We Applied to 250+ Tech Internships for Summer 2025 (Here’s What Happened)

Over the past months, I interviewed 10+ international students currently applying for tech internships in the U.S.

Combined, they’ve applied to 250+ positions, and their experiences revealed some awesome insights about the internship hunt.  

Each of these people were part of my ultimate job hunting course community, (there are currently 2000+ people in the community) and we regularly talk on various topics from networking, resumes, LinkedIn, and strategies to do well in this market. 

Some faced total ghosting, others got stuck in endless coding tests, and a few finally broke through to land interviews.  

1. The reality of applying for summer 2025 internships  

○ Ghosting is quite high. 

► Nearly half of the applications received zero response. No rejection email, no follow-up, just silence. Some students even waited months with no update.  

○ Speed matters more than ever. 

► Many companies close applications within 24-48 hours of posting. If you’re not applying the day a listing goes live, you might already be too late. 

(You should turn on job updates from either the official job portal or on LinkedIn, the point is to stay aware)

○ Rejections can pile up quite fast.

► Of the 250+ applications, about one-third were rejected outright, sometimes within days of submission.  

○ Online Assessments (OAs) are a major filter. 

► About 10% of applications led to an OA, (It’s a coding challenge designed to eliminate candidates before interviews) Each OA takes 1-2 hours to complete, and failing even one can mean rejection.  

○ Referrals and networking make a difference.  

► One student landed an interview at Autodesk just by attending a career fair and following up with a recruiter. Another secured a final round at TikTok after messaging an employee for a referral.  

○ You just need  one ‘yes.’ 

► Despite the rejections, a few students landed top-tier offers at Amazon, Squarepoint Capital, and ServiceNow. Their secret? Consistency and preparation.  

2. What can you do to improve your chances  

○ Apply as early as possible. 

► Many students found out ‘after’ getting rejected that the company had already filled the role. Keep an eye on job boards daily and apply within hours of a posting going live.  

○ Use multiple job boards. 

► Most students found internships through:  

- LinkedIn (obvious but effective)  

- GitHub internship lists (search: "Summer 2025 Tech Internships by Pitt")  

- Jobright, Simplify & SWE List (aggregators that email daily job postings)  

○ Automate your applications. 

► Some students used tools like Simplify or Massive (an AI-powered job application service) to speed up the process and apply while eating breakfast.  

○ Be OA-ready. 

► LeetCode is still a big factor. Many students used:  

- Neetcode.io for a structured roadmap of questions  

- Company-specific question banks (Saun Prasad’s patterns)  

○ Network, even if it feels awkward. 

► One message to a recruiter on LinkedIn or one conversation at a career fair can change everything. Many students landed interviews just by asking for a referral.   

Getting ghosted, rejected, and stuck in coding tests is normal.  

It’s easy to feel like you’re not good enough when every day brings another rejection email.

But here’s the truth: You don’t need 100 companies to say yes, you just need one.  

Many students who started with zero responses eventually landed interviews and then the positions simply because they kept applying, kept improving, and didn’t give up.  

So if you’re still applying, don’t stop. Your "yes" is coming.  

Keep pushing. You got this.