Summer internships

[serviette]

DC is finding it really difficult to secure a summer internship. She is in her first year of a general engineering degree but has realised that although she likes the academic side of things, does not want to be in the manufacturing, hands-on side of engineering. So a role in software engineering, data science, research, finance, consulting.banking. Has applied for many places with no success. Any advise?

Many companies are inundated with applications from 2nd and 3rd years. Employers want to see evidence of skills, so if she ends up with a normal holiday job in Tesco or doing bar work, don't let it worry her. Use it to build communication, commercial acumen, dealing with difficult people etc.

Mine did engineering, it was significantly harder to find a relevant internship in the first summer than after years 2 and 3. She did get one from the sponsor of a scholarship but quite a lot of her pals didnt in the first year. They did other things eg one went to Japan to teach English, some travelled.
Also there may be some opportunities for outreach-type volunteering. Dd had intended to do at least a couple of weeks in a 'summer roadshow' in the second or third summers but covid put a kybosh on that (and also other travelling) - your DDs uni/course may have something like this. www.cambridgesu.co.uk/organisation/chaos/

As others have said, many summer internships are specifically for students about to go into their final year, so I don't think your DD needs to worry at this stage,

She needs to apply between yr 2 and yr 3 and she'll likely be more successful. Managing summer interns is quite demanding- they need a lot of input and direction- so companies prefer that they are a bit more mature

I'd recommend just trying to get some work experience/shadowing in the summer after first year, plus a temporary job.

These will be seen as positives when applying for summer internships in the summer before her penultimate year which, as PP have said, is when most employers recruit interns