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I have been recently applying for summer internship positions in the engineering discipline. I am a senior undergraduate at UCLA university. My GPA is above 3.7 and I have both desired and minimum qualification for the internships, but I keep receiving rejection email from different companies. I was told by my friends that since students from Stanford, Berkeley, MIT and other more prestigious schools than UCLA are applying, therefore they get the internship first and if there is any opening hiring managers will consider people like me.

I would like to know: is this really true and does the name of such universities compared to UCLA make a huge difference?

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  • Related: Does your university name matter?
    – Mad Jack
    May 3, 2015 at 4:26
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    Realistically speaking UCLA is are really good school. Even if there is some arbitrary "only top schools" filter, UCLA will almost certainly pass it...
    – user8458
    May 3, 2015 at 6:06
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    Improving your grammar will likely help as well.
    – jakebeal
    May 3, 2015 at 9:28
  • Don't let the initial rejections get you down. Keep in mind there's a big element of luck involved in this.
    – aparente001
    May 4, 2015 at 4:35

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Some companies specifically recruit preferentially from top schools, some don't. All of them know that a 3.7 at one school isn't the same thing as a 3.7 from another and will make what they think are appropriate adjustments.

But it isn't just about grades, and the only thing that will guarantee you don't get the internship is if you don't apply. Trying costs you nothing but a bit of time, and UCLA is a respectable school. Go for it; at worst it's good practice!

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  • Correction accepted. But note I said "preferentially" -- few companies will take an uninspiring and uninspired candidate from a top school over an enthusiastic and dedicated candidate from the next step down. It''s more likely to be a biasing factor -- as I szid, the grades may be adjusted for comparison -- than absolute. If you approach them as an enthusiastic, competent student who'd love to get some exposure to a company you think you'd be interested in working for after you graduate, and you look like someone they'd want to interview when that time comes....
    – keshlam
    May 3, 2015 at 2:34

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