Why internships matter

glorymom
Mon, 13 Aug 2012 20:05:15 +0000

I want to share my daughter’s story with other parents because it may offer you future ammunition when you are trying to advise your own student. She attends University of Illinois and I already posted before that I have been extremely impressed with the career development afforded students in her science department. U of I urges its students to seek out internships each summer they attend there, but, of course, strongly urge students to seek out internships the summer before their senior year.

My daughter took this advice to heart and applied for several paid internships out of state last fall and was lucky enough to receive several offers. She accepted one with a multinational based in the New York area. She returned home in early August and raved about the range of things she was exposed to while there, and she also learned that she could multi-task on the job as well as successfully navigate office personalities and politics.

But the reason I am posting this thread is that after she finished her internship, she received a job offer last week from the multinational, and this offer includes a sizable signing bonus. This means that she has not yet started her senior year but already knows where she will be working upon graduation next spring. I also suspect this means that she will enjoy her last year at U of I much more than she would if she felt pressured to spend the school year applying for jobs or to grad school.

So if or when your beloved student tells you that summer internships don’t matter, please feel free to pass on this happy story.