The author is a student at Harvard.
Courtesy of Jasmine Wynn
Over the last spring semester, my friends and I bemoaned our common predicament as Harvard College juniors: the difficulty of landing a summer internship.Even with the stellar qualifications that brought us here, it has not been enough to satisfy the demands of countless external companies.Many parents mostly send their children to college — especially an Ivy League institution like Harvard — to "see a return on investment." For students like me, the fear of not being able to produce a deliverable feels more than merely bad; it can place tangible financial stressors.That's why it was so stressful for me when I struggled to land the coveted junior summer internship.My previous summer internship experiencesI have worked in my sector — climate policy, sustainable energy advocacy, and electoral politics — since 15. At 18, I also picked up my secondary vocation as a freelance writer. I am now 21.Throughout my last two years of high school, I worked part time as a climate organizer, running lobbying events at the New York State Capitol, and one summer, co-managing over 80 interns for an electoral campaign.
During my last two undergraduate summers, I was fortunate enough to have two funded opportunities in Washington, D.C. The first summer, the opportunity I found was granted through Harvard's institute. The second summer, I decided to force myself to rely upon the traditional "crapshoot" online application process, monitoring LinkedIn job updates daily.While it proved difficult — I faced rejections, as expected in any job search — I did eventually land a position.Heading into this summer, I expected the process to be similarly difficult. I sure was wrong.My junior summer internship application processBetween January and mid-April, I submitted applications for 15 internships in the climate policy and politics sectors, with more applications half-drafted in my Google Drive — bringing the total to around 20.
