Summer internships during PhD

[whiterabbit]

With a caveat that I know that this is ultimately department-/university specific....

Is it common/accepted for PhD students to do summer internships? Right now, I'm thinking that I want to work in industry after finishing my PhD, so I'd like to get a head start by doing an internship every summer to better figure out what area I want to work in, what kind of work I want to do, build a professional network, etc.

Would this raise eyebrows in your department?

[Stat Assistant Professor]

In my experience, most PhD students in Statistics/Biostatistics do not do internships every summer, nor is it necessary to do one every summer. I have found that it is a lot more common for PhD students to do one internship the summer before they intend to graduate, since satisfactory performance can lead to a job offer for after graduation (and if they decide not to take the job offer, the internship experience can still give them an advantage for the job search elsewhere in the fall). The internship can also clarify if they want to stick with academia and go the postdoc route, if they were on the fence about academia vs. industry.

The summer before graduating is also the most optimal time, because most PhD students have finished or are close to finishing at least one project by this point. I don't think the departments care much what you're doing, but I will say that it seems difficult to juggle both research and work. In my opinion, it is better to spend the first few summers studying for the qualifying exams and getting research done (which can take awhile to get started on -- you have to spend at least a few months just reading and familiarizing yourself with the literature of your PhD advisor's research area).

Edited August 6, 2019 by Stat PhD Now Postdoc

[bayessays]

Also, a lot of internships only want people who are farther along in their studies so you don't even have the opportunity to do them every summer. I agree with above that 1 internship is common, 0 is also common.  But I know people who have done 2 or 3 as well and if your advisor is supportive, it can be done. 

[Stat Assistant Professor]

Yes, I would also say that it's very possible to get an industry job without any internship experience at all. There are graduates from my PhD program who got jobs at Amazon, JP Morgan, etc. without any internships. If you are leaning towards industry, it might still be beneficial to do one the summer before graduating though.

[omicrontrabb]

It seems like many people in my program do internships the summer after their first year since they're not studying for quals and haven't yet started dissertation research.

Do many companies prefer PhD students with one year left? Yes. But so many companies are desperate for statistics/data science/machine learning talent that virtually any competent stats PhD student should be able to get an internship at a brand name company. I'm currently interning at a very well known company the summer before starting my PhD program. If you wanted to do an internship every summer, you could certainly find places to hire you. That being said, I haven't met anyone that interned every summer. Most students spend most summers doing research and only intern once or twice. Many students interested in academia don't do any internships.

Do you have 12 month or 9 month funding? It seems like most biostats programs do 12 month funding and generally expect students to stick around during the summer, while many stats programs only do 9 month funding and may have less expectations. Also, does your program have quals? And if so when? You should spend the summer before your quals mainly studying and not interning.

It seems like internships have quickly become way more common among stats/biostats PhD students. At top ranked programs I visited, most students interested in industry had interned in tech/pharma/banking. Part of the reason for that is that you can make $25k+ for a summer internship, which can basically double your PhD stipend.