For These Rising Seniors, Summer 2020 Is the Summer That Wasn't
This summer will go down in history as the summer that wasn’t. No crowded restaurants in the city after work, no packed beaches, no vacations overseas, and for some, no jobs.
Photo by kate.sade on Unsplash
The summer going into senior year is critical for college students. For a number of them, those summer internships translate into full-time offers, and now students are grappling with the reality that they are going to miss out on these opportunities. Accepting that harsh wake-up call and coming up with a backup plan is the task with which students around the world are now faced.
Securing a summer internship is a process that can take up to a year and it requires hard work and dedication. Watching that effort go to waste at the hands of a global pandemic can be extremely discouraging and leave people feeling less than motivated. Finding the strength to push forward and demonstrate perseverance is what these three juniors are currently doing. Although their summers are certainly going to be different than they planned, they still are finding a way to muddle through and be optimistic.
Riley McInnis had plans to intern in Boston this summer before the position she applied for got canceled due to COVID-19. “I was told I was the top candidate and received my offer letter within the week back in March,” McInnis says. “Then they put hiring on hold and I received a call telling me they were canceling my position because I didn’t get to sign before COVID-19.”
McInnis was hopeful her internship could turn into a full-time offer, but now she is examining new avenues for alternative summer plans instead. “I am trying to find other remote opportunities but I’m not really finding anything,” McInnis says. “I am planning on just taking summer classes and maybe nannying if this all clears up.”
Her school mentor is also trying to help find her some opportunities that are unpaid so she can at least gain some experience. Although she is worried about not having a full-time offer, she is hopeful employers will be understanding in the future.
“I think that companies will be more lenient because of everything going on,” McInnis says. “And not having an internship will not be seen as a negative.”
Margi Burnside had plans to study abroad in London for the summer, which unfortunately is no longer an option. “I was intending to study abroad in London this summer which would fulfill my internship credit along with ELR because I did not go in the fall,” Burnside says. “That was then canceled.”
After her travel plans got halted, she attempted to get an internship. “I reached out to the company I worked for last summer in New York City and they told me they would happily have me back on the team and would give me an internship in some sort of capacity,” Burnside says. “I then received an email from them that they are not able to offer it to me because they have such little work right now.”
Burnside worries about having such a heavy course load going into her senior year and is concerned about not being able to fulfill her internship requirement. “It’s tough because Elon promotes planning your course load early, which is what I did,” Burnside says. “I intended to fulfill credits this summer in Europe and not having an internship over the summer causes so much uncertainty.”
Despite all of this, she has plans to work this summer and make the most of it. “I’m planning to hopefully get a job at The Breakers hotel part-time,” Burnside says, “and work for my mom at her furniture store because she could really use the extra hands during this time.”
She is also hopeful that employers will be sympathetic to her situation moving forward. “Obviously employers in the future will understand that this was an unforeseen time,” Burnside says. “But I feel that it puts us at a disadvantage as this summer would be the last time we would have a short term job before entering the real world.”
Hannah Clements is in a similar position after her plans to intern for a consulting firm in San Diego fell through. Now she will be home for the summer and is hoping she can nanny. “It’s completely changed my summer and my plans,” Clements says. “My internship was potentially turning into a full-time offer for post-grad, so I was super excited about it.”
Clements was also looking forward to living in San Diego for the summer and regrets losing the chance to experience a new city. “It was an opportunity for me to live in a city that I potentially want to move to post-grad and I was planning on treating it like a trial period to see whether or not I would want to live there,” Clements says.
Although Clements is disappointed she can no longer use this summer to learn more about the consulting industry, she is optimistic companies will be empathetic. “I am really hopeful that by next year this time, companies will be hiring normally again and [will] be understanding about the lack of experience from this summer,” Clemments says. “It’s a bummer but it will all workout.”