Freshman Internship Advice?

Community college student transferring next fall. (UIUC or hopefully Northwestern, fingers crossed)

Realizing I’m at a bit of a disadvantage for internships. All of the school’s postings are call center or similar, and no one seems to want to take a chance on me. I’ve sent cold/warm emails and heard nothing.

For this year/summer, I have a few options- 1. Take one of the garbage “internships” (call center, unpaid insurance sales, etc)

  1. Cold network until someone takes a chance

  2. Accept an internship at a national lab I was offered by my Northwestern PhD professor. Do research and such with UChicago/government/etc. Not finance related, but it’s something I guess.

Any suggestions?

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