With summer around the corner, the hunt for an internship is in full swing for many USC students – but some are finding the search fraught with competition, rejection and uncertainty.
Laila Gilder, a junior majoring in communications, said she has received either rejections or radio silence from the 20 internships she’s applied to.
“It has been pretty difficult,” Gilder said. “I don’t have much experience.”
Lack of experience may not be the only factor threatening internship opportunities for undergraduate students. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a 4.2% unemployment rate in March 2025, a small increase from the 4.1% reported in February.
The future of the U.S. economy at large also hangs in the balance, as President Donald Trump continues to send the stock market reeling after pausing the reciprocal tariffs he announced last week for 90 days.
With increasing unemployment rates and unclear economic futures, some students have given up on the search for a summer internship altogether. Gilder opted instead to pursue one of USC’s Maymester programs and continue working her on-campus job.
Heejae-Sofia Chun, a junior double-majoring in theatre and public relations and advertising, said she might also pursue a Maymester after applying to internships in both of her fields and not yet receiving an offer.
“It’s been a tough journey, because you have to write those essays, apply and do interviews if you get one back,” Chun said.
Third-year students like Chun and Gilder often rely on internships as a gateway to full-time postgraduate positions. Career Advisor Julio Rodriguez said many students were experiencing a “casualty of the times.”
“There’s uncertainty in businesses in terms of how much they can afford to take on, whether it be full-time [employees] or interns,” Rodriguez said. “Companies and organizations, in general, were probably not expecting this much uncertainty in the economy … there are cases that are recently coming up where people are getting a job, and three months later, they’re leaving.”
Rodriguez also attributed much of the rocky employment landscape to the rise of generative artificial intelligence and its rapid evolution, particularly for students trying to break into the computer science industry.
“Coding jobs were a thing, but now AI [artificial intelligence] can do the job of two people,” Rodriguez said. “The competition there is just crazier than ever.”
Rodriguez stressed that it is crucial to build strong networking and self-representation skills in college, as that can often determine who gets hired.
“If you’re a student that doesn’t really know how to market themselves, it comes down to how much better you are than the competition,” Rodriguez said. “If you have somebody that works at a particular company that you network with, [they] can say, ‘I want to vouch for them,’ and pick [you] out of the application pool.”
Rodriguez encouraged students to visit USC’s Career Center as summer rapidly approaches.
“While you’re in school, take advantage of those resources,” he said.