Do not underestimate the power of your network. Does your cousin have an old high school friend who used to played soccer with the hiring manager for the company that you are interested in? Awesome, use that. If there is anything that I have learned over my first semester of internship applications, it is that nine out of ten times, people are nice and want to help you. Even if your connection to them seems obscure and indirect, most people are excited to help a college student along in their career search because most people remember having been in our same position.
I finally found a lead on a summer opportunity using one of these obscure connections. It was through the parents of a kid my little brother used to play basketball with. They were incredibly nice and eager to help when I reached out asking if they knew of any opportunities. After several emails back and forth, I may have an unpaid summer internship opportunity.
Of course it is nice to be paid, but if you are like me and are pursuing unpaid summer options, then you can use it to your academic benefit. Unpaid internships may count as course credit. If your summer internship is not through another academic institution, you will have to petition to the Committee of Academic Review. My friend did this for her law internship last summer; she petitioned and also needed a faculty member to approve her internship and review the three page research paper she had to write on her work by the end of the summer. Because the opportunity I am pursuing would involve the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, I would petition to have the internship count as a credit towards my environmental analysis minor. While it is not ideal to have to write a research paper over the summer, at least it is on a topic I am interested in, and I have all summer to write it. 
For more information on summer internship credit and petitioning, check out the Academic Policies and Procedures page on the Scripps College website.
Speaking of work opportunities, now is a great time to start thinking about any on-campus positions you may want to pursue for next semester. There are already on-campus job postings on Handshake. When I first started college, I thought that having an on-campus position would be too much work on top of homework and classes. However, it is a great way to learn time management and gain some experience for your resume! Becoming a blogger for CP&R was a great way to develop my writing skills. Because it is a very independent position, I have also learned individual responsibility and have practiced following through on weekly deadlines. For those of you who think you want to add an extra activity to your schedule, I recommend thinking about on-campus opportunities for next year.
Even though the year is wrapping up and we all have finals and move-out day on our minds, thinking ahead to the summer and next school year helps us stay on top of our work ahead of time. Think about receiving credit for your internship and searching for on-campus opportunities that when the time comes, you do not miss the deadlines.
