It pays to study math, science and technology in college these ... really pays.

Competition for talented software programmers and computer hardware engineers is so intense, interns can expect land salaries of $4,000 to well over $6,000 a month at some top tech companies, according to InternMatch, a site that helps students find paid internships.

One company even pays as much as $7,500 a month.

At IBM interns can earn $3,942 a month

Average IBM intern salary: $3,942

Intern class size: unknown

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job: $77,370

Best paying specialties: Hardware, machine learning, Java

InternMatch advice: IBM's "premiere intern program, dubbed Extreme Blue, offers everything you’d expect: challenging projects, competitive pay, relocation assistance, access to IBM recognition and ideas programs, and plenty of social activities over the course of the internship program."

At EMC interns can earn $4,004 a month

Average EMC intern salary: $4,004

Intern class size: unknown

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job: $77,661

Best paying specialties: Cloud computing, IT architecture

InternMatch advice: "Engineering students generally speak well of their time at EMC. There is plenty of challenging work, smart teams to be a part of and a good culture that embraces challenge, but isn’t overrun with pressure. If students have any overt complaints about EMC it is that the company is large enough to be bureaucratic."

At Rackspace interns can earn $4,012 a month

Average Rackspace intern salary: $4,012

Intern class size: unknown

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job: $66,638

Best paying specialties: Cloud computing, servers, infrastructure

InternMatch advice: "Replete with Star Wars memorabilia, indoor slides, game rooms and all the latest technical gadgets, Rackspace has a great developer culture. Rackspace prides itself on being a family, where everyone is accepted, because of this the company has a uniquely open culture, where interns (or 'Rackterns' as they are called) are encouraged to blog about their experience, share their ideas openly."

At SAS Institute interns can earn $4,033 a month

Average SAS Institute intern salary: $4,033

Intern class size: unknown

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job:  $82,370

Best paying specialties: Data science, SQL, SAS programming language

InternMatch advice: SAS has "a strong commitment to diversity, as their R3 program looks to recognize, recruit and retain women, African-American, Hispanic and other traditional underrepresented engineers. This has lead to more well-rounded intern classes and helps fuel a culture geared towards innovation at SAS."

SAS sells "big data" business analytics software and cloud computing services to large enterprises.

At HP interns can earn $4,108 a month

Average Hewlett Packard intern salary: $4,108

Intern class size: unknown

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job: $90,828

Best paying specialties: Cloud Computing, Analytics

InternMatch advice: "Students report that at HP you are given challenging projects, strong mentorship, and most importantly, flexible hours to solve your work in a manner that fits your life and work style. The one down side that students report? Bureaucracy."

At Guidewire interns can earn $4,126 a month

Average Guidewire intern salary: $4,126

Intern class size: unknown

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job: $106,809

Best paying specialties: unknown

InternMatch advice: "While Guidewire is in the insurance industry they are dedicated to being a tech first company, meaning they have strong agile development processes and a cool open office environment. That said, you will still be working on insurance, which isn’t the most compelling end product for every engineering student."

Guidewire makes software for the insurance industry.

At Riverbed Technology interns can earn $4,140 a month

Average Riverbed Technology intern salary: $4,140

Intern class size: unknown

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job: $104,686

Best paying specialties: Virtualization, cloud computing, IT architecture, embedded systems

InternMatch advice: "Students love working at Riverbed Technology. In fact almost every single intern who speaks about their experience there can’t find any negatives. Expect the typical perks of an elite an internship program. These include great pay, interesting projects, fun events, a diverse intern class and more."

Riverbed makes equipment for enterprise corporate networks.

At Cisco interns can earn $4,395 a month

Average Cisco intern salary: $4,395

Intern class size: 500+

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job:  $105,211

Best paying specialties: C++, Java, Linux/Unix, radio frequency (RF) design

InternMatch advice: "Cisco’s program is defined by what they call intensive learning. Their internships start with a 10-day training boot camp, allowing interns to very quickly learn the ins and outs of the code-base and projects they will be working on so they ramp into real world projects shortly thereafter. Interns say the environment is relaxed with plenty of challenging projects, but sometimes complain that the opportunities for career growth are more limited."

At Intuit interns can earn $4,427 a month

Average Intuit intern salary: $4,427

Intern class size: unknown

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job: $86,434

Best paying specialties: unknown

InternMatch advice: "Whether you are interested in building mobile apps or scalable cloud computing solutions ... you can do is at Intuit. Their buddy system teams you up with a mentor who you can always contact for support, their volunteer program lets you take paid time off to do good, their iLab program allows interns to test products with actual Intuit customers."

Intuit is best known for its accounting and tax preparation software.

At Qualcomm interns can earn $4,560 a month

Average Qualcomm intern salary: $4,560

Intern class size: 800+

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job: $83,085

Best paying specialties: Hardware, augmented reality, mobile

InternMatch advice: "Qualcomm hires over 800 interns worldwide during the school year and summer and over 60% of interns are converted into full-time jobs, meaning their goal is to help groom you from intern to full-time employee."

Qualcomm makes computer chips that power all kinds of devices, like smartphones, consumer electronics, telecom networks.

At Intel interns can earn $4,836 a month

Average Intel intern salary: $4,836

Intern class size: unknown

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job: $85,293

Best paying specialties:  Graphics, hardware

InternMatch advice: "In 2011, Paul Otellini, Intel’s former CEO, made a commitment to help grow the number of engineering graduates from U.S. colleges. What evolved ... was an extension of Intel’s already world class intern program. Intel added Freshman and Sophomore internship opportunities that are designed specifically to give underclassmen mentorship and a broad introduction to the field of engineering."

At Apple interns can earn $4,914 a month

Average Apple intern salary: $4,914

Intern class size: 350+

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job:  $106,913

Best paying specialties: Mobile, C, Objective-C, hardware

InternMatch advice: "Apple is notoriously secretive, hard-working and at times cult-ishly obsessive about their products. Apple is not casual and not fun loving. People are here to work, but the reason they are so serious is because they care tremendously about the products they are building."

At Yahoo interns can earn $5,191 a month

Average Yahoo intern salary: $5,191

Intern class size: unknown 

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job: $102,712

Best paying specialties: C++, Java

InternMatch advice: "As the company looks to transform its brand, the intern program is a huge component. [CEO Marissa] Mayer is emphasizing quality--raising the bar for what it takes to get an internship at Yahoo. If you are lucky enough to get accepted you will be spending your time with other campus leaders who will help ensure your summer is rewarding at every turn."

At Texas Instruments interns can earn $5,266 a month

Average Texas Instruments intern salary: $5,266

Intern class size: unknown

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job: $88,725

Best paying specialties: Unknown

InternMatch advice: "One very cool program that TI offers is their global rotational program for engineering new grads—it offers the opportunity to work in a variety of offices around the world on a variety of projects. On the negative, former interns note that most offices are very cubicle heavy, and that the managerial process is more bureaucratic."

At NetApp interns can earn $5,443 a month

Average NetApp intern salary: $5,443

Intern class size: 120

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job: $90,676

Best paying specialties: Storage, NetApps operating system ONTAP, agile development

InternMatch advice: NetApp makes enterprise computer storage systems for corporate data centers. "One of the coolest aspects of NetApp’s internship program is the opportunity for students to present their summer projects to the company’s CTO and executive staff at an intern fair at the end of the summer."

At Amazon interns can earn $5,539 a month

Average Amazon intern salary: $5,539

Intern class size: 250+

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job: $94,176

Best paying specialties: Mobile, e-commerce, Perl, C++, Java

InternMatch advice: "Amazon is a rising star in the engineering world. Engineering interns are paid well (upwards of $35/hour) and work on projects ranging from community growing APIs to real-time retail forecasting tools."

At Google interns can earn $5,678 a month

Average Google intern salary: $5,678

Intern class size: 1,000+

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job:  $113,100

Best paying specialties:  Machine learning, data-science

InternMatch advice: "Students often remark that one of the best parts of Google’s internship program is how accessible the entire Google staff is to interns from executives on down. All said and done, the opportunities at Google are limitless and your co-workers will be brilliant."

At Adobe interns can earn $5,757 a month

Average Adobe intern salary: $5,757

Intern class size: unknown

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job: $90,581

Best paying specialties: Ruby on Rails programming language, cloud software programming

InternMatch advice: "Interns at Adobe learn a lot and come out feeling much better prepared for their future. Interns state that this comes with a culture that finds the right balance between independence (expect to get substantial real-world projects to pursue) and a collaborative culture."

At LinkedIn interns can earn $5,808 a month

Average LinkedIn intern salary: $5,808

Intern class size: unknown 

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job: $114,701

Best paying specialties: Unknown

InternMatch advice: "The bar for talent is high at LinkedIn, so if accepted you will get to work with peers and bosses who have plenty to teach you. LinkedIn’s Hackday is renowned for giving interns the opportunity to break out of their day-to-day activities and build innovative new products and have fun while doing it."

At Salesforce.com interns can earn $5,833 a month

Average Salesforce.com intern salary: $5,833

Intern class size: unknown

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job: $96,063

Best paying specialties: Cloud Computing, Apex programming language, C++

InternMatch advice: "Interns note that there is ample opportunity to work on big and meaningful projects as the company is growing at a rapid pace. The challenging work load is well compensated for with a strong tech company culture, including game rooms, company trips and more. Some interns complain that by being an enterprise sales company, there can be more bureaucracy here than at some of the more consumer facing companies."

At Microsoft interns can earn $5,936 a month

Average Microsoft intern salary: $5,936

Intern class size:  1,200+

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job: $90,594

Best paying specialties: Search, .Net, Gaming, C Sharp

InternMatch advice: "Microsoft has long had one of the most elite and in-depth internship programs in the engineering world. Microsoft dedicates internal resources to make internships as close to real jobs as possible. Interns get mentors, are given performance reviews and work on projects that ship or will be shipped—sometimes to millions of users."

At Ebay interns can earn $5,939 a month

Average Ebay intern salary: $5,939

Intern class size: unknown

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job:  $94,972

Best paying specialties: Mobile, Java, C++, e-commerce

InternMatch advice: "As a technology intern you will have plenty of big challenging projects to work on. That said, the culture at Ebay is slightly less technology driven than you might find at other purely tech-focused companies."

At Facebook interns can earn $6,056 a month

Average Facebook intern salary: $6,056

Intern class size: 750

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job: $100,105

Best paying specialties: PHP, agile development, mobile, all-around hacking

InternMatch advice: "Facebook is also famous for the extremely high bar for talent that is held throughout the company.  Expect to work hard and be challenged be your peers, bosses and mentors."

At Twitter interns can earn $6,938 a month

Average Twitter intern salary: $6,938

Intern class size: 120

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job: $116,032

Best paying specialties: Ruby programming language, Java, infrastructure

InternMatch advice: "Twitter interns report that they get treated like a full-time employee. After tackling an initial boot-up project to get ramped on the code-base you will quickly begin working on and deploying code for full-time projects."

At Palantir interns can earn $7,500 a month

Average Palantir intern salary: $7,500

Intern class size: 100

Average starting salary if offered a full-time job:  $97,133

Best paying specialties: Data integration, SQL, modeling, machine learning

InternMatch advice: "Palantir offers the best internship program you may not know about. Palantir is known for having a bit of an elitist culture—more so then even the likes of Google and Facebook, they seek out brilliant minds and students who have the confidence to defend their opinions."

Palantir offers "big data" software used by many government agencies to help them sift through photos, documents, social media to find patterns and catch criminals.

Now check out the companies tech employees love best ...

The 22 Best Tech Companies To Work For, According To Employees

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