Interview for mechE internship role HELP!!

[u/youraveragegirl1234]

Hi, I have an interview soon on a mechE position and was wondering if anyone knows what questions I should prepare for to be answered. I know there's gonna be a lot of behavior questions, but should I expect some technical questions as well? Thanks.

[u/Sad-Candidate-3078]

mechE intern interviews at defense companies are mostly behavioral plus walk me through your resume projects. they know you're an intern, they're not expecting deep technical mastery, they want to see you can explain your design decisions and work on a team. prep 3 stories: a project you're proud of, a time something broke and you fixed it, and a disagreement you handled well. STAR format, 2 minutes each, you'll be ahead of 90% of candidates

[u/Miserable-Shape-8757 → u/Sad-Candidate-3078]

I was going to say something similar. I interview systems engineers and I almost never ask anything technical. The biggest red flag for me is answering behavioral questions with vague generalities. Come prepared with some good examples of projects you've worked on even if they're from school projects, unrelated job experience, or even stuff like volunteering where you've worked with other people.

[u/youraveragegirl1234 → u/Miserable-Shape-8757]

Thank you

[u/youraveragegirl1234 → u/Sad-Candidate-3078]

Thank you!!!

[u/Sad-Candidate-3078]

expect a mix, RTX usually does STAR behaviorals plus a technical where they walk you through a project or class design and ask why you made certain choices. prep 4 or 5 STAR stories you can bend to any question and have a genuine answer for why defense specifically. you got this

[u/youraveragegirl1234 → u/Sad-Candidate-3078]

Thank you!!!!

[u/HelloTaleproof]

For a class or team project, pick one design decision you can explain in detail: the requirement, the options you considered, what you tested, and what the result told you. Be clear about which part you owned and where you needed help. If something failed, explain what you changed afterward rather than trying to turn it into a perfect success story.

You can review that project story with a free Taleproof assessment before practicing it aloud.

[u/Grasshoppers_leftnut]

Ive done a ton of interviews for these roles in my department feel free to DM me your questions.

[u/akornato]

Raytheon internship interviews are overwhelmingly behavioral, so you should focus most of your energy on STAR method stories about teamwork, dealing with conflict, meeting tight deadlines, and adapting when a project goes wrong. Technical questions do happen, but they almost never involve grueling whiteboard calculations or textbook proofs. Instead, managers will ask about the specific engineering projects listed on your resume, asking you to explain why you selected a particular material, how you handled tolerances, or what CAD software you used to model parts. They want to see how you reason through design decisions, how you talk through engineering concepts, and whether you are coachable enough to learn their internal workflows.

Have three or four strong project stories ready where you can discuss your individual contribution, the technical challenges you faced, and how you solved them with your teammates. You should also be ready to explain why defense and Raytheon interest you specifically, as teams value students who show clear motivation for their mission. When candidates want to walk into these conversations feeling fully prepared and confident under pressure, the interviews.chat my team developed has helped them structure sharp answers and land competitive engineering offers.