Think back to last summer. Maybe you didn’t have anything to do, or maybe you had a big summer internship. Perhaps you worked at your high school part-time job all summer and had fun with friends, or maybe you went away on a study abroad trip. Whatever it was, I want to remind you that now — yes, now — is the best time to start, or, if you were already ahead, to finish your applications.
Summer is genuinely the best time for you to get ahead in credits or to get some early not-so-heavyweight internship. Either way, it’s the perfect time for your resume.
You could throw it all into the wind and join the Peace Corps or a volunteering organization for the summer; you can still list that on the resume! The resume isn’t everything, trust me, I know, but the goal of improving your resume leads to the desire of doing more, which gives you the best experiences of your life.
If you are reading this and have ever thought about studying abroad but have worried about funding, this is your sign. There are so many ways to fund a study abroad.
Go to Clemson’s website and find your study abroad counselor, or take a trip to the study abroad website. There are a bunch of Excel spreadsheets that will show you all open study abroad opportunities. Find one or two that you like, talk to your counselor to find scholarships or grants, then apply.
Helpful tip: meet with advisors, the study abroad office, the major fellowships office and the financial aid office. Talk around your college, put your name out there, look on LinkedIn or dream company websites and talk with your college’s internship search advisor.
If you take a peek at LinkedIn right now, almost all companies are hiring interns. You want to
apply far in advance to get a jump start on it all. The application process isn’t as hard as you are making it seem in your head. I, too, have fallen victim to having thought only a couple of months before summer that I should get started on applications, only to find that they all closed far in the past.
You have so many options in the summer: part-time job, volunteer, study abroad, summer classes, internship, etc. You can overlap some of these, too.
Biggest tip I’ve ever learned in my life: just apply. If you don’t want to do it later, then you can decline. There is no danger in applying. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
So, as my public service act before we all leave for break, I’m going to instill you with pressure. Internships are closing applications soon, or they’re first come, first served. Study abroad applications are closing soon, and flights are cheap for the summer now. Get cracking on it.
Sarah Bandhauer is a sophomore food science major from Brevard, North Carolina. Sarah can be reached at [email protected].
