You hear everyone talk constantly about the importance of an internship while in college. However it is usually in the context of finding a job post-graduation but in reality, having an internship is an incredible experience to have besides just the basic resume builder. Don't just wait until your senior year either, get up and get out there early.
You will not regret it.
Not only does getting an internship early look really good on your resume, but it also allows to have more than one internship and get a lot of experience. While having a degree and being knowledgeable in your field are all very important skill, having experience is what is going to get you that dream job you've been waiting for.
You will learn more than you will ever expect.
You may have an internship where you end up doing the "bitch work" but you will also see so much going on in that field, whether it is watching a doctor, or a senator discusses a bill. You get to see some insight into what your future might be like.
And if you are lucky you might even be able to partake in it.
For example, at my internship, while I am not legally able to do any manipulations on patients I was allowed to feel varying deformities before and after the adjustment to compare the difference between them. I was also asked to put together different pieces of the patient's case to help conclude differential diagnoses.
But that is not the only important aspect of having an internship.
A lot of the time people chose an internship or job shadow based on the field they are planning to work in. Whether that be a doctor, teacher, business person or banker does not matter. You would not pick an internship based on something you are not interested in.
But what if you do not know the field you want to go into?
Then really you are at the highest advantage because you can pick something you might be interested in and try it out. You may love it or you may hate it but you know early enough where you feel you can change your future without too much trouble. You have the time and option to find something that fits perfectly for you.
What if I do something wrong?
You're an intern. Trust me, they do not expect you to know everything and are prepared for mistakes. I was terrified my first week that I was going to make a million mistakes and they were going to hate me. I did not want to ask questions because I was afraid they would think I was unintelligent and not prepared for this position.
But in reality
They want you to ask as many questions as possible so that you learn as much as possible. They want you to make mistakes so that you can learn from them.
In the end, it is important to know that it is okay to be afraid of asking questions, being nervous, and unsure of what you want to do but it is more important to move forward and try something out because you are going to learn so much more than you planned and expected.
