigonometry writer's block 3L AAMC Academic Interest EMT FlexMed Fourier Series Greek Health Professional Shortage Area Italian Lagrange multipliers London MD vs PhD MMI Montessori National Health Service Corps Pythagorean Theorem Python Shakespeare Step 2 TMDSAS Taylor Series Truss Analysis Zoom acids and bases active learning architecture argumentative writing art art and design schools art portfolios bacteriology bibliographies biomedicine brain teaser campus visits cantonese capacitors capital markets central limit theorem centrifugal force chemical engineering chess chromatography class participation climate change clinical experience community service constitutional law consulting cover letters curriculum dementia demonstrated interest dimensional analysis distance learning econometrics electric engineering electricity and magnetism escape velocity evolution executive function freewriting genomics graphing harmonics health policy history of medicine history of science hybrid vehicles hydrophobic effect ideal gas law immunology induction infinite institutional actions integrated reasoning intermolecular forces intern investing investment banking lab reports linear maps mandarin chinese matrices mba medical physics meiosis microeconomics mitosis mnemonics music music theory nervous system neurology neuroscience object-oriented programming office hours operating systems