Hey all! I am looking for an internship/co-op with a supplier or company related to FIRST. I am a Freshman 1 mechanical engineering student at Kettering University entering my first winter co-op term. I have applied to around 40-50 separate ones of companies both in Michigan and hybrid work elsewhere, but my time is running short. My term starts January 13th, and ideally i’d like to start working on January 6th (the day my friend’s co-op starts, and we might be staying together in an apt). I have to be in Michigan at least remotely, due to my commitment to FUN Robotics Network and filming BTBs.
If anyone has any leads, please let me know! thanks!
No, you do not. Your career and education need to come first, unless you are employed by FUN. In either case, a vendor internship located in Michigan limits you to an entire two options. Mechanical engineering is not a remote-friendly job market and you are severely restricting your growth options. Add in a ten day start notice - which is frankly the amount of time it takes most companies to even schedule an interview slot - and you’re really pushing things.
FIRST isn’t that important. I know it’s fun. It’s not that important. It will be around when you’re done.
During the holidays, recruitment plummets significantly. I would expect 100+ applications for a mechanical engineering summer internship, let alone a winter co-op.
Unfortunately getting a virtual/hybrid internship is nearly impossible especially as a first year. I’m in the process of getting ready to apply as a 2nd year with more experience and its looking just as steep as last year.
yes, in fact multiple times. she’s reached out to multiple companies herself on my behalf but she has also heard nothing. she’s away for the holidays.
thankfully, i have a meeting on the 31st with someone from the co-op department at kettering, and they can help me get back on the right direction hopefully before the end of break.
You’re also not really going to find much purely from FRC suppliers… I’m around 200 apps deep into Summer 2025 positions with no luck and the only FRC supplier listing I’ve come across is REV. On the other hand, multiple research labs have given me intents so if you’re stuck maybe look there?
Wow. This is a lot! I empathize with the pressure you’re feeling, been there more than once.
Your post has a lot of “Plan A” elements to it, and I’m wondering if they could be relaxed into a “Plan B” (Or C or D or…)
What if it wasn’t an FRC supplier? What would that impact?
What if it wasn’t in Michigan? What else would you have to give up?
What if the timing was later in February? How would that impact your plans?
What if you didn’t get anything at all, and just took classes? What would that look like?
What if you told FUN “Hey, apologies, I won’t be able to make good on the commitment this year. If you’re open to talking about it next year I’d love the opportunity, but I understand if that’s not an option.” ? What would that do?
All these are just for you, I don’t need answers (unless you want me to answer another question related to your answer ). Just encouraging you to think through your alternates. It’s unfortunately improbable you’ll find something that meets all your requirements within a week here, so it’s important to know which tradeoffs are better to make than others.
Back when I was a co-op student 20 years ago, I got all my co-ops through people I knew back home, across the country from where I was going to school. Just to pile on to what others have said, limiting yourself to Michigan or remote/hybrid is very limiting.
We would say sure, wish you the best and offer this role (which we do pay) to another applicant or choose not to fill the role due to the timing. Life happens and FUN is not a primary position for most people, focus on your life goals first please.
We have never stated that someone would be removed for moving as there are many geographic regions to be covered and when people do move try to find the best fit we can which is decently common.
this is probably making me look bad somehow here, but i have applied to other co-ops in places like New York, Ohio, Oregon, Minnesota, Connecticut, Massachussetts, Washington, and my home state of Maine, but I feel like I applied to those too late since i’ve basically been constantly monitoring Kettering’s co-op portal since october. i feel like some of these companies haven’t responded because i’m trans and that my gender is hurting my chances of getting one for the foreseeable future.
i feel like i can’t lose this opportunity, esp since i’ve lost so many other great opportunities in my life to factors i can’t control, like my health or my family or in this case the job market. i’ll feel like i’ve failed Tyler in this case if I can’t uphold my commitment to FUN or I feel like i’ve failed my whole family if I can’t get a co-op for the future and i’m unable to graduate from Kettering. for more context, i need 5 co-op terms to graduate and if I can’t secure one i’m already down 2 chances. my home life is already really bad as it is, i can’t afford to make it worse with the lack of success. i just need literally any glimpse of home relating to this term to make it through the rest of break.
sorry if this is overexaggerating in some way, the intake of estrogen into my body makes me more inclined to vent about my feelings and all of that.
mods, you can delete this if you feel its too much.
Even October is too late for January, just to be blunt. During college, October was the typical start of summer interviews at my co-op intensive school.
I think you are vastly underestimating the difficulty of finding a role (a lot of college students do). I helped interview for a fall co-op software engineering position at my last company a few months ago and we received over 1000 applicants in the first 24 hours the role was open online. It’s a numbers game. You can’t take it personally.
completely agree with Justin here, I’m a freshman who entered with 54 credits and am currently at 62% degree completion but I’m still at 280 applications with no real responses yet. just gotta keep shooting your shot.
The rules around internships and co-ops are a little different, but if, you believe this to be true based on facts, you should consider filing an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint, or whatever equivalent discrimination complaint you can based on the type of position to which you were applying.
To add some color from the employer side, while I don’t know much about the specific job market you’re in, here’s a scenario I’m going through:
I’m the IT Manager for a relatively small organization (approx. 100 employees). I’m hiring a new support person right now. We don’t have the HR infrastructure to have a really robust hiring process. I don’t have an administrative assistant or anyone like that to help.
We posted the job on a few job boards and pretty quickly had about 150 applicants from what looked like real people. In addition to being the hiring manager, I have to be the recruiter, involved in all interview rounds, etc.
Of the 150 applicants, I weeded out about 90 based on resume and/or cover letter alone, without ever talking to the candidates. I weeded out 20 or so from screening calls, and another 20 or so from a short assignment I sent to those who passed the screening call. That’s 130 people who never had a full interview with us – at best, they had a 7-minute phone call with me.
I didn’t have the time to write each or them and tell them why from their resume they were not a top candidate, or what response their screening call didn’t line up with our current needs.
Yes, it sucks to be rejected from jobs, and it sucks even more when it comes without feedback. But sometimes, the volume of applicants relative to the resources allocated to reviewing applications necessitates this. Every one of those 130 people can draw their own conclusion about why we’re not moving forward with their candidacy, but I’m sure a lot of them are wrong.
Oof, this is a lot. First and foremost: Take a break. Take a moment to calm yourself, and prepare to process your feelings.
Once you’re at the point of “ready to process”, two things I feel compelled to point out:
1 - take a look at what Tyler posted. I asked my question in a specific way because I was 99% sure I knew the answer. And he gave the answer I expected - employers have a Plan B. Life happens, they get it. It’s not ideal for anyone, but there will be a path forward. There’s no need to fear failure here, life will continue regardless of the outcome.
2 - the comment about success and family life is indeed… worthy of contemplation. A relationship built on you being personally required to be successful is a broken relationship. Even if you manage to band-aid the problems now, there will be something that manifests in the future which triggers issues to reoccur. The internet isn’t your solution here - friendships, trusted advisors, counselors, and in-person conversations are the way to go. Only resources like these can proved the “boots on the ground” advice on navigating and repairing this situation.
Critically - Turning down a smaller opportunity to ensure your “full time” gig can flourish isn’t a failure - it’s just a prioritization. Similarly, not having a job in the context of your family relationship isn’t a failure - it’s just one step in a very long term relationship.
Taking the time for yourself to understand why things that aren’t failures are getting contextualize as failures is something this armchair therapist feels is important.
). Just encouraging you to think through your alternates. It’s unfortunately improbable you’ll find something that meets all your requirements within a week here, so it’s important to know which tradeoffs are better to make than others.