While school is coming back soon 'till the summer time, there are many important things to get done before in order to have a meaningful summer. One way to insure a meaningful and successful summer is through participating in a internship or job. However, this period of time can be stressful, as it is a prime time to apply for internships and preparing by following through with interviews and acceptances.
One of the worst parts of applying for internships is finding out that you can't be considered for a certain application based on your age. Many internships for college students that are in the field of business are very hard to get unless you are going into your senior year. If you want to get an internship at a big firm, it might be much harder if you are a sophomore or a freshman. This is one frustration that can disappoint many people when they look on the application page.
Another challenge young students face is that some internships require a minimum GPA or area of study. These two problems shut off a variety of students from applying and discourage many from applying with scores that meet the requirements or just miss them. If a student is right on the border of the desired GPA then they should be given the opportunity to show themselves as being important and useful as part of the intern team through an interview process. The number on their transcript shouldn't cause recruiters to completely shut them down and not listen to them. It should be a topic of motivation for the student and should not be a deal breaker if the student is a great candidate. Additionally, if a student wants to apply to a job in the accounting field and they are a finance major, it should not be a deal breaker as they are both in the business school.
These three issues were a little bit frustrating to see as I was looking at potential internships to apply to. While I found great internships which I was qualified for, I could have found much better ones if there weren't tons of restrictions and rules on applications. I think a possible solution is limiting restrictions to allow the interview process to have more significance.