Australian student interning in US

[klawford]

Hi folks

Im currently a 3rd year student (27 y.o - I started late) looking to do an internship in the US. Im doing a duel major in Mechanical and Materials.

My main interest is materials engineering, but specifically composites. So much so ive spent the last couple of months making my own carbon fiber parts, also dabbling in glass fiber and a very poor attempt at Kevlar. I'd really like to work in industry that composites are a part of and given America's large Aerospace and automotive sectors it's the place to be. Australia's industrial landscape is poor and just seems to be going backwards, composite manufacturing being almost barely existent.

Ive looked at the J1 Visa, which allows me to enter the US once ive found a sponsorship agency and an actual intern position.

Its a very generalised question, but are US companies open to hiring foreign students to intern positions? I'm probably at a natural disadvantage being overseas against local talent (which is fair IMO). I was led to believe a lot of the industry is in the mid west but it seems its all around the place really.

I actually tried calling some companies in the aero sector, to speak to someone about hiring. The first company, a very large one, transferred me to 3 different departments before I was told there was no-one I could actually talk to in regards to hiring, the second transferred me to 5 different departments where I was told "all the information is on the website". So getting information has been a great experience so far

Any help (and further information) would be greatly appreciated

Many thanks

Sam

 

[metengr]

Student internships in the US are normally affiliated with a university or college where the student alternates between work and study - I did this many years ago. However, you would need to be enrolled as a student.

If you apply for an engineering position at a company, you don't have a degree so this option is out. I would stay where you are, finish the 4th year and come to the US for graduate work, if you are still interested.

 

[metengr]

One other idea, did you try at your college or university if they have any foreign internship opportunities in materials engineering?

 

[KENAT]

We used to take lots of interns from Germany - and later Poland - mainly since they had to intern for their degree and so there was a large supply who were more than happy to come hang out on the California coast for 6 months at low pay and do lots of work.

However, that program was cancelled several years ago.

A lot of aerospace stuff is tied in with defense stuff and having a security clearance can be an issue, especially for a foreigner - even one from a friendly country.

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[Lomarandil]

Kenat's point is a good one, and many companies may not want to deal with the (perceived) trouble of bringing someone over for a summer internship.

I'm not surprised that you got the run-around for large companies -- they're typically either too invested in their automated candidate systems or too lawsuit-shy for the personal angle to work.

I guess what I'm suggesting is that you try to find small companies -- one where you might be able to get ahold of someone with a sense of novelty.