Marcella Caruso | Contributing Writer
Sitting at my desk in a windowless room that can only be described as a cement box of despondency, I stared at the time in the bottom corner of the computer screen. Eight minutes until 5PM. What can I do in eight minutes? Waiting for the work day to end is not how I pictured my first real summer internship, yet this restless boredom is what defined my summer.
As with many internships there was a competitive application process: a few essays, a copy of your CV, and two interviews, which whittled the pool down to a cohort of seventeen bright-eyed public service interns who were ready to change the world.
On the morning of our first day we donned our suits, ties, dresses, and heels and entered our placement offices, completely prepared in every way, except for how underwhelming the whole experience would be.
That summer as an intern in the City of Boston Law Department, I was assigned work maybe 10% of the time. The rest of my hours were spent trying to look busy by reading The Daily Beast, catching up on global affairs, closely following the birth of Prince George, writing college essays, and taking frequent coffee breaks. All the while making the equivalent of €4.79 an hour through my stipend.
Many would consider me “lucky” to have received the opportunity to work, and get paid to work, in a reputable organization. To some people, it sounds impressive when I say I worked in a law firm when I was seventeen. But to me, it sounds misleading. In reality, I could have done 90% of what I did that summer at home. All I gained from the experience was just another job title to add to my CV.
While internships may always seem like the correct and forward-thinking way to spend your summer, it’s important to weigh the pros and cons to determine if the benefits outweigh the costs. What are you hoping to get from the internship? Is the placement in a field you are seriously and professionally interested in? Can you afford to take on an unpaid internship?
Fortunately, all of my internships have paid me with a stipend – it’s lower than Massachusetts minimum wage, which is pretty dismal, but I was getting paid nonetheless. Having any financial compensation is rare and problematic. If a middle class student is counting on the summer to make money for the school year, which is the case for many, especially non-EU students, then taking on an unpaid internship can be simply unaffordable. Then, if you consider that many internships are in major cities where the students may not live, you need to factor in housing, food, and transportation costs. In that common scenario, students would be effectively losing money for the prestigious opportunity to take coffee orders and tediously input data.
While my views are largely negative, I acknowledge that there were some redeeming qualities to my various summer internships. These experiences gave me an honest glimpse into careers I’ve considered pursuing. I’ve learned the office environments I like and the ones I don’t like. I know how to operate in a professional workplace environment, and I’ve made networking connections and formed friendships.
If you are looking for a meaningful way to spend your summer, that path may not necessarily be to apply to the most renowned summer internship program in an impressive-sounding field that you are only vaguely interested in. I sincerely feel that I learned and benefited more from my part-time summer job at an ice cream shop.
So the next time you think about working your usual summer job or putting on a suit and tie and heading to your fancy unpaid internship this summer, don’t be naive. Make sure you’re getting more out of the experience than just another title to add to your CV.
