Finish grad school + internship or take new grad role?
Anonymous User
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I finished my undergraduate CS degree in December 2020. I graduated without any internships though. I began my master's in CS earlier this year and am expected to graduate in May 2022. I interned this summer with a large non-tech company, but I didn't really enjoy the internship. I barely coded and gained little technical experience. I accepted a part-time fall internship with a small non-FANG tech company, working fully remotely for about 30 hours/week.

I have a final round interview tomorrow with a reputable, large tech company. The start date would be end of September, but I will be working remotely at least for the first month of training. I would at some point have to relocate to another state, but the company is unaware of when they will go back to the office at this time. I would be relocating on my own.

Here are the options I'm considering:

  1. Stay in graduate school, complete the fall internship, and try to graduate in May 2022. I would be searching and actively applying for a new grad role at the same time. I already have a return offer from my summer internship, but I'm not really interested in taking it since I didn't enjoy the internship. I was considering slowing my load of grad courses and starting new grad in May/June 2022 but with 1-2 classes left in the master's degree. I'm not sure if employers allow this, but I already have an undergraduate CS degree and would prefer to do this.
  2. If I get an offer for the final round interview, I would consider accepting, reneging the fall internship, and drop out of my master's. I just can't see myself starting my first important job while doing school online at night. It seems like it will never end.

I've not really been enjoying graduate school and feel I might be better off dropping out. The only problem is that I'd have to of course renege the fall internship (not with a reputable company, wasn't referred to apply). For my master's app, I had 2 professors at the university submit letters of recommendation for me. I had no relation to them beyond being frequent to their office hours, but I feel I will look bad.

I don't know what to do. Please help.

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