Internships are a pivotal part of your college experience. Some colleges/majors allow an internship to count for credit, others allow internships to count as a class. But the important part of an internship isn't to have it count towards your diploma, it's to learn from the experience you gain. Mine, unfortunately, did not give me any of these assets.
This past summer I was given the opportunity to work for a magazine in New York City. In context, the internship seemed great- I'd be in the city, I'd be working for a magazine and enhancing my journalism experience, and I'd make connections. Money wasn't on the mind because I had a part-time job already, but when the job promised me a stipend for the end of each week, I didn't turn it down. It all seemed like it was going to be an incredible experience, and then it wasn't.
First and foremost, I had to travel from Staten Island into Manhattan every day. This was about a 25 minute car ride, a 20 minute ferry ride, and about a 15 minute walk to the office. Parking at the ferry is $8 a day, which means it's $40 a week, and roughly $240 a month. Not only did it take me almost an hour to find a spot every morning (I'm not kidding), my internship never asked to help give me a travel stipend. This wouldn't have been an issue had the company given me the money they promised, but alas- they did not.
Going into Manhattan in the heat of the summer was enough, but the fact that I sat in the office and did nothing was really the cherry on top of the cake. Actually, scratch that- I didn't do "nothing", I actually sat and watched about 6 episodes of Grey's Anatomy a day in the 7 hours I was there. If they gave me something to do (which was very rare) it would be to send an email. I sent about 1 email a week, so that should give you an image of how much work I was given to do.
The part that really tipped me over the edge was when they asked me to write a review for the magazine. I was so excited, I thought my 'work' would be paying off. Most importantly, I was excited to get my name published with my own work in a magazine! I did the review as requested and I worked really hard on it. I mean, for paragraph review- it took me almost 2 hours to make everything perfect. I submitted and was promised it'd be in the magazine. And it was, I saw my work and I was ready to take a picture and rave about it on Facebook- until I noticed it was published under a different name. I got absolutely no credit.
I quit the internship shortly after that, partially because I got cast in a show and needed to spend my time working and actually making money, but also because I realized I was not gaining the knowledge and experience I had anticipated. To say that this internship was a waste of my time was an understatement.
Going forward, some advice to people who are looking into internships- make sure you're getting what your bosses originally promised you. If not, leave. Don't waste your time. Time is too valuable.
