Since November, I have been curating a list of potential internships. I had the time and mental fortitude to apply to 30 companies, but by that time March rolled around, and my friends who applied to not even five places got calls confirming their acceptance, I started to get discouraged, to the point where I spent an hour crying at university because I couldn’t handle the pressure of applying to dozens of places on top of my schoolwork and starting my thesis, in addition to seeing my friends get accepted to their first choices every other day while I didn’t even get rejection letters.
As April comes to an end, I’ve accepted that I didn’t land an internship. At first, it was hard, especially seeing how happy my friends were. I wished that I could count myself among them. But I can’t, and I need to make the most out of it. Here’s a list of things I plan on doing, and that you can do if you didn’t land an internship as well.
Find a job or volunteer
Maybe working at an ice cream kiosk or pushing papers isn’t how you envisioned your summer, but it’s important to keep yourself occupied. Plus you have the benefit of getting some extra pocket money and putting a little something on your resume, from improving your Excel or customer service skills. Don’t want to work or maybe you have summer plans that would impact your availability? Volunteering is always an option and many places are happy to have someone come in for even one day. Plus you have the benefit of picking from a variety of places, from animal shelters to music festivals to librairies.
Work on your thesis
This obviously isn’t the most fun thing to do for your summer, but in the long run, it could prove to be quite beneficial. You can get a head start on research, or even change your topic if it comes down to that. If you do, it won’t be catastrophic since you’ll still have the school year to work on it, as opposed to changing your topic in December, rushing to find all the material, and writing a mediocre thesis.
Find time for yourself
After months of schoolwork, you find yourself with three months of nothing to do. Sure, lounging around your apartment doing nothing but watch Netflix and eat junk food may sound appealing at first, but it quickly becomes tiring. Pick up a new hobby, such as photography or painting. Read all those books you bought months ago but haven’t read due to lack of time.
Take classes
Okay, hear me out on this. I know that the idea of doing classes after having just finished a year of school does not sound fun. However, there are two websites that I’ve used in the past, EdX and Coursera that offer free online courses in subjects ranging from maths to literature by some of the top universities and companies in the world. Using these sites allows you to work at your own pace. If you don’t find the class to your liking, you can always stop, and there won’t be any negative consequences! The lack of negative consequences and going at your own pace allows you to take classes in subjects you might not usually take and learn new things.