Since I will be returning to USC in the Fall to pursue a Master’s Degree in Engineering Management through the Progressive Degree Program, the idea of graduating in less than two weeks has yet to sink in. I often forget that many of my peers will no longer be here next year, a feeling that is bittersweet — I am excited to return to pursue my Master’s and enjoy one more year at USC and Viterbi, but I also am missing out on the excitement my peers are experiencing in moving onto bigger and better things in starting the next chapter of their lives. All things considered I am happy to be returning next year and moving onto a new chapter in my education.
As for this summer, I will be interning as I am eligible because I will be returning to school in the Fall. I found my internship through the USC Career Center, whom was helpful and ready to assist me throughout the job search process. They send weekly emails with info on available jobs related to your field of study and generally help out in the process of applying for jobs, readying your resume, and preparing for interviews. As for where my internship will be and what I will be doing…
That’s right! I will be doing consulting at Deloitte in downtown Los Angeles this summer. Specifically I will be doing technology consulting as a BTA (Business Technology Analyst) intern. Coming from an Electrical Engineering background with a solid grounding in problem solving skills, this internship will hopefully be another chance to apply my technical skills towards solving real-world problems. I enjoy studying engineering (don’t get me wrong, it’s the hardest thing around and prepares you for any career better than other majors), but I someday want to be doing marketing for electronics so I have been conjointly pursuing interests in business and emerging technologies throughout my time here at USC. This internship will hopefully combine the knowledge from all these experiences and apply it to the real-world.
Regardless of the project I am put on this summer, I am sure working at Deloitte will be an amazing working experience and a good judge of whether or not I would want to pursue a career in consulting upon graduating from USC. Internships are an awesome opportunity to pursue as an undergrad from Viterbi (or even as a grad student in my case) as they give you an idea of what the world is like in industry after finishing studying engineering at college. The possibilities are quite endless as to what you can do with an engineering degree so I would highly encourage everyone to pursue internships and “try out” the real-world to see if you actually like the job you want to get someday.
Other than my internship, I will be visiting some with my family in Northern California before moving to LA for good for the summer… I also will be seeing them all next week at graduation! I can’t wait to see some of my friends for the last time, as although the occasion will be sad in many aspects, it will be proof that we made it through 4 years of studying engineering and are heading onward to the real-world better prepared than our counterparts from other engineering programs. I may be biased, but that’s how I feel 🙂
