Reviewed on 9 October 2026. This guide explains how students in India can approach Microsoft's university hiring. It covers the programmes Microsoft lists for India, the eligibility rules on its careers pages, how Microsoft describes its student interviews, and a six-week preparation plan. Microsoft doesn't publish a single India campus calendar or a fixed number of test rounds for every college, so the guide doesn't invent one. Where Microsoft's own pages disagree, it says so.
Programmes Microsoft lists for students
| Programme | What Microsoft's page says | Who it is aimed at |
|---|---|---|
| Explore Microsoft | An 8-week summer internship in India (12 weeks in the US), designed for first- and/or second-year college students. Only the second-year application is listed for India. | Students in computer science, computer engineering, IT, data science, electrical engineering, cybersecurity or related fields |
| University internships | Listed on Microsoft's careers site for students in bachelor's, master's, MBA and PhD programmes | Students with at least a year of study left after the internship (see eligibility below) |
| Full-time roles for graduates | Posted as individual openings on the careers site | Final-year students and recent graduates, as each posting specifies |
The Explore page says you don't need to be a computer science major. It does require completed coursework equivalent to an introduction to computer science and one semester of calculus. It lists most Explore opportunities in Redmond, Atlanta and "various India campuses".
Keep preparing
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Microsoft's internship eligibility page gives these rules for India's University Interns and Explore Interns:
- Enrolled in a STEM, management or similar course
- In the pre-final year of study: the third year of a bachelor's degree or the first year of a master's
- At least one more calendar year of study remaining after the internship ends
That pre-final-year rule doesn't sit easily with the Explore page's "first- and/or second-year" description. When pages conflict, the requirements in the specific job posting you're applying to are the ones that count. If it's still unclear, ask your college's training and placement officer, or the recruiter named in the invitation.
How Microsoft describes its student interviews
Microsoft's student interviewing page says:
- All interviews are virtual.
- There is an initial interview and, if you're selected, a final interview.
- A virtual interview day consists of one-to-one meetings with Microsoft employees, with breaks between them.
- Expect both behavioural and functional or technical questions based on your experience and skills.
- Depending on the role, you may be asked to write code or share a portfolio or project.
- Interview preparation details are sent when you're invited.
Campus drives run through a college may add steps, such as an online assessment, that are announced in the drive notice. Read your invitation and the placement cell's notice for the exact format rather than relying on forum posts from earlier years.
A six-week preparation plan
The plan below is an illustrative schedule for a pre-final-year engineering student preparing for an internship interview.
| Week | Focus | Output to show yourself |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arrays, strings and hashing problems; explain each solution aloud | A log of 10 problems with time taken and mistakes |
| 2 | Linked lists, stacks, queues, binary search | 10 more problems; one written explanation of a time–space trade-off |
| 3 | Trees, graphs (BFS and DFS) | A one-page summary of when to use each traversal |
| 4 | Project deep dive: architecture, decisions, failures, what you'd change | A 3-minute spoken walkthrough of your best project |
| 5 | Behavioural stories: teamwork, conflict, failure, learning something fast | Five short stories in situation–action–result form, drawn from your own experience |
| 6 | Two full mock interviews, one technical and one behavioural, on a video call | Written feedback and a fix list |
Two habits matter more than the number of problems solved. First, talk through your thinking: clarify the question, state your approach, then code. Second, test your own code with a normal case, an edge case and an empty input before saying you're done.
For practice questions with worked answers, see our Microsoft interview preparation guide. Since the interviews are virtual, also set up your connection and devices using our interview technology setup guide.
Applying: a checklist
- Your year of study matches the specific posting's eligibility
- You applied through Microsoft's careers site or your college's official drive link
- Your resume lists projects you can explain in depth, with your own contribution stated clearly
- Your coding practice log covers the core data structures
- Five behavioural stories are ready, each with a clear result
- Your virtual setup is tested: camera, microphone, network and a backup connection
Protect yourself from fake interviews
Microsoft's security team published a report on 11 March 2026 describing a campaign called "Contagious Interview". Attackers pose as recruiters and ask developers to clone and run a code package or "assessment", which installs malware. The report advises completing take-home tests in an isolated environment and reviewing any recruiter-provided repository before running it.
Practical rules:
- Apply and check openings only through Microsoft's official careers site or your college's placement cell.
- Be suspicious of interviews conducted only by chat, very fast offers, or requests for bank details or payment.
- Never run unknown code from a "recruiter" on your main laptop.
Key takeaways
- Microsoft lists Explore (an 8-week summer internship in India) and university internships for students. Check each posting's year-of-study rule, because Microsoft's pages describe it differently.
- Student interviews are virtual: an initial round and a final round, mixing behavioural and technical questions, with coding or portfolio tasks for some roles.
- Prepare to explain your own projects in depth. Practise problem-solving aloud, and test your answers.