Sitting in my dimly lit, childhood bed, I pull out my computer and begin typing in companies within the Google search bar. “Advertising internships summer 2022” is what existed in the search bar. Several companies came up: Sony, Playstation, Google, Apple, Dolby, all large, some fortune 500 companies. I always try to go big or go home, even when I think I will never score any positions at those companies. I applied to each and every one I could, not knowing that a month later I would receive the notification that made me almost fall to the floor dead.
I would consider myself an above average student. I do all my work days before it is due, I go to office hours as much as I can, and I strive to do my very best on even the smallest assignments. I was raised this way… always do above what you can. I come from a family of very hard workers. My parents did not have much growing up and they did not want their children growing up that way. My father worked very hard for what he does today and my mother has been his support system ever since. She even works a part-time job as a substitute teacher at the local elementary school in my hometown. Everything I got in life, I worked hard for. I never had anything handed to me on a silver platter. So, when it came to applying for jobs and internships, I always put my all into each application. Out of the 50 applications I submitted for an internship in 2021, I only got one back. This year, I tried even harder and applied to larger companies. So far I have applied to around 20… and got one very surprising one back.
I remember sitting in my boyfriend’s fraternity basement on the night of January 14th chatting with a few friends when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I went to look for it thinking it was just another spam email. To my surprise, it was not. The email was titled “request for an interview” and before reading on more I quickly opened the email. When I continued to read it, my mouth dropped. The email was from Apple. The last place I ever thought would want to interview me. I thought my application was just average. I didn’t think it was anything special. I tend to overthink about myself a ton. I had my boyfriend read over it, my dad, and other friends and they all told me it looked great. But, I thought it needed more. My heart stopped as I continued to read. They wanted an interview right away. I wanted to cry. I wanted to burst into tears because the one company I have wanted to work for forever wanted to interview me. I never thought this would happen. Receiving this email taught me a few things: (1) don’t doubt yourself, (2) handwork pays off and (3) you can do anything you set your heart to.