Attending college in New York City is unlike any other college experience. Washington Square Park is your playground. Fifth Avenue is your break between classes. The Brooklyn Bridge is your stroll while running errands. THE best bagels are your midday snacks. At least if you are going to gain the Freshman 15, do it the right way: Bagels, Halal food, and Dough Doughnuts. Beyond the amount of good food, the gorgeous views, and the concrete jungle, New York City makes college that much more competitive.
The daily exchange between NYU students goes something like this:
Student A: "Hey, do you have an internship this semester?"
Student B: "What's up? I actually have four."
NYC students, especially of NYU, aren't just students. They are interns, employees, assistants, researchers, designers and the list goes on. Being in the bubble of real-life, minutes away from Wall Street to the Theater district, the city offers hands-on experience that can prepare them for their 9-6 jobs or their 8 a.m.'s on campus.
I know what you are probably thinking: "I am an NYU student and I don't have four internships." Looks like you came to the right place.
While landing four internships isn't the most realistic or feasible feat, I know how you can land one solid one that can definitely boost your resume while refining your skills. My secret: WayUp.
WayUp is a free tool for students to find internships and jobs that are posted by employers. From Coca-Cola to Spoon University to even Starbucks, companies from every industry post opportunities for students to gain experience to upgrade their resumes and expand their skill-sets. The best part? NYU is the number one school with the most hired students using the platform.
Now that you are familiar with WayUp, meet Molly O'Shea, an NYU student who has been reaping benefits upon benefits from using the site. Last spring, she found herself scrambling to find a summer internship. After hours of searching on Google, she came across WayUp, formerly Campus Job, and the rest is self-explanatory. She designed their new logo for rebranding, interned with Study Abroad Apartments and now has been offered several other internships and design jobs for the upcoming semester.
"Being able to redesign the face of a highly successful and growing company such as WayUp is such an incredible experience I'm very thankful for. I've received a bunch of job offers for design after their public release and am helping with their college tour. Because of WayUp, I'm on my way up," O'Shea, NYU '18, said.
However, she is not the only one who has had awesome internships and even cooler stories to tell as a result.
"Through WayUp, I was able to land SIX interviews over the span of three days and have received three (and counting) offers," Justin Zheng, studying Finance and Information Science NYU '18, said.
While Zheng landed six interviews, Madeleine Stanley, another NYU student, became a campus ambassador for a start-up.
"Being a campus ambassador for Cinch, a start-up smartphone app that allows users to create and vote on polls, I have been able to see how such a company works to grow their audience at a social media level, something very useful to me as a food blogger looking to grow my own audience," Stanley, studying Entrepreneurship & Photograph NYU '16, said. "It's been a fun way to meet new people and really push myself to discover new ways to attract as many students as I can to such an exciting app."
The Big Apple can be intimidating, to say the least. There is even competition with those pesky lines at Trader Joe's (yes, we see you line-cutters). Sometimes it is tough to find internships, ace interviews, and score some amazing opportunities. It's even harder when you are thrown into a mixture of thousands of other students who are actually finding those internships, acing those interviews, and scoring those opportunities. Don't worry. With the help of your new favorite website, you can be on your WayUp too.
Referred by Campus Rep, Molly O'Shea.