First of all, I'd like to say that you should not view Google as the end all be all of software companies. I was also very interested in interning there, but wa

First of all, I'd like to say that you should not view Google as the end all be all of software companies. I was also very interested in interning there, but was a bit dissapointed when I finally managed to get an offer. How I did it: I applied to about 30 big software companies in my freshman year. Obviously, nobody outside the country responded, but I managed to get an internship at Adobe Romania, which was a really useful and pleasant experience. Once you have an internship under your belt, it's a lot easier to get interviews and offers, and also gives you something to talk about in your interviews. So, in my second year I interviewed with Jane Street, Google and Microsoft, and got offers from Google and Microsoft. Google offered me a position in web development, and Microsoft offered me a position in the Operating Systems team, so I chose Microsoft. My advice would be to find an internship at a company where there isn't so much competition and use your experience to get an internship at Google next year. Send me an email if you have any questions.