For those seeking work in a city that they don't live in, especially if that city is NYC or LA: Recognize that many potential employers will reject you based on your online portfolio. Both the work in the portfolio and the portfolio itself as a design project of its own. It's very easy for experienced designers to notice the warning signs of a lazy designer. And people who look like they might be lazy designers — true or not — go straight to the discard pile.

You shouldn’t be chasing an internship in New York if you can’t provide a better reason than just wanting to be in New York. Unless there are particular designers here that you really want to intern for you can do just as well elsewhere. The designers here know that and they are not going to hire you just because you want to come to New York. So study up on the New York design scene, pick a few people who you believe can really teach you something, and write them some brilliant cover letters explaining why.