Application season can be a wild ride for anyone in college. While law and business students often conjure up the image of hurriedly sending out polished résumés to well-known firms, STEM students experience a frenzy of their own—albeit with a different flavour. Instead of aiming exclusively for traditional internships, many future scientists, engineers, and tech wizards juggle research gigs, lab positions, clinical rotations, hackathons, and even their own side projects. The variety can feel overwhelming, but it also opens up paths that might offer even more hands-on experience than a classic internship. If you’re a STEM student, or considering a STEM field, you might wonder just how important the time-honoured internship really is, compared to research in a cutting-edge lab or spending a weekend glued to your computer at a hackathon. In reality, no single route holds all the answers, and the best path is the one that lines up with your passions, your learning style, and your ultimate goals.
Take the pre-med or medical school crowd, for instance. Everyone pictures them in a hospital, wearing white coats and stethoscopes, but there’s plenty more that goes into becoming a doctor than classroom lectures. One piece often overlooked by people outside the field is shadowing, which is exactly what it sounds like: you follow a practicing physician around on their day-to-day rounds, watch them interact with patients, and get a sense of the rollercoaster of emotions that comes with real-world medicine. Reading about patient care in a textbook doesn’t compare to witnessing a doctor navigate an emergency with worried family members. That experience alone can reinforce (or sometimes challenge) your belief that medicine is your true calling. Clinical work—such as volunteering in a hospital or helping with patient intake—goes one step further by letting students engage in the care process, if only in small ways Sure, you might not be making diagnostic decisions, but you learn the rhythm of a hospital and how to handle tough, high-stress situations. Research also plays a starring role in a budding doctor’s life. Working with a professor on a new treatment method, investigating advances in surgical techniques, or diving into statistical data about patient outcomes might push you to develop skills in data analysis, critical thinking, and collaboration. Even though it’s not the same as being in a corporate environment, med schools and future employers look favourably upon the curiosity and specialised knowledge that come with research experience.
Students in the “pure” sciences—biology, chemistry, physics, and related fields—might find labs and research projects often hold more weight than any short-term internship could. In a lab, mistakes happen. Things spill, instruments break, and unexpected results throw a wrench into your neatly planned experiment. As frustrating as that can be, it’s also where the real learning occurs. Problem-solving becomes second nature as you figure out how to salvage your work or adapt your experimental methods. That sort of adaptability looks fantastic on a résumé, especially when you can point to a tangible outcome, like meaningful data or contributions to a peer-reviewed paper. Collaboration in a lab can also teach you how to work in a team with fellow researchers, postdocs, and undergraduates. Sometimes, professors even encourage students to come up with their own project ideas, fostering a sense of ownership and creativity that a cookie-cutter internship may not offer. Employers in scientific industries often place more emphasis on these experiences because they showcase not just that you can memorise content, but that you can tackle unexpected challenges head-on, plan an experiment from scratch, and interpret your findings in a way that moves the field forward.
The tech sector, which has boomed so rapidly, has traditional college programs struggling to keep up with the latest languages and frameworks. As a result, tech internships can be fantastic – you might be writing code, analysing data, or testing software for a well-known company – which can be hard to implement dynamically in rigid course structures. However, if you find the internship application process to be cutthroat or simply don’t land that top-tier position, there’s no need to panic. Hackathons, certifications, and personal projects can be just as powerful in proving your skills. Hackathons, in particular, are pressure-cookers for creativity. You and your team stay up all night brainstorming, coding, and debugging to build something from scratch within a short, intense timeframe, and, when it’s over, you walk away with a working product (or at least a half-working one) that you can show off as a conversation piece in interviews. Meanwhile, certifications—whether in cloud computing, data science, or cybersecurity—provide a stamp of approval in a specialised niche. It’s a quick way to demonstrate mastery when a hiring manager skims your résumé. But let’s not forget the simple brilliance of personal projects. Building an app, running your own server, contributing to open-source code, or experimenting with machine learning models on your own time can set you apart in a world where a sea of other candidates are listing the same set of computer science classes. A well-documented GitHub repository can go a long way toward showing potential employers that you’re a doer, not just a talker.
Engineering students often find a sweet spot somewhere between the hands-on lab work of the sciences and the product-focused world of tech. Whether you’re studying mechanical, civil, electrical, aerospace, or some other branch of engineering, it’s likely you’ll have chances to work on large-scale design projects, labs, or competitions that mirror real-world challenges. In some cases, an internship with a major engineering firm can open doors by offering direct exposure to advanced manufacturing techniques or large-scale project management. But just like in other areas of STEM, internships are only one piece of the puzzle. You might find that a senior capstone project, where you take an idea from initial concept to functional prototype, is far more valuable for demonstrating your problem-solving chops and engineering mindset. Or maybe you excel in design competitions where you build a solar-powered car or a rugged robot to solve a specific task. Those events can be a playground for creativity, camaraderie, and practical know-how, all while adding impressive bullet points to your résumé. Plus, you’ll end up with a tangible creation you can literally hold up as proof of your skills. Documenting this work is crucial. Take pictures, record data, and outline your process so that when future employers or grad schools ask for details, you can walk them through every step and show exactly what you contributed.
Given this whirlwind of possibilities—internships, research gigs, shadowing, clinical work, hackathons, projects, and more—it’s natural to wonder if the traditional internship holds as much weight in STEM fields as it does in business or law. The short answer? Yes and no. Internships still matter because they can provide direct industry exposure, networking opportunities, and a potential fast track to a job offer. You often get to see the real-world application of your studies and confirm if this is what you want to do. But if landing that shiny internship doesn’t happen, or if you feel like your passion lies somewhere beyond the typical office environment, don’t assume you’re at a dead end. In many STEM fields, employers look just as favourably on research experiences, personal projects, or other unique endeavours that show you’re proactive and willing to learn by doing. It’s not always about having that corporate internship on your résumé; it’s about demonstrating a strong sense of curiosity and hands-on engagement with your field of choice.
The key requirement in any STEM field is initiative. That might mean weeks of meticulous lab research, verifying and re-verifying your data. It might mean shadowing a doctor and realising how much emotional intelligence is wrapped up in patient care. It could be sitting at your laptop until two in the morning during a hackathon, fueled by caffeine and the thrill of turning an idea into a functioning app. Or maybe it’s entering an engineering competition with a ramshackle prototype that slowly morphs into a sleek final product you can’t wait to unveil. Whatever form it takes, these experiences are gold when it comes to learning deeply and proving to future employers or schools that you’ve already dipped your toes into the real world. Everyone’s journey looks a bit different, which can be daunting at first, but also means you have the freedom to carve out a path that resonates with your interests and strengths.
So yes, there’s a “scramble” for opportunities among STEM students, just as there is for those in law or business, but it’s a scramble that comes with flexibility. You can chase after that blockbuster internship if it aligns with your plans, but know there are plenty of other ways to get your foot in the door—ways that can be just as valuable, if not more so, in building up the skill set that sets you apart. Ultimately, your biggest challenge is figuring out which environment will spark that “I need to keep going” feeling inside you. If research captivates you, chase down professors working on exciting projects. If patient care calls your name, shadow anyone you can. If building robots or coding the next viral app keeps you up at night, throw yourself into it. No matter how you fill your time in “application season,” remember that what truly counts is the passion, perseverance, and practical experience you gain along the way. By doing so, you’ll stand out not just as a name on a résumé, but as someone who’s already living and breathing the future of STEM—and having a blast while you’re at it.
