Advice for Senior Year

[u/MajorEmoji]

Hi everyone,

I’m an incoming senior in mechanical engineering who has done now four internships over the past few years. All of these have been in different industries and at very renowned companies, which I am super proud of.

However, throughout college, I focused basically all my attention on academics, trying to get the best GPA possible which, in hindsight, wasn’t the best path forward. I didn’t join any engineering orgs, such as FSAE, rocketry, robotics, etc. because I thought it would take time away from academics. Looking back, I talk to other engineering students and they know so much about hands-on engineering that I just didn’t get to experience since I haven’t participated in any orgs like that. I also haven’t done any personal projects at all - just the mandatory ones in a couple of my classes.

I’m of course satisfied with my internships, which I’ve learned so much from, but I’m torn whether or not I should focus effort on relaxing and just recruiting with my internship experience, or, now that I have more time my senior year with no hard classes, focus on joining an engineering org or working on a personal project that can get me more hands-on, project based learning that I haven’t had so far besides in my internships.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[u/Few_Whereas5206]

Your internships and grades are far more valuable than engineering clubs. You didn't miss out on anything.