Securing an Internship in IIT
Securing an internship in one of the most prestigious universities of the county is a dream for many students and it’s no different when it comes to the IITs. In the college years of an engineer, at one point or the other he yearns for an internship in any one of the IITs. Today, I’m going to enumerate a few steps by which you can get an internship in one of the them. I secured an internship opportunity at IIT Kharagpur, I’m sure that you can do it too.
The procedure for internship is more or less the same for any IIT so the points are going to be quite general.
1. Calendar
Different IIT’s have different periods during which they take candidatures for the summer internships. You need to be aware of these dates because once the form expires the opportunity is missed.
2. Skill Hunting
Since these are mostly research internships, you need to acquire some skills and need to have an idea about the domain you are passionate about, before applying for the internship. You can expect the internship to be on some government projects or industrial projects. The professors are very kind, they will provide you all the necessary help you require, once you are selected and the internship starts. So, there won’t be any training as such because this is not industrial internship.
3. List
There are so many professors in so many IITs with eclectic research domains, short-listing them seems like a mammoth task. Well, it is a mammoth task, so what you can do is, make a list of professors consisting of:
- Name of the professor
- Research Domain which are more or less similar to your skillset, don’t be very choosy
- The contact details of the professor
You can find all these details in the IIT websites itself and make sure to complete this list before the dates when the forms open.
4. Communicate
This is an optional step, but this increases your chances to get an internship. When the time is perfect and the forms are open, send a well composed mail to the professor stating about:
- Yourself
- Your skillset and certifications
- Your Achievements
- Why you want to do the internship
Many people think that writing their GPA or CGPA increases their chances of getting an internship; personally, I feel that marks is not a very good metric to evaluate someone’s knowledge. Instead, you can write about the projects you have worked on related to those domains and give a link to your GitHub and LinkedIn profiles.
Again, you are free to structure your mail according to your liking.
5. Wait
After following all these steps, you need to do the toughest of all steps, wait for a response. If you have the required skills and a few projects to showcase, you will surely get a reply sooner or later. It’s also quite natural for the professors to not reply as they are getting a lot of mails and they are humans, so don’t get disheartened.
6. Internship at IIT
Congratulations on getting an internship in IIT. While you are doing your internship, don’t forget to enjoy and live the experience, I can’t emphasize enough on how important that is.
7. What if you don’t get an internship in IIT?
Firstly, you tried, where most people were busy enjoying their time so kudos to you on that. There is nothing to get morose about, you just need to develop your skills a bit more and add a few more projects to your portfolio. It’s all a learning process and failure is the best teacher.
Conclusion
If you found this article useful, drop a clap and share it with your near and dear ones. Good luck for your journey ahead!
