So, we are currently in the throws of the internship process. Us LFMs do it a bit different.... we do our internships exclusively with partner companies. They basically pay our full tuition (almost) and in return we do a 6-month internship with a partner company. This year, its awesome... many companies are not hiring interns due to the economic downturn, but we're guaranteed an internship.
The process started after Plant Trek, when we interviewed for internships. Its like speed dating - all the interviewers come to town for a couple days and the LFMs have these crazy days of interviewing all day long, in 20 minute time slots. It was insane... you're shuffling back and forth between these conference rooms all day, interviewing for all these jobs, and it honestly gets hard to even remember which internship you're interviewing for! It was nice to get it all out of the way at once... I hate wearing my suit, and I'm glad I can hang that back up in the closet for another year.
I interviewed for 14 internships, which were with five companies. I interviewed for about 10 pharma/biotech jobs with Amgen, Novartis and Genentech. Some positions are international, and even the domestic ones have significant international travel. For me, this was a major selling point... since I basically spent the past 20 years in Indiana, I figure I owe it to myself to get out and see some new things in my time here in LFM. I also interviewed for some jobs at Boeing and Intel - I figured my background working in high-quality, highly regulated industries might make me a decent fit, and they were located in the northwest, and I'd love to move to that part of the country.
Getting back into the swing of things in the interviews was hard - my first couple were really rough. Also, 20 minutes isn't that long, so I found myself rushing to ask questions and explain my background. Most were pretty informal, but some actually did behavioral interviewing... I had to try to remember to take my own advice from my earlier posts and actually use the STAR format!
After the interviews, each student ranks the individual internships. Likewise, each internship ranks the students. Then..... the magic happens. Since this is MIT and we like to overcomplicate things with sick math, there is an algorithm thatthe LFM staff runs which matches students to internships with the objective of creating the best overall fit for students and companies.
Currently, we've submitted the rankings, but we've not yet gotten results. I am INSANE to find out where I am working and what I will be doing.... am I moving to Los Angeles or Germany? Seattle or Switzerland? Hopefully we will find out soon.
Right now, tensions are high... everyone wants their top pick (duh), and while most students will get one of their top internships, its likely there will be a handful of students who get their 15th pick or something crappy.... and each student is just hoping its not them. Also, there were some really cool internships - so cool that everyone wanted them. We've all grown so close over the past monthes together, its hard to now be in competition with each over over the cool internships.
Anyhow, I'll be sure to update when I find out where I am going.... wish me luck!
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