Research/Internship Opportunities during the Fall Semester

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BarefootHeart
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Aug 19, 2018 11:17 pm

Research/Internship Opportunities during the Fall Semester

Post by BarefootHeart » Sun Dec 29, 2019 2:51 am

Hello everyone,

I am a second year undergraduate. My University has a program where we stay for the summer after our second year and then during either the Fall or Spring of our third year we take a semester off to do research or an internship. I am fond of this program because my resume is much stronger after this coming summer due to added coursework and research experience here.

Given a decent profile, what are some opportunities that take place during the fall semester? I should say that I am not asking for people to do the searching for me; I would like advice on where to begin.

I know REUs are only during the summer, as are a lot of internships, so I have had a tough time finding things to apply to. There are fall semester SULIs, but is there anywhere else I should be looking? One idea I had was asking if professors/my research adviser would recommend professors at other universities for me to do research under for a term. Is that reasonable or should I try something else?

If it is of any use I am located in the US but would be willing to leave the country for (affordable) opportunities.

geekusprimus
Posts: 143
Joined: Sat Jun 08, 2019 1:10 pm

Re: Research/Internship Opportunities during the Fall Semester

Post by geekusprimus » Mon Dec 30, 2019 12:34 am

If you've got connections at a national lab, you can sometimes get a student position there during the school year. It's usually done by graduate students, but that doesn't exclude the possibility of doing it as an undergraduate. In the business world, things are often a little more flexible. I can't think of anything particular to physics, but it's really common to see pre-professional students (business, medicine, law, etc.) and some engineering students doing internships during the school year, so those sorts of things do exist.

The best place to start is with your professors and their connections. It sounds like this is a pretty routine activity at your university, so I'm sure that they've got some better tips than most of us can give you. Assuming your school has a career fair or two, go to those. Most jobs won't be looking for physics per se, but a lot of tech companies can find spots for people doing physics that also happen to have some skills in coding, data science, or basic engineering, and I know that defense contractors seem to take interns in physics, too.



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