<p>Article.
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IT</a> will surprise nobody that the most competitive wave of high school graduates is now the most competitive wave of college students. The generation that made admissions a contact sport bring the same sharp elbows to how they spend their summers. Or, put in a form that parents would understand: “Internship” is to “first job” as “community service” is to “college.”
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Competition is further heightened because applicants are increasingly qualified. At Ketchum, a New York public relations company, more than 600 students applied for 16 positions last summer, with predictable results.</p>
<p>“This year, for the first time, every candidate selected for this summer’s program came to Ketchum with previous internship experience under their belt,” says Allison Slotnick, a spokeswoman. “Where once strong academics and extracurricular activities could demonstrate one’s capabilities, a track record of professional internship experience is now necessary.”</p>
<p>In other words, you need to have done an internship to qualify for one. What is an average student who has spent summers working as a grocery cashier to do?
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<p>And the rat-race continues...</p>
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<p>It's a little bit daunting that the "real world" sets in and my goals become more professional, career-oriented (as opposed to focusing on the academia reminiscent of this NYTimes</a> Article: "What's the Matter with College?"</p>
<p>I have a very pre-professional mindset, so I came into college (back in '05) with the intention to hit the ground running. </p>
<p>Do I wish wasn’t so focused on the future? On many days, sure. There really is never a moment’s peace, because I am always thinking about the NEXT step.</p>
<p>However, it’s a whole new ballgame. Competition is fiercer than it has ever been. You have no choice but to seek and win opportunities that give you a competitive edge over your peers.</p>
<p>How has it affected my college experience? I will say that it has altered the way I do some things. Sadly, I do not do many things(e.g. some activities) merely for the enjoyment – EVERY decision is calculated…i.e. “How will this be beneficial to my career?” </p>
<p>Lastly, the article is so correct about connections:</p>
<p>Network. Network. Network. I got my first internship following freshman year due to my parents. Quality internships are scarce for freshmen via your on-campus career center so you will most likely need to use other means.</p>
<p>I too went into college with a very “pre-professional mindset,” which shouldn’t be of surprise to anybody in a pre-professional program such as engineering. I’ve done internships every summer since entering college, and worked during the school year in my junior and senior years too. Unlike Majayiduke09 however, my decision to do this was not purely for future career benefits. Though that was a factor, I also really liked my jobs, so it wasn’t really a negative for me. </p>
<p>Connections… you certainly do have to network. Except for my first internship, I got all my jobs through connections, either friends, alumni, or colleagues.</p>
<p>Nothing new in that article. Similar things have been true for at least 10 years. I used to show similar articles to my college journalism students in the 1990s.</p>
<p>Some of them even interned at Ketchum – and, of course, had previous internship experience before going there. To get that previous internship experience (usually with a much less prestigious firm than Ketchum), they typically had to have had some job experience even if that was working as a grocery store clerk.</p>
<p>“Or, put in a form that parents would understand: “Internship” is to “first job” as “community service” is to “college.””</p>
<p>Flawed analogy. Most colleges don’t require any ECs or CS at all for students to be admitted. The few colleges that do use ECs, CS in admission don’t require CS, but do want to see ECs, CS or other activities that the student has pursued (jobs, church, etc.) that indicate the student will be an active member of the campus or local community and not just go to class and stay in their room or the library studying.</p>
<p>Not at all. That’s the beauty of internships. You can work for a summer and decide if you like it or not. If not, you can decide to go in another direction.</p>
<p>There’s such a thing as healthy competition. But this bubble in time in which kids burn themselves out in high school to get into a “name” college and then burn themselves out in college to get the “name” internship and then the “name” job does not seem healthy to me. It all presumes a level of maturity, ambition and drive that I’m not sure should be expected of kids (especially boys, many of whom seem to mature a bit more slowly). </p>
<p>If I tell my kids to be camp counselors, are their careers in a tailspin from the get-go?</p>
<p>It’s all about balance, in my opinion. Try to keep in mind why you love learning, and why you possess the ambition that drives you to succeed. If your motivation only lies in getting that name job, then you will have an unhealthy time on the way there. The people who are genuinely happy and who, on average, genuinely succeed are those who love what they do. It makes competition seem not nearly as fierce. Who else can possibly beat you when you’re so obsessed with what you do? This is, in my opinion, healthy competition – when it comes down to a comparison of true passion and skill across applicants. Because even if you don’t get your first choice, you were probably pretty damn close and will easily land second or third choice and still be successful and happy. </p>
<p>Unhealthy competition is however more prevalent, where people are just grinding their way through things they dislike immensely for the sake of resume-stuffing. </p>
<p>My point is, yes, competition is fierce. However, it’s largely composed of unhealthy competition. Do what you love and that ferocity of competition will die down a lot, relative to your perspective. It’s the easiest way to get around this problem without pulling a Tonya Harding and maiming your competition.</p>
<p>I read that article and part of me groaned…it’s always some new stress to put on the student. I concur that if your goal is lofty, stuffing your resume, like high school, might be the best thing, but there isn’t any guarantees.
My friends niece graduated from college in Finance last year and couldn’t get any internships until the summer before her senior year. She worked in a pizza place every summer and/or took a course. She is working for a Fortune 500 company in DC and doing well. The stress she saw other students going through didn’t always pan out in anything so balance, as someone mentioned is a good thing. Some personalities though (or the parents personality) doesn’t make that easy.</p>
<p>Not only is the internship field becoming more crowded, but you have to apply earlier and earlier to get them.</p>
<p>My son, one of the lucky ones, has already firmed up his summer financial internship with a Silicon Valley tech firm (he did this earlier this week after doing the interviews over the Christmas break). As a sophomore college business major from Indiana University, he doesn’t even get into the “meat” of his business concentration courses until next year. So, what was the key to getting the internship?-----</p>
<p>You undoubtedly guessed it;–the internships he did for the past two summers (one after his senior year of high school and the other after his freshman year of college). Although I’m sure it also helped that he took the ten required accounting, computer, business communications, and economics courses Indiana University requires of business majors in their first two years. </p>
<p>Still, it does make one wonder where the “easygoing days of youth” have gone. Not to college, apparently.</p>