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I have been invited for the interview (paid internship) this week. I am a bit confused about whether should I say that I am student of X University (technically, I am, but not actively enrolled, but I enjoy all the benefits of being one, and I have the status on the university website and the student ID and etc.) while being on the academic leave.

I am talking on a bachelor's degree.

The reason I am asking this because:

  • I don't want end up like the author of this question.
  • I know the likelihood of the question("Can you tell me a little about yourself?") coming up is high, so should I try to hide that I am in this tricky position or not and face the situation where they may ask me about my studies and it may end up in a bad position.

P.S the job add in the requirements tells that I should be either majoring in CS or in other field OR experienced, so I don't know whether that will be a problem.

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  • but not actively enrolled...and being on the academic leave...what do they mean? In other words, if someone try to verify you are really "either majoring in CS or in other field"..what would be the university answer? Mar 25, 2019 at 8:31
  • It would be that I am majoring, but currently I am on academic leave, aka I am a student on paper, who is not attending any classes, doing psets or interacting with university in any way. Mar 25, 2019 at 8:36
  • That's the thing, I don't even know if I will. Mar 25, 2019 at 12:43

2 Answers 2

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Don't leave anything to imagination, say it in full.

"I am a student of X university and currently on academic leave. I'm suppose/ planning to resume my classes / course on Y date."

Given that you have a valid student ID, registration and leave approval, there's no reason to be afraid of lying, because you are not.

Now question is: whether the company will agree to your "student" status - that depends on the company (policies) and there's nothing you can or need do about that. State the facts and let them decide how they want to interpret the facts.

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  • Yes, I that would be the ethical & right way to do it, but the thing is more questions may come from this, like why, when and etc and I preferably would avoid steering the interview to that direction. Mar 25, 2019 at 8:41
  • @TheFunnySmell It's always better to state the truth rather than lying, because then you would not need to spin up another 10 lies to save the first lie. Mar 25, 2019 at 8:42
  • @TheFunnySmell Moreover, you can try to put the reasons in a way that sounds beneficial for you (and potential employer). However, if this is something personal and you're not comfortable disclosing it, you can say so. Usually, it's not a concern on the "why" part for the company, as long as they can comply with their policies for the leave period. Mar 25, 2019 at 8:44
  • That's correct, but I wouldn't say that I would be lying(aka saying false information) rather not saying more than I should.As we have figured out it, technically I am a student? Mar 25, 2019 at 8:45
  • This is debate of whether referring to a word "student" people think of one actively studying and attending classes or the one in general, just enrolled in university? Mar 25, 2019 at 8:48
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You need to honest and straight forward with them.

The issue you have is that if you are perceived as dodging and weaving around an answer it might just be easier for them to go with another candidate.

Now if they perceive that you were in danger of academic probation, or that you are trying to decide if college is for you, they may decide that your odds of graduating in the next few years are low. And if the goal of bringing on interns is to see if they may be good employees, they are probably not interested in non-students.

They may not care that you have an college email address and an ID. Most schools don't disable them for 1+ years after your last class, and I have never known for an ID to be confiscated. Unless they can scan the id and tap into the university database the ID doesn't tell them if you are an active student this semester. Many universities scan the ID before a sporting even, or when entering the library, or using the gym. They want to stop non-students who still have the ID.

Many of these internship programs ask students To prove enrollment. They do this by asking for a printout from the university system showing their completed classes and current enrollment. This is usually done as part of the application/interview and then again on the first day of work. They also do this if they have a GPA requirement, or one for number of credits, or enrollment in a specific class.

You don't want to risk being dismissed from the internship on the first day because you successfully dodged their questions, only to discover they really want to focus on active students.

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  • Thank you for your answer Mar 25, 2019 at 11:57
  • But the company has the "Experienced or majoring" part, so maybe the student part is not THAT important, but I will tell the truth anyways. Mar 25, 2019 at 12:00

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