In light of having bit the bullet and applied for & accepted my first unpaid internship here in Washington, I decided to inaugurate this blog with my own thoughts on the commonly-held grievance against a painfully-unequal system.
But, before I begin, an explanation. For those of you who may not be familiar with the culture of this city, you should know that it is commonplace for a student or recent graduate (though as many of us know, that's much too late) to take an unpaid internship either during the summer or, for those of us lucky enough to attend one of the prestigious and exorbitantly priced schools here in D.C., the semester. In fact, one of the draws to these schools is, in fact, the "wide range of internship opportunities available to students as early as freshman year!" Note to any highschool junior or senior: warning. Your parents: "wonderful! think of the edge up my child will have when he/she enters the job market!" You on the college tour: "great! I want to work at an embassy!!!!!" You three years later "great! slave labor in exchange for a resume addition and potential reference!!"
The internship, especially at my school, is practically a right of passage. If you've hit junior year without one, your peers may begin to assume there's something wrong with you. "Have you even looked at careerweb?" they ask, "the career center is SO helpful with resumes and cover letters!" Forget attempting to be even remotely financially independent, as this concept is completely unfamiliar to most of my classmates and I'm here to say that this is a problem.
Not only is the unpaid internship just that -unpaid - but it also bears unforeseen costs. There's the bus or metro to get there, the office clothing you certainly didn't have enough of beforehand, the lunches and the biggest one - the lost opportunity to work and save money for post-graduate life, when your parental monetary assistance will certainly drop.
I was raised a relatively privileged child, that's no secret and I'm hardly trying to portray myself as someone working my way through school independently. What I am trying to do is say that there are people who do and they don't deserve to lack that "competitive edge" upon graduation for not only being responsible enough to fund some or all of their education, but also mature enough to make the sacrifices necessary to do so. When I reached working and driving age, I was expected to work a nominal amount to cover small expenses. I enjoyed and continue to enjoy working the practically-minimum-wage-paying jobs that have funded my social life since I was 16. Right now I'm at a crossroads where I'm forced to decide between maximizing my hours at an awesome restaurant job where I'd be able to make and save money all summer and an excellent internship opportunity at an organization that directly relates to both of my majors. I've decided to accept the internship and work two or three shifts per week at the restaurant.
The point is, I'm fortunate to even have this decision. Not everyone has the luxury to only work part time, while logging full time hours at the office without compensation. While the option to work some internships for federal work study money is a viable solution addressing this problem, to find an internship offering this option is still fairly challenging.
Society tends to move in a direction towards the elimination of unequal . it comes to the unpaid internship, something needs to be change to prevent hardworking, responsible students that are unable to sacrifice savings and a steady income for early career experience from being behind upon graduation.
But, before I begin, an explanation. For those of you who may not be familiar with the culture of this city, you should know that it is commonplace for a student or recent graduate (though as many of us know, that's much too late) to take an unpaid internship either during the summer or, for those of us lucky enough to attend one of the prestigious and exorbitantly priced schools here in D.C., the semester. In fact, one of the draws to these schools is, in fact, the "wide range of internship opportunities available to students as early as freshman year!" Note to any highschool junior or senior: warning. Your parents: "wonderful! think of the edge up my child will have when he/she enters the job market!" You on the college tour: "great! I want to work at an embassy!!!!!" You three years later "great! slave labor in exchange for a resume addition and potential reference!!"
The internship, especially at my school, is practically a right of passage. If you've hit junior year without one, your peers may begin to assume there's something wrong with you. "Have you even looked at careerweb?" they ask, "the career center is SO helpful with resumes and cover letters!" Forget attempting to be even remotely financially independent, as this concept is completely unfamiliar to most of my classmates and I'm here to say that this is a problem.
Not only is the unpaid internship just that -unpaid - but it also bears unforeseen costs. There's the bus or metro to get there, the office clothing you certainly didn't have enough of beforehand, the lunches and the biggest one - the lost opportunity to work and save money for post-graduate life, when your parental monetary assistance will certainly drop.
I was raised a relatively privileged child, that's no secret and I'm hardly trying to portray myself as someone working my way through school independently. What I am trying to do is say that there are people who do and they don't deserve to lack that "competitive edge" upon graduation for not only being responsible enough to fund some or all of their education, but also mature enough to make the sacrifices necessary to do so. When I reached working and driving age, I was expected to work a nominal amount to cover small expenses. I enjoyed and continue to enjoy working the practically-minimum-wage-paying jobs that have funded my social life since I was 16. Right now I'm at a crossroads where I'm forced to decide between maximizing my hours at an awesome restaurant job where I'd be able to make and save money all summer and an excellent internship opportunity at an organization that directly relates to both of my majors. I've decided to accept the internship and work two or three shifts per week at the restaurant.
The point is, I'm fortunate to even have this decision. Not everyone has the luxury to only work part time, while logging full time hours at the office without compensation. While the option to work some internships for federal work study money is a viable solution addressing this problem, to find an internship offering this option is still fairly challenging.
Society tends to move in a direction towards the elimination of unequal . it comes to the unpaid internship, something needs to be change to prevent hardworking, responsible students that are unable to sacrifice savings and a steady income for early career experience from being behind upon graduation.
