Pros
General: * rapid pace of work is great for learning a lot quickly * overtime pay * good perks: subsidized good food and swag, free gym memberships, shuttles, free or subsidized on-site medical care, etc. * projects are meaningful and come with responsibility * the Hawthorne location has like 400 interns during the summer * generous relocation and a month of housing * a week of paid vacation for July 4th (probably won't be a regular thing) * cool subject matter, shared mission I was lucky in that my department sort of straddles a few groups so I got a good view of the overall rocket building process. It turns out I don't like my role at all, but my manager was cool about it and found me a lot of projects I would like. A lot of the managers here are pretty open to finding stuff that aligns with your interests. I really like Avionics' atmosphere but other departments/locations seem to vary quite a lot.
Cons
I feel like most of the cons are just poor fit, not actually cons. Yeah, most interns work 50-60 hours, but everyone knew what they were signing up for (note: due to policy changes any review before Spring 2016 is inaccurate - interns were switched to hourly employees who receive time and a half after 40 hours and require VP permission to surpass 12 hour days and 60 hour weeks). I hear there will be a significant decrease in full-time offers since SpaceX just hit a major hiring cap and has slowed hiring growth tremendously, to one of their lowest rates ever.