When it’s time for college, a lot of students just want to live it up and live in the moment, aka YOLO. Well, there is plenty of time for that during the school year and once you graduate, but once it becomes your junior year, you really need to start thinking long term. No one realizes how fast college goes. One day you are moving into your dorm room for the first time and then all of a sudden you are buying your cap and gown and walking across the stage to receive the most expensive piece of paper you will ever get. Where did the time go?

Well, that’s what a lot of college students don’t realize. Companies nowadays are looking for college students that have more experience in their specific fields of study and worry less about the degrees you have received. This is hard to accept, considering how much money each and every one of us put into going to college. So you may be wondering why I am taking the time out of my summer to write about the importance of internships. The reason why I am writing this is because I believe that going out and getting an internship will be the best thing you have done during your college years. Currently, I am setting up my career before I even graduate and that is a really great achievement to have.

Reasons Why Internships Are a Great Way to Go:

1. Depending on the college, you can receive college credit by doing an internship!
2. You can get paid more when you graduate because of the one or more internships you have completed.
3. When going with an internship in your field of study, you can figure out if you are going down the right path or not.
4. You will gain confidence and improve your work habits and motivation.
5. You will learn so many new skills that you will wonder why you even took college classes because you don’t learn nearly as much as you do during an internship.

Last but surely not least, you could get the opportunity to get a paid internship. Waking up and going to my internship every day and knowing that I am learning so much and getting paid on top of it makes it all worth it! Seriously, take the time to create a LinkedIn profile and start networking, you never know who is going to message you about an amazing opportunity! There is more time in the day then you think, so don’t think that taking on an internship during the summer is going to be the end of your life! When you get closer to graduation, the only thing that you should be thinking about is setting up a solid career by the time you do graduate so that you don’t have to worry about bills - or student loans.

BE PROACTIVE! BE SUCCESSFUL! LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST!