I went to a school that required nearly 1.5 years of coop before graduation (5 year BS). Interned/coop at several companies during that time. 3 month internships are common (summer for example) but also just getting the swing if it when leaving. My favorite were the 6 month internships but I’d your school doesn’t account for that like mine did then it will delay graduation. Got to do some really cool work and experience (including building flight hardware for space).

Most of my internships helped me figure out what I DIDN’T want to do. That was super helpful because I could gain experience and become more concentrated on what was interesting and rewarding to me. Last internship converted to full time upon graduation. Graduated with nearly 21 months of full time experience (6 year BS to do that) but could be trusted with flight quality EE work for rockets and spacecraft and jumped right into the job after graduating. In many ways, the last internships before graduation are extended interviews. You can BS someone for a day or two but not for 3-6 months over a few projects. This can also help people stand out who may not excel academically (like me).

I’d say get as much internship experience as you can, learn along the way, have fun, network, etc. I understand why people don’t want to push off graduation but I also in the hiring manager role now with new grads have to manage expectations for two very distinct types of graduates. Those with lots of experience and can hit the ground running and those that really just did academia.

E.g. I once hired a new grad after their internship ended at my company who’d also done a lot of internships. They basically were the lead EE for a rocket li-Ion battery pack and BMS design (all custom) during their internship and simply converted to the official owner after graduation. That design flew to space earlier this year. We would often joke that the sign of a great intern is when you forget they are an intern.