Microsoft intern here in week three of my 12 week internship. I'll say this: the longer I'm here, the more excited I am about being a part of Microsoft.
I can't say what the best way to apply is, but if you send me your email (see profile) and optionally a link or description of what you've done/what you are interested in, I'd be happy to pass it on to a recruiter.
Ah, cool. Thanks! I'll keep that in mind, and send you an email sometime. I'd like to work on some small projects, take a few more classes, learn some new things for a while before applying again. No point applying repeatedly without having added anything, heh. Thanks for the reference, though; I'll be sure to annoy you sometime this year with an email.
Recruiters don't come to my university (that I know of), so I applied on their recruiting website (http://careers.microsoft.com/careers/en/us/tech-internships....) and got a position as an SDET. I actually just finished last Friday and have to agree with AdamTReineke, the experience started great and only got better.
Does Microsoft come to your school's career fair? If so, find out who the recruiter assigned to your school is and e-mail them. Your academic adviser might have this info or you could probably get it from a previous intern from your school. I don't know how the online applications work, I assume I applied online, but after doing a couple dozen applications, it all blended together.
Go ahead and apply online. My recruiter told me she actually literally reads every resume that gets submitted (..submitted to her schools, of course). She doesn't use any sort of software filter.
