‘There is hope!’: NTU student finally lands internship after 71 applications

SINGAPORE: Landing an internship is supposed to be a simple checkpoint for university students, a small victory on the way to adulthood. However, for one NTU student, it felt more like navigating a maze filled with rejection emails, ghosting, and endless online assessments. After finally securing an internship offer, she shared her experience on Reddit, kicking off her post with a victorious declaration: “There is hope!”

Her post gained around 180 upvotes and drew attention from others who had been through similar struggles. She also included a Sankey diagram charting every step of her internship search.

According to the visual breakdown, she sent out 71 applications, but only six companies responded with invitations to a first-round interview, while the remaining 65 completely ghosted her.

Of the six companies that did respond, one eventually stopped communicating after the first round, and two others rejected her shortly after their initial interviews, which further reduced her options.

After that, the fourth company asked her to go through a “superday,” a full day of interviews, case studies, and evaluations, while the fifth company put her through a demanding five-round interview process. Unfortunately, neither of these experiences resulted in an offer.

Her perseverance finally paid off with the sixth company, where she successfully completed all the necessary rounds and received an internship offer.

Having emerged victorious, she signed off her post with a cheerful, “All the best to you guys!”

“5 rounds is crazy.”

Singaporean Redditors who came across her post were stunned by how tough and over-the-top the whole process sounded. One commenter wrote, “Five rounds to get rejected? Omg, this job market is ridiculous.” Another simply added, “5 rounds is crazy.”

Some commenters also wondered if this was something only local students faced. One asked, “I wonder if CECAs, Malaysians, and Pinoys go through the same process too.”

Not all responses were sympathetic, though. A fourth user, identifying as an alumnus, criticised the NTU student for “low-key humblebragging.”

“I hate posts like these because it is just low-key humble bragging in the pretence of ‘showing hope’ for other students,” they wrote. “Don’t get me wrong, I am proud of anyone who is able to grind and take control of their own learning and succeed in this market, but I also know your post ain’t meant for the average student to ‘feel better’ so much as to validate yourself.”

In other news, a 23-year-old man shared on Reddit that his heart felt completely broken after his girlfriend, whom he had been financially supporting for years, ended their relationship shortly after he asked her to start paying for half of their dates.

In his post on the r/sgdatingscene subreddit on Tuesday (Nov 4), the man explained that during his girlfriend’s polytechnic days, he had taken it upon himself to cover nearly all their expenses.

Read more: 23 y/o man says GF he financially supported throughout polytechnic broke up with him shortly after he asked her to pay for half of their dates