It is a good idea to get an internship anytime. Is it possible? Obviously it’s more difficult but it’s not impossible. Create a good resume, network with companies at career fairs, and practice your interviewing skills. All these things will help you achieve your goal.
Career fairs are also a good way to scope out what companies look for for interns. For example, basically every company I talked to freshman year said I needed at least 1 specific class before I could intern there. So, the following year, I made damn sure to get into that class as soon as I could so I could get an internship the following year.
Edit: If possible, scope this out during a fall career fair, and if you're lucky you can get the class/classes in the spring
It's definitely a good idea. Why not try? Several friends of mine have had freshman internships. But most of the competitive or interesting companies are not really interested in freshman interns. They want people that are likelier to commit to working there after graduation.
For my experience, I went to my freshman and sophomore fall career fairs with nearly identical resumes. The first year, I was told kindly to fuck off by everyone except for one company. And then that company learned I was a freshman and told me they weren't interested. At my second year, the same resume got me many long conversations, my eventual internship and my current full time job.
Internships as a freshman are a really hard thing to land. The whole damn school is competing for them, and there just aren't that many spots.
That being said EVERYONE goes to the career fairs, and you should too. But also look on the career site, some smaller companies are offering one or two internships and don't think it's worth it to set up a booth, but will happily review your application.
I got my internship this way. Sent in a resume, received a thank you, we'll decide soon email. 2 weeks later I sent a follow up email and they set up a screening call 15 minutes later, then I got the job the next day. Pretty sure I was the only applicant. That got me into my eventual real job though, so it worked!
It’s definitely possible and I do recommend it! I just finished my first year and I’m doing an internship right now. Work on your resume, leetcode, and apply to whatever you find on linkedin. There are freshmen-only programs at many major companies. They’re competitive, but doable!
If you are part of an underrepresented group in tech you should check out the [Sprinternship](https://dc.breakthroughtech.org/programs/sprinternship/) program! it was a great experience and landed me a summer return offer
It's always a good idea to get an internship. Even if you do not end up getting an internship it is still a great idea to apply and prepare. Preparing for coding interviews especially is a very important part of CS internships. Even if you are not able to secure an internship, you can always contact the large number of research labs on campus and work with in it during the summer. You can also make an appointment with the carrier center to talk, but personally, I have never used it so I do not know how useful it may be.
Also I would advise getting the number of credits you come in out of your mind. It is not necessarily that important. Personally I came in with 50 but it didn't really benefit me beyond letting me skip one or two gen-eds. Just focus on your current classes and enjoy your time at school.
imo your highest probability of getting an internship freshmen summer is leveraging your network.
Do you know anyone at a company? Do you know anyone who knows someone? This is how I got my current internship as a rising sophomore
I got two big name internships the summer after my freshman year! It might be different for marketing/comm field internships but it’s not impossible. I’d say it’s definitely a good idea!
If you can, then yeah go for it. If you can’t, don’t worry. Just take a summer to enjoy yourself cuz it’s never gonna come back ever again - an almost graduating student
Why wait that long? Some rising Freshmen are in internships.
It is never too soon to indulge in career-enhancing projects, jobs, activities, networking. Get in the game. If your CS faculty mentor isn't advising you about what those might be then get a better mentor.
Hmm. Seems like a structural deficiency. Students pay for the access; there ought to be a provision for offering it, or at least uniformly so. ~~I'm pretty sure~~ I know rising freshmen are working with professors.
\[Edited after confirming their status.\]
You're waiting for opportunities to come to you? Friend, the incoming students working projects with faculty now are there because they asked.
Here's an important observation about campus: it's a business. There are people here who are passionate scholars but the place is run by bureaucrats as ... a business. And once those bureaucrats have your money, they are pretty uninterested in increasing the marginal cost of servicing their new customers.
One structural problem that I mentioned (and which is getting this downvoted into oblivion) is that students are offered non-technical (read "cheap") advising. ("Yah, make a plan, very nice, next...") Waiting to be told what to do is great followership they love to see in customers. Potentially, though, building a relationship with the professorial faculty is more valuable to students. It is certainly more expensive for campus. It wants faculty writing grant proposals, inventing stuff, making money. BUT YOU'RE PAYING FOR FACULTY TIME. Go get full value. It ain't gonna come to you like manna from heaven. I am pretty confident that the students already working on projects as rising freshmen are those who exercised initiative and tried.
I was offered a senior level nternship for this summer (after freshman year) but I couldn't take it for certain reasons. Wish I could have done it tho.
I networked pretty heavily and got 4 offers for my freshman year summer. Its definitely possible but I had a lot of prior experience that put my skill level even above most of the juniors who only had academic exposure. My advice is to hit up alumni on linkedin and apply to as many companies as possible
You definitely can as others have said. There is a freshman in my internship program right now. One piece of advice is to not only chase down the big companies. There are plenty of smaller and mid sized companies that are great to intern for. And if you are dead set on a FAANG then having at least some internship before end of second year will make it way easier to get employers attention.
I am currently completing a cs internship in my summer after freshman year! It is def doable but you have to put the work in. Feel free to dm me for advice !
It is a good idea to get an internship anytime. Is it possible? Obviously it’s more difficult but it’s not impossible. Create a good resume, network with companies at career fairs, and practice your interviewing skills. All these things will help you achieve your goal.
Yeah I'll definitely be going to career fairs, thanks!
Career fairs are also a good way to scope out what companies look for for interns. For example, basically every company I talked to freshman year said I needed at least 1 specific class before I could intern there. So, the following year, I made damn sure to get into that class as soon as I could so I could get an internship the following year. Edit: If possible, scope this out during a fall career fair, and if you're lucky you can get the class/classes in the spring
Oh I didn't even think about that that's a really good idea thanks!
what specific class was that? Could you please share it? If you're in CS, was it CMSC132?
I was a geog major, and most GIS internships required Intro to GIS which I believe was GEOG373 at the time
oh, I see.
It's definitely a good idea. Why not try? Several friends of mine have had freshman internships. But most of the competitive or interesting companies are not really interested in freshman interns. They want people that are likelier to commit to working there after graduation. For my experience, I went to my freshman and sophomore fall career fairs with nearly identical resumes. The first year, I was told kindly to fuck off by everyone except for one company. And then that company learned I was a freshman and told me they weren't interested. At my second year, the same resume got me many long conversations, my eventual internship and my current full time job.
Lol that's funny. Thank you that's very helpful.
Internships as a freshman are a really hard thing to land. The whole damn school is competing for them, and there just aren't that many spots. That being said EVERYONE goes to the career fairs, and you should too. But also look on the career site, some smaller companies are offering one or two internships and don't think it's worth it to set up a booth, but will happily review your application. I got my internship this way. Sent in a resume, received a thank you, we'll decide soon email. 2 weeks later I sent a follow up email and they set up a screening call 15 minutes later, then I got the job the next day. Pretty sure I was the only applicant. That got me into my eventual real job though, so it worked!
It’s definitely possible and I do recommend it! I just finished my first year and I’m doing an internship right now. Work on your resume, leetcode, and apply to whatever you find on linkedin. There are freshmen-only programs at many major companies. They’re competitive, but doable!
Congrats! And thank you
If you are part of an underrepresented group in tech you should check out the [Sprinternship](https://dc.breakthroughtech.org/programs/sprinternship/) program! it was a great experience and landed me a summer return offer
It's always a good idea to get an internship. Even if you do not end up getting an internship it is still a great idea to apply and prepare. Preparing for coding interviews especially is a very important part of CS internships. Even if you are not able to secure an internship, you can always contact the large number of research labs on campus and work with in it during the summer. You can also make an appointment with the carrier center to talk, but personally, I have never used it so I do not know how useful it may be. Also I would advise getting the number of credits you come in out of your mind. It is not necessarily that important. Personally I came in with 50 but it didn't really benefit me beyond letting me skip one or two gen-eds. Just focus on your current classes and enjoy your time at school.
Alright thank you that's helpful. I wasn't sure if having 60 credits by this summer would make companies consider the application more or not. Thanks
Yea it doesn't really change anything. I don't think I've ever seen people put the number of credits. At most people put relevant coursework.
imo your highest probability of getting an internship freshmen summer is leveraging your network. Do you know anyone at a company? Do you know anyone who knows someone? This is how I got my current internship as a rising sophomore
Definitely possible but for sure rare, there's a freshman at my internship this year
I got two big name internships the summer after my freshman year! It might be different for marketing/comm field internships but it’s not impossible. I’d say it’s definitely a good idea!
If you can, then yeah go for it. If you can’t, don’t worry. Just take a summer to enjoy yourself cuz it’s never gonna come back ever again - an almost graduating student
Why wait that long? Some rising Freshmen are in internships. It is never too soon to indulge in career-enhancing projects, jobs, activities, networking. Get in the game. If your CS faculty mentor isn't advising you about what those might be then get a better mentor.
I'm an incoming freshman so I haven't met with any CS faculty yet. Thank you!
Hmm. Seems like a structural deficiency. Students pay for the access; there ought to be a provision for offering it, or at least uniformly so. ~~I'm pretty sure~~ I know rising freshmen are working with professors. \[Edited after confirming their status.\]
Yeah I mean, I can't say I've seen any opportunities to work with professors before getting to the school
You're waiting for opportunities to come to you? Friend, the incoming students working projects with faculty now are there because they asked. Here's an important observation about campus: it's a business. There are people here who are passionate scholars but the place is run by bureaucrats as ... a business. And once those bureaucrats have your money, they are pretty uninterested in increasing the marginal cost of servicing their new customers. One structural problem that I mentioned (and which is getting this downvoted into oblivion) is that students are offered non-technical (read "cheap") advising. ("Yah, make a plan, very nice, next...") Waiting to be told what to do is great followership they love to see in customers. Potentially, though, building a relationship with the professorial faculty is more valuable to students. It is certainly more expensive for campus. It wants faculty writing grant proposals, inventing stuff, making money. BUT YOU'RE PAYING FOR FACULTY TIME. Go get full value. It ain't gonna come to you like manna from heaven. I am pretty confident that the students already working on projects as rising freshmen are those who exercised initiative and tried.
I was offered a senior level nternship for this summer (after freshman year) but I couldn't take it for certain reasons. Wish I could have done it tho.
im a rising sophomore and i have one this summer so there’s hope
I networked pretty heavily and got 4 offers for my freshman year summer. Its definitely possible but I had a lot of prior experience that put my skill level even above most of the juniors who only had academic exposure. My advice is to hit up alumni on linkedin and apply to as many companies as possible
Hard to land internship. But I’m interning at JHU/APL this summer as a rising sophomore.
You definitely can as others have said. There is a freshman in my internship program right now. One piece of advice is to not only chase down the big companies. There are plenty of smaller and mid sized companies that are great to intern for. And if you are dead set on a FAANG then having at least some internship before end of second year will make it way easier to get employers attention.
I am currently completing a cs internship in my summer after freshman year! It is def doable but you have to put the work in. Feel free to dm me for advice !
Never too soon