College/Internship/Graduation Advice

Off Topic
1

Well here it goes.

I am supposed to be graduating in May, on the basis that I will complete a 200 hour internship before August.

I will have a BA, Management major, IT minor, and am mostly interested in working with IT. Down the line, I hope to be a project manager of an IT related department.

Here’s the problem. I’m having the hardest time landing an internship. I had a few that I thought were really promising, which I did not hear back from (or have not yet).

One of them paid $15/hr and provided a furnished apartment in/around Chicago. This is key for me, because I have pretty much been financially independent all through college paying for everything by working and student loans. I have a lease here at school through the end of the summer and I cannot afford to pay 2 rents.

My brothers friend works for a IT company which I sent my resume to, and he spoke with one of the recruiters. They pretty much said “But he is a SPEA student, not IT.” Does my minor mean nothing?

Computer classes for my major:
The Computer in Business
Managing IT
Management Science (Excel based)

Computer classes for my minor:
Intro to Comp Science (algorithm design/SCHEME)
Intro to Software Systems (object oriented programming/JAVA)
Mastering the WWW (install and maintain Apache server, work with HTML, CGI, Perl, PHP, JavaScript)
Net Admin and Technologies (learn OSI model, net technologies, Win2000 server, Linux)

I’m also taken 2 ‘mini’ courses right now, one was CGI, one was Java.

I realize I am not completely proficient in all of the above skills, but I have working knowledge with all of them.

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions for me? Something I can do, or a good place to look for internships?

Right now, I am thinking worse case scenario, I stay here for the summer and take a couple Computer Science classes so that I am eligible for some aid, and try to get a part time job working for the Uni IT Services … and if I have to, use that as my internship.

I had hoped to land an internship that could/would lead to a job, but if I have to do it this way, I will have an even harder time finding a job.

2

Don’t know too much about IT, but a great site that I have used a few times in the past is http://www.indeed.com/ . Just type in your keywords and location and they will send you daily alerts that fit your criteria.

Good luck.

3

you can always sublet your college housing. the area is always in demand especially in the summer.

The school I went to would close the dorms for the summer so everyone pretty much had to move home unless you had off campus housing. This sucked in terms of summer classes. It was either put up with a commute or hit up craigslist.com for a sublet.

4

I looked on indeed and found a good internship that I applied for. I am giving it til April 1 for anyone to contact me back. I’ll walk at graduation May 2.

If I get an internship, I’ll be set.

If not, I’ll signup for a class on wireless technologies and IPv6, and another on Windows programming with C# and .NET and apply for the UITS part time job. I’ll have to get some financial aid to pay for classes/rent.

5

Just do what I’m doing: avoid the real world by going to grad school. Best plan ever (and I can’t work in my field without a grad degree).

6

Who’s paying? :slight_smile:

7

[quote]gabex wrote:
Who’s paying? :)[/quote]

(sigh) hopefully an assistantship, but baring that I am paying. I’m relatively good at guitar (my field is music, guitar performance, specifically) and poor–so I’ll get some $$ from free government money. I’ve been accepted to a few places (see the “good at guitar” comment), but I am just waiting to hear back from everywhere regarding what sorts of financial aid I’ll get.

Fortunately, even though I went to an expensive uni for undergrad (Drake, go bulldogs!), I’m graduating with not a whole lot in loans. About a years worth of school at drake–around 30k.