<p>The only way I would do an unpaid internship is if it happened to be a federal internship, otherwise I won’t waste my time and money for the privilege of working for free. </p>
<p>My D has done two unpaid internships for non-profits. Each time it was 10-15 hours a week during the summer so she worked another job (or 3 last summer) simultaneously to make money. Both gave her really good experience and one helped her understand what she doesn’t want to do! She has a paid internship now although she had the option of unpaid for credit or paid without credit. Barnard does have grants for students doing unpaid internships so they can get money they would have been making if they were working other jobs. Then again, my D still works 3 jobs, including the internship. </p>
<p>The company she’s interning for now has told her they are interested in hiring her as a freelancer after her internship is over. That has her pretty excited. </p>
<p>The way she describes it, it’s almost impossible to get a paid internship if you don’t have one or two unpaid ones on your resume. She can tend to exaggerate though! It could just be that it is difficult to get paid internships until you’re a junior. </p>
<p>A lot depends on the field. For engineering, in my experience unpaid internships are almost unheard of. </p>
<p>My niece (marketing major) took an unpaid internship, and it has been great. It really opened her eyes to the office setting, which she assumed she’d dislike but really enjoyed. </p>
<p>@colorado_mom - What I meant was that a not-for-profit (I prefer that term rather than non-profit. I know companies that are non-profit, but it isn’t on purpose! Just a silly personal thing) can’t abuse the situation either, such as requiring certain hours or a lot of hours. Of course if one is truly a volunteer they should pretty much come and go as they please, within reason. I do imagine not-for-profits get a bit more leeway, even if technically they have to stick to the same 6 point test for-profits do. The key statement on this appears at the end of the document:</p>
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To me that implies something like “We are giving you leeway, but don’t take advantage”.</p>
<p>That is really interesting about your niece finding out she enjoyed office dynamics. What a valuable lesson to help decide career direction.</p>