Should I be open about future plans to study?

Question

Firstly, sorry if this has been asked before, I kind of expected it to of been but I couldn't find it. Also I'm aware this may belong on Academia SE but the question is more about applying to internship's so I decided on here. Feel free to flag it if you disagree

I am finishing up my BSc in Computer science and Mathematics in a few months and have a conditional offer from a decent university to study Computational Biology. The offer is a 2.1 however given my grades for my first two years I basically just need to pass to make the offer.

I would like to apply to summer internship's for roles in research for algorithmic trading. I'm concerned advertising my offer will be off putting because the masters program I am applying for suggests a completely different career interests (and to be honest, I am more interested in pursuing a career related to my masters, but algorithmic design in finance still appeals to me, and I would like to at least try it). Furthermore I am under the impression internships are often used to scope students for graduate jobs, which I obviously won't be able to do.

I originally was going to leave it off my CV/applications because it seems sort of irrelevant and it's conditional (even though I'm very confident I will make the offer because it's low) and it's not really an achievement, because I haven't achieved it yet. The reason for doubting myself is because a friend recommended me an internship, I told him it looks good and I will probably apply. My friend recommended I mentioned my offer because the workforce there are mostly graduates from the university I have the offer from, my friend said I should be proud of it (which I am) and also that it won't be off putting because I will be paid low (compared to full time employees) so it will still be worthwhile for the company

Of course if I was asked what my future plans were I would not lie, I would be open about my intentions to study for another year. My question is do you think it would be beneficial to explicitly mention the offer on my CV, application or during an interview and if so how? Or should I just not mention it unless asked?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

[D]o you think it would be beneficial to explicitly mention the offer on my CV, application or during an interview and if so how? Or should I just not mention it unless asked?

I would not mention it on the CV. Your Masters offer is not relevant to your internship and it is not something you have acheived. If you were directly asked in an interview, say you have explored further study. Specifically, you are exploring different options at the moment including a Masters.

While many companies may want to you to stay on afterwards, the good ones realize that many interns go on to further study. If they do not, chances are you probably did not want the internship at that company in the first place.