Intern Panel 2025 Recap
UCSD students on being human in the recruitment process, coffee chats 101, and how to start building your dream career in college.
On Friday, October 24, 2025, Design Co held its annual Intern Panel at DIB 208, where we had five students who landed roles at Capital One, Snap Inc, Adidas, and more share insights about their Summer 2025 internships.
Meet the Panelists
Ashlie Kim is a 4th year Interdisciplinary Computing and the Arts (ICAM) and Cognitive Science double major. She previously interned as a Design Academy Intern at Snap Inc.
Riddhi Kumar is a 4th year Business Psychology major and Marketing Minor. She previously interned as a Wholesale Strategy Intern at adidas.
Vyomi Seth is a 4th year Cognitive Science Design major and Business Minor. She previously interned as a Product Design Intern at Palo Alto Networks.
Riya Rao is 4th year Cognitive Science Design major. She previously interned as an Experience Design Intern at Capital One.
Gabriella Strudler is a 4th year Cognitive Science Design major. She previously interned as an HCI Research Intern at Lytx.
Panel Recap
Walk us through the process of landing your internship. What steps did you take?
Ashlie: I think the biggest part was researching Snapchat as a company, and researching the core values that they had, and that is being smart, kind, and creative. And was it really important to base all of your answers on those three values when applying.
Vyomi: I actually reached out to someone that interned at this company previously. It’s a business to business company — I’ve never used their products when I went into my internship, and I thought to myself, “how does this company fit in my design journey?” And once you like, really find an answer to that for why exactly you want to work for this company, I think that really shows throughout the interview process.
Riya: A recruiter actually reached out to me on LinkedIn the summer before the internship was supposed to happen. He said that I should attend this event that was being held by the VP of Products under Financial Services. And he was talking about how you can use design for social change, which is a lot of the work I did prior to this internship. I think what is super important is to make sure that the experiences that you have as a student are stuff that you’re actually passionate about, because I think that’s how you’re going to be able to progress in your career.
Was your internship hybrid, remote or in person, and how did you feel about the format that you experienced?
Ashlie: Mine was in person in the Santa Monica office and that was a really cool experience, because this was also my first internship, and I got to go to the Snap offices in person. Be prepared if you know any other interns going to the same company as you and reach out to room with them, because housing can be expensive.
Riddhi: My internship was also in person, but it was a hybrid format. You can go in 3 to 5 days a week. But I think for me, I really enjoyed going in person, because I was able to make those connections, and just learn about different aspects of the brand, and to get to know the business as a whole.
Gabriella: My internship was hybrid, so I was coming to the Design Lab a few days a week, and I was also going to the Lytx offices, which is next to Apple and La Jolla. I loved the balance of both, because going in person made it feel more real and more exciting. But it was also nice being able to, like, be cozy at home and like work in bed and have a balance.
What strategies did you use to build strong relationships with your managers and team members?
Riddhi: All the interns were really enthusiastic about doing coffee chats. We really motivated each other. You’re not [just] looking to know your role in the company, but also getting to build relationships across the company. Because as a student, obviously you’re chosen to enter in a specific department, [so] use that as an opportunity to get to know other departments at the company, and a holistic viewpoint of the business.
Riya: I was the only intern on my team, and the first week I was there, I decided to meet me with everyone. I remember talking to my manager about this: I was like, Am I acting too real? I was myself, which they really liked, and they also liked that I was bringing a younger perspective. So I think it’s important to embrace the fact that you’re the youngest person in the room. It’s important to just be yourself, which is cheesy, but it’ll go a long way.
Audience Q&A
When applying, how many projects did you showcase on your portfolio?
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Vyomi: I had three projects in my case study. One of them was a super comprehensive end to end case study. The other two were just brief overviews. I’m going to hijack the question a little bit, but a quick tip I have is: if you have a problem and a solution, you have a case study.
Riya: I had one case study in my portfolio. More than the amount of projects that you have, I think it’s important that you’re intentional in the way that you’re telling the story that you’re trying to share with that project.
Gabriella: I didn’t submit a portfolio for this internship, since it was human computer interaction research. But portfolio stuff in general, I think on my website right now, I have four case studies. But my tip is: don’t put anything on your portfolio that you can’t speak to and that you can’t explain why you made certain decisions, because that’s what you’re going to get asked to interview. So make sure you can back it up and to speak to what you’re showing.
The folks that did coffee chats: what was your favorite question to ask?
Vyomi: I would ask, “What’s the problem that you’re working on solving right now?” I think the company I was at definitely emphasized problem-solution thinking, and because of the complexity of the projects we were working on, it was really important to know exactly what problem you’re working on solving and defining that problem. I was able to get a better perspective on what’s going on in different parts of the company and where the industry is moving.
Riya: One of the VP’s I talked to, he used to be a DJ, and so I asked him how his experiences as a DJ translated into his experiences as a designer. And I think it’s super fun to ask them questions about their past experiences — because people love to talk about their passions outside of work, and it’s always really nice to get to know what they’re like outside of work.
Gabriella: I would say talking about things that aren’t work related. People love to talk about their dogs. So I feel like I would it would just come up in conversation, like, you show a picture of your dog, and then it’s like a fun thing, and you kind of remember it, and it’s kind of a nice break in people’s day to like, not talk about work, talk about something they like.
What about your position or company made you want to apply?
Riya: They recruited through one of my passions, and like, I know nothing about finance, like, that’s not really one of my interests. I didn’t wake up one day thinking I dream about working at Capital One, but my conversations with him were super, super insightful. It was just really fun. And so I felt like this could be a good company to work for.
Riddhi: We had virtual events on Handshake, and the way that the recruiter was reaching out to all the students, it really showed the company values the people. My recruiter called me while I was driving on a Sunday to tell me I made it to the next round. They really like, care about you, and they support you in every step of the way. And so I think for me, I really wanted that sort of community.
Vyomi: At the end of my portfolio presentation, someone on my team asked me a really specific question about the design system that I was working on, and I wasn’t able to answer it at the time, and I emailed the recruiter with an answer to the question, and the recruiter forwarded it to the director. They still took the time to listen to me speak after the interview. I appreciate that.
What is your advice on how to build out your portfolio?
Riya: I don’t think you need to stress out so much about making it look super cool — that’s not the most important part about it. A lot of the other designers’ portfolios I looked at had years of experience on me; they didn’t make their website look super crazy — it was just a simple, clean site with their work on it.
How did you find these internships? How early did you start applying?
Vyomi: I just did a lot of LinkedIn stalking and found people that were product design interns or UX interns at companies that I was interested in, and then I made a list of those companies, because now you know those internships exist and maybe, like, once a week, I’d go look for them, or I’d go check a few different job boards for if anything had dropped. I think it’s good to apply earlier. But knowing which internships exist ahead of time before they drop is always a good way to be prepared.
What is your one piece of advice for underclassmen to do before they graduate?
Gabriella: I would say I feel like I discredited myself a lot as a student. UCSD is a really hard school. You are in really hard classes. You do a lot of really hard projects in classes. And speak to that — don’t just be like, Oh, I’m a college student, I’m a second year or whatever. Like, be proud of yourself and what you’ve done just as a student, even if you haven’t had internships or haven’t done a lot of professional experiences.
One more thing I would say, this is one that’s really easy to forget, but your network will be your classmates — who you’re in projects with, who you’re sitting next to right now. That’s gonna be your network. That’s how I’ve gotten jobs — through friends, through classmates. So don’t forget that.
Riddhi: I’ve been an RA, I work at the Career Center, I have a lot of different roles on campus. And through that I’ve been able to meet people, not only in my industry, but there’s so many industries. Like, you could be a creative marketer. You can be more strategy marketing. You can do partnership marketing. There’s so many different fields that you really don’t know about until you really get to talk to people. Your peers, one day, will be working on amazing things, have great opportunities, and you know, just build those friendships and relationships really early on.
Riya: I think initially I got so caught up in wanting to make sure that I was a perfect candidate for different kinds of jobs, instead of just focusing on what I was interested in. But I think it’s important that while you’re still in college to lean into your passions, not just focus on doing what you think will get you a job.
What is your biggest piece of advice for interviewing?
Riddhi: Rather than focusing on how you’re going to answer certain questions, have really strong examples and strong stories. They’re always gonna ask “Tell me about yourself. What are your strengths and weaknesses?” or, “How do you collaborate with others?” Have strong examples already prepared for questions that fall under those buckets and be prepared to tweak it based on what the interviewer asks you.
Vyomi: Think about what the goal of the interview stage that you’re in. For a behavioral, they want to determine if you’re a cultural fit, so research the company culture. For the portfolio screening, they want to see your work and how you talk about your work. Because as a designer, so much of your work is advocating for your design decisions. So that really helped me during the portfolio screening process, when I think about, Why are they making me do this? It’s kind of scary. Like, what’s the point of any of it? And the point is to think about the way you approach the portfolio presentation, and essentially just the way you talk about your work.
Gabriella: I would say one piece of interview advice that I got, that I’ll never forget, is interviews are a conversation between two liars, which sounds kind of funny, but it’s really true. Because if you think about it, the person interviewing you, they are describing the role probably on its best day, and you are also selling yourself. And then secondly, I would say people forget to smile. People want to hire you if you’re a nice person to talk to and a nice person to work with, so you can have the best experience in the world, but if they don’t get a good vibe from talking to you, you’re probably not going to go very far.
Closing comments
Design Co hosts this intern panel every year, and each time we’re met with new curious faces and fresh perspectives. Hearing our panelists speak about the value of authenticity in a competitive job market is incredibly refreshing. We hope you took something away from this panel, and we can’t wait to host more career-focused events soon!
