Internships

At my school, it’s expected that all first year MBAs get an internship for the summer. For several of the specializations this doesn’t seem to be a problem. They’re fortunate to have well connected, highly engaged board members and the hiring season for them begins at the start of the school year. Some even more connected individuals have an internship before they even start their first year. Not so for me.

First off, opportunities for our center don’t really start coming around until the start of the second semester. I didn’t let that stop me from trying to get a head start anyway and began submitting my fancy MBA candidate resume (Full scholarship! 700 GMAT!) right away to pretty much every listing that came up, even some I scouted myself. No luck. Well now it’s April and I’m still without an offer. Not even one. In fact, the one particular position I had my heart set on at a famous national laboratory (I worked at a national laboratory for eight years) which involved working with small businesses (I started my own business and worked on it for four years) felt like it was made for me. After 10 weeks they finally declined me today. The funny/sad part is they were actually considerate enough to give me a response. About half of the organizations I have applied to didn’t even have the decency to give me a response after the position closed, even after follow ups. I want to call them out here and name names but my own decency prevents me from such petty retaliation. If you can can call it that.

So, as it stands, I’m still without a single opportunity. I’ll probably get a 4.0 (or close) this semester but sadly that doesn’t seem to matter for my internship prospects. I wish I had a happier way to start this blog but you work with the cards you’re dealt, and for me, folding isn’t an option.