Hey guys! With summer quickly approaching, I wanted to dedicate a blog post to helping you guys figure out your summer plans. There are SO many options when it comes to summer, so I’m gonna go into a couple of the options and how USC helps you do whatever it is you want!
- Internship: A great way to get experience before a job, internships are really crucial. Some people only have one internship the summer before their senior year and some people do an internship every summer. The great thing about going to USC is there is something called connectSC that is essentially a giant internship database. You put in filters like location, responsibilities, and salary and it spits out hundreds of options. A common thought a lot of people have is that USC students only intern in Los Angeles, but if you wanna go other places, Viterbi has tons of resources for you. Places like the career center make it easy to find the right place for you. I have friends who are doing internships in Germany and Maryland and various other places, so the world really is your oyster when it comes to internships at USC. (please disregard the cliche) This summer I will be interning for Ellis, an environmental engineering company.
- Summer School: I did physics over the summer going into my sophomore year and this summer I will be taking my second physics class online. It often gets a bad rep, but I am such a big fan of summer school. It gives
Actual photo of me in summer school
you the opportunity to focus on a subject that might be really hard for you while also clearing space for possible minor classes or fun electives. The awesome thing about USC is it has this huge database where you can find out which classes you can take over the summer at what schools. I was able to find a physics class that corresponds to Physics 151 at USC and got to go home for the summer and ride horses and have fun. I know people who have also taken chemistry, math, biology and a ton of other classes over the summer. When it comes to places and classes you can take, their are plenty of options.
- Study Abroad: While I have yet to do this, I know a lot of engineers who have opted to study abroad for the summer. Whether it be through something external like Problems Without Passports or something internal through USC, I know plenty of students who have found opportunities to study abroad. A really cool thing about Viterbi that is so different from other engineering programs is that it has something called Viterbi Summer Abroad. Viterbi Summer Abroad is this awesome program where just engineers go abroad to places like Spain or Italy and take a couple USC classes while getting to travel around the world. Aside from Viterbi Summer Abroad, USC as a whole has programs students can opt to participate through Dornsife. So, if you don’t want to study abroad during the year, a summer abroad at USC could be the thing for you.
- Research: Research is an awesome way to combine both the feel of academia with the feel of an internship. I know a lot of engineers who opted to spend their summers doing research in awesome things. Don’t think you are just limited to staying at USC either. If you wanna go back home for the summer but don’t want to miss out on an awesome research opportunity, check out colleges near you that might be doing some really interesting stuff. If you wanna stay at USC, professors are more than happy to have students, and yes, even undergraduates, work with them on projects. There are all different types of engineering research projects going on over the summer, so don’t think just because you are one type of engineering there won’t be anything for you. Another really cool program Viterbi has is the Tsinghua Summer Research Program. This program is paid research in Beijing, China. Students from USC get to go and work with some of the most accomplished researchers in the world and get to explore East Asian culture. The Tsinghua Summer Research is a great way to combine study abroad and research. So, if you love research, don’t think you have to give that up during the summer, at USC there are a ton of options for research from May-August.
Before I end, I want to link to some other blogs about the content I went over in this blog. They go more in depth into these individual topics and can be a really good resource if you have any other questions!
Internship: https://viterbivoices.usc.edu/nayely/how-i-landed-my-internship-the-dos-and-donts/
Summer School: https://viterbivoices.usc.edu/clare/summer-school-more-like-summer-cool/
Summer Abroad: https://viterbivoices.usc.edu/michael/my-day-as-a-madrileno/
Research: https://viterbivoices.usc.edu/rhea/tsinghua-research-exchange-program-summer-16/
As you can see, there are so many options when it comes to summer. You can combine any of these and find exactly the right spot for you. Whatever you decide you want to do, I hope you have an amazing summer 2017! As always, fight on!
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