Project proposal submission

Individual project proposals are submitted through the Internship Proposal Input Form. Proposals are first reviewed by the LGO AIR staff for completeness and engineering discipline fit and then published for student view.

We strongly suggest sharing the options and planned content for the project proposals with the student internship liaisons and the LGO office research advisors for feedback prior to submission to best match student interests and faculty research alignment.

After proposals have been distributed for student review, partners may receive student feedback and questions on the proposal content. Prior to conducting any interviews, partners may adjust the proposal content in consultation with lgo-internships@mit.edu.

Interview staffing and scheduling

Partners will identify an interview team for each proposed project and provide the team’s availability to the LGO office through a scheduling survey. An individual team may conduct interviews for a single or multiple projects.

All interviews are conducted remotely over a two-week period. Each individual interview lasts 25 minutes, with an additional 5 minutes set aside for transitioning between back-to-back interviews. Interviews should not exceed 25 minutes to ensure an even playing field between all partners.

Interview best practices

Share this guide with all interviewers on your teams and your HR representatives.

General Interview Guidelines

  • Time Limit: Each interview has a hard stop at 25 minutes.
  • Interviews take place virtually via the platform and link provided by each interview team.
  • Delays: If the start time is more than 10 minutes late, the interview will need to be rescheduled. If you are running late, please alert the student using the contact information provided to you, and cc:                               lgo-internships@mit.edu.
  • Time Zone: All interview times are in Eastern Time.
  • Contact Info: Use AirTable for contact details if issues arise or rescheduling is needed.
  • Rescheduling Requests: Email lgo-internships@mit.edu.
  • Dress Code: Students should dress business casual (no suits required).
  • Communication: Students are not allowed to ask for additional time beyond the 25-minute interviews, either before or after interviews. 

Interview Schedules & Airtable

    • Checking Schedules:
      • Use AirTable to check schedules, which will include student names, contact info, and project details.
      • Schedules are only published in AirTable.
    • Using AirTable:
      • Use the “Week” view for easier navigation.
      • Schedule entries are in Eastern Time.
      •  You can import schedules into iCal, but they won’t auto-update.
      • Full schedules can be downloaded as CSV files.

On Interview Day

    • Have your video turned on during interviews so students can see the interviewer(s). If you are prohibited from turning on your camera then please notify the students in advance. 
    • Student Initiation: Students will start the call using the provided connection info.
    • Cancellation: If you need to cancel, contact the student directly and notify LGO staff                                (lgo-internships@mit.edu).

After the Interview

  • Outstanding Questions: Partners and students can reach out for any remaining questions that might affect their decision, but this is not an extension of the interview. It is a way to ask any remaining questions that were not addressed in the interview.
  • Thank You Notes: Though it would be their normal practice to send Thank You notes after an interview, students decided collectively not to do this for internship interviews (to spare your inboxes).
  • Scoring discussions are not allowed: Students and companies cannot discuss scorings or preferences. For example, a student cannot tell a partner company they are their number one choice. We ask that partner companies please follow the same protocol for students. 

Interview Scoring

A mutual scoring system is used to match students to projects post-interview. Interview teams will receive a survey link to score the students they have interviewed on a scale of 1 (most preferred) to 10 (least preferred) for each individual project. Detailed instructions on scoring are provided in the survey link HERE. The survey should be completed and submitted within 2 business days following the last interview.

Second round (June-start only)

Additional interviews or additional scores for June-start projects are occasionally requested if we are not able to match all students to a project using the initial scoring data. We request scheduling flexibility and a quick response from students and partners for second round interviews and scoring to stay on schedule for the final match announcement.

Matching process

A Gale-Shapley matching algorithm is used to identify a complete and stable set of student-project pairs based on the mutual scores submitted by students and interview teams. Students are partners are obligated to honor the matches once announced; and therefore, should only provide a score for options that would be an acceptable match.