[Kims Robot]

Whether or not colleges require you to have an internship or not, other than in extenuating circumstances(ie family reasons, health, etc), you really need one if you want to be competitive in the engineering marketplace these days.

I am a key recruiter for Harris Corp, and we have probably hired over 100 college grads, and hundreds more co-ops/interns this year. 99% of the recruiters would take a student with a moderate GPA and real internship experience over the 4.0 student (although be warned, many companies do have a 2.8 min). The reason being that college gives you a good foundation to build your engineering skills, but NOTHING is like having been out in the work force. It reduces your learning curve if you already have a basic understanding of the engineering industry.

Lesson Here: get an internship no matter what it takes... and for the seniors, apply for every job you are eligible for... if the job market isnt great, you cant count on landing your dream job right off the bat...

I dont know what college you go to or plan to go to, but most of the colleges have some sort of career center (some better than others... Clarkson's happened to be excellent) that will help you find an internship. Now be aware, right after freshman year it is often hard to land a job without connections... but after that it gets easier (once you have had classes that are more relevant to their business).

If you get nothing else out of this post, take these two things:
1. DO NOT SLACK your freshman years of college... make sure that your GPA stays above a 3.0... classes will get harder!
2. Get an internship or co-op at any cost!! Even if you have to take it for free(but most pay really well)! It will benefit you in the long run.