No professional experiences?? HELP!

[chemEdee]

I'm very new to thesmartforum.org....and I have many unanswered questions...the first of which deals with the 'professional experiences' portion of the application. To provide a bit of background info, I am an incoming college freshman applying for scholarship aid for my sophomore year. The problem is--- I don't have any professional experiences yet (at least not any that pertain to my field of study). Does anyone know what exactly they are looking for in this section? If one were to have ZERO professional experiences so far, is there any reason to apply at all? I feel pretty dumb asking this..but any and all help I can get will be immensely appreciated!

[Guest]

You should definitely try to find something to get involved with while you're at school! However.. I think you could get by the initial cut if you could highlight project oriented classes that you've taken (even though it'll only be after ~one semester). I'm sure many of the other freshmen applicants are in the same boat as you, so don't be scared away.

[chemEdee]

Thanks for the advice! It just so happens that I have a few project oriented classes...I'll just have to get creative on the actual projects and call it "professional experience". I'm just going to have to wait a little while to apply...

[jmnull]

You still have plenty of time to do some work. I would send out some emails to different groups offering to do some work for free. I did that before I applied a few years ago. It looks pretty good if you work for a government agency.

[chemEdee]

jmnull- Were you a freshman when you applied? Thanks for the advice by the way. I will certainly get started on that.

[chemEdee]

Also, do you have any suggestions as far as WHERE to look for opportunities like this? I'm not exactly sure I know what to look for.

[jmoh]

Check with your college, they probably have intern oportunities.

[chemEdee]

Thanks! I've already browsed the internet for a few other options like on campus chapters of engineering organizations that will really help me get involved. Hopefully, I'll be able to get in touch with someone who can help me find an appropriate internship.