The summer is approaching, and you may not have secured an internship you wanted. You submitted an application to 15, maybe 20, positions. Your cover letter was almost poetic, your resume was edited like a legal brief and still nothing. You’re surprised at how loud the silence is. 

In the meantime, it appears that everyone else is posting about their offers, which include research positions, consulting jobs and even unpaid jobs that come with a lanyard and exposure. It’s simple to think you missed something, but that’s not always the case. 

Internships, while often regarded as essential milestones in a student’s summer itinerary, are not ends in themselves. Rather, they serve as stepping stones, modest yet meaningful elevations along the broader path of the overall college experience.

The fact is, you are not failing. You’re not behind. You’re simply experiencing something that nobody wants to talk about – the tiring, discouraging process of applying over and over, hearing nothing back and wondering if you’re the only one still waiting.

We’ve built this idea that college is a straight ladder. Get good grades, get the summer internship, get the next one and graduate with three glowing references and a job offer already waiting. 

But some of the most capable people you know won’t have internships this summer. Some of the least qualified will. The process is messy, inconsistent and far more arbitrary than anyone wants to admit. 

In my view, the higher your grades, the less you’ll need to worry about securing an internship. With lower grades, networking and connections become far more important. In many cases, relationships can provide stronger leverage than a GPA. While a high GPA may attract some employers’ eyes, it can pale in comparison to a job offer from a close friend of a close friend.

What makes it harder is how quiet the silence is. No one posts about not getting anything. There’s no announcement for the rejection email or the opportunity that never came. But those silences are everywhere. You’re not the exception, rather the rule, but you just don’t see it because everyone’s curating their life to look like a resume header.

Now here’s where I’ll be direct: this summer is still yours. Don’t waste it waiting for an approval that isn’t coming. If you need to work, take a job, any job. Work in a coffee shop, a bookstore or an office doing something unrelated to your major. Try volunteering, or take more classes if you’d like. 

There’s as much honor in writing a poem as there is working on a farm while getting dirty all day. But don’t sit in the feeling that you’re “behind.” Life doesn’t run on one track, and there’s no prize for pretending you’re on it.  

You’d be surprised how many good employers care more about how you think, what you’ve built and how you’ve led when no one was watching than whether you had a prestigious-sounding internship after sophomore year. What matters is whether you did something and whether you can speak about it without trying to spin it into something it wasn’t.

There’s also something else: not getting an internship might actually give you space to think. Do you really know what you want to do? Or were you just following what everyone else said sounded impressive?

Two cannibals are discussing good recipes when one sighs, “The ones who marinate themselves in self-pity always go down easiest.” That can be how it feels watching half your friend group land internships while you’re still refreshing your inbox like it’s a slot machine. 

But let’s be honest, just because you didn’t get picked doesn’t mean the system’s rigged or that ambition’s a vice. Sometimes you just don’t make the cut. That’s life. Eat it. Chew slowly. And maybe next time, show up hungrier.

So no, it’s not ideal. You’re allowed to feel frustrated. But don’t spiral. Don’t disappear. Use the time. Read more, bake something, make friends and get curious. Show up somewhere that needs hands, and by all means, do something. No one’s coming to rescue you, and that’s not bad news. That’s the beginning of growing up. 

Sometimes disappointment forces a kind of clarity that success can’t. Sometimes not getting picked is the first time you have to choose something for yourself.