FULL REPORT | JANUARY 2021
Internship and Career Plans for Computer Science Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Students and Companies
111 undergraduate students across five class years (2020-2024) responded to the survey. The number of respondents per class year range from 62 (55.86%) in the Class of 2022 to 3 (2.7%) in the Class of 2020. Because only 3 and 5 respondents were in the Classes of 2020 and 2024, respectively, we recommend caution in interpreting results by class year.
On average, each student applied to 68.08 companies (median = 50, sd = 62.54). The most commonly applied-for internship position was for Software Engineer Internships; 108 or 97.3% of all respondents applied for at least one software engineer role. Additionally, 31 (27.93%) applied to 1st and 2nd year internship programs (e.g. Google STEP, FBU, and MS Explore). 17 (15.32%) students applied to Project Manager and another 15 (13.51%) to Product Manager internships.
WHICH STUDENTS SUBMITTED MORE APPLICATIONS?
There was enormous variation in the number of companies applied to. Respondents reported submitting applications to as many as 400 companies and as few as 0. The 25th percentile was 30, and the 75th percentile was 85.5. However, we observed only a slight- to-negligible positive correlation between applications and offers from companies. Juniors (Class of 2022) applied to 81 companies on average
FROM WHAT COMPANIES DID STUDENTS RECEIVE THE MOST ASSESSMENTS, INTERVIEWS, AND OFFERS?
74 students, or 67% on the sample, received at least one offer. The leading source of offers was Amazon (20 students), followed by Facebook (17), Microsoft (14), Uber (7), and Zillow (7) – all companies with a significant presence in the Seattle area. 95% of students received at least one online assessment. Amazon was again the leading source, tied with Cisco Systems and Facebook at 45. 40 students also received an assessment from Salesforce.com, 18 from Nordstrom, and 13 from Palantir Technologies.
Facebook (28 students), Microsoft (23), Amazon (21), F5 Networks (14), and Uber (13) were the leading sources of first-round interviews. Amazon (22), Facebook (22), Microsoft (17), Uber (10), and Nordstrom (9) were the leading sources of final-round interviews. Among these companies, students reported receiving more final-round interviews from Amazon and Microsoft than first- round interviews, likely accounting for a single-interview selection process.
WHAT ROLE DO REFERRALS PLAY IN THE APPLICATION PROCESS?
82 (73.87%) of the respondents reported that they applied with one or more referrals for internship positions. However, these figures tended to be low; among students who answered that they had received a referral, the average number was 2.95 (median = 2, sd = 2.84). The 25th percentile was 2, the 75th percentile was 3, and the maximum response was 20. As this report will discuss in detail below, we did not observe any significant correlation between referrals and the number of companies that offered interviews or positions.
