<p>As a parent, I'm curious to hear what students will be doing this summer (internship, job, taking courses, or relaxing). Please provide details such as employer, hourly wage, and college major if you feel comfortable sharing that information.</p>
<p>I will get things started. My daughter just completed her freshman year majoring in computer science. She will be working as an intern at a local university research facility doing computer programming. Last summer she made $16/hr when she worked there, so I assume she will probably earn around $18-19/hr this summer.</p>
<p>I just finished my sophomore year. I’m an accounting major. </p>
<p>I will be working full time at a used car lot, I’m kinda the “head porter” amongst a small team of us. Its not necessarily “relevant” in the sense of the work I’m doing, but its VERY relevant in the way of working with a team and leading that team to accomplish daily and weekly tasks.</p>
<p>I’m finishing my freshman year as an (intended) Economics/Sociology double major. </p>
<p>Summer plans:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I will be working as a full-time Outreach and Policy intern at an education nonprofit back in my home state for 9 weeks (with one week off). I will earn a $2,400 stipend and live in internship housing at a local university. During this time, I will also host an admissions booth for my university for 4 days. </p></li>
<li><p>Immediately after the internship, I will attend a regional conference for my fellowship with People For the American Way.</p></li>
<li><p>I’m returning earlier to campus to assist with orientation and to receive training as an SI (Supplemental Instructor).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Not relevant for me anymore, but after my freshman year (four years ago), I waited tables at two restaurants in a resort town in south Jersey. Wound up dropping one of the restaurants after that year so I could enjoy myself a little more in between shifts. In 2008, I made roughly $15,000; 2009 I only made around $8,000 since I took four weeks off to study abroad; 2010 I made around $12,000. Three great summers that actually helped my resume tremendously and gave me PLENTY of good stuff to talk about during interviews!</p>
<p>I’m just finishing up my sophomore year as a Business major. I’m not sure exactly what field I want to go into when I graduate, so this summer I’m doing two internships - one accounting and one finance/marketing. I’m also taking 2 classes during the summer - one in June and one in July. So my summer’s pretty filled up.</p>
<p>I currently go to UMD (I am guessing the OP went here too based off the name). I am currently a sophomore accounting and information systems major, and I will be interning at GE Capital this summer in their ITLP program. Even though I cannot disclose my hourly wage, I can say that it is very competitive.</p>
<p>Just wondering. Is it common to go for an interview for internship to find out that its not paid? Or, do they normally disclose that ahead of time? Also which occupational fields does one tend to find unpaid internships?</p>
<p>I recently read that unpaid internships are on the rise. It’s estimated that about 1/3 of college internships are unpaid. The Labor Department has strict guidelines for unpaid interns. Most companies flout them and use unpaid internships as free labor. The Labor Department rarely cracks down on offenders. And to make matters worse, many unpaid interns are relegated to doing grunt work such as buying coffee, cleaning closets, running errands, making copies, etc.</p>
<p>Some of the common occupations that “exploit” unpaid interns include film, non-profits, fashion, book and magazine publishing, marketing, and public relations. Paid internships are common in professional fields such as technology, science, engineering, law, architecture, advertising, and medicine.</p>
<p>If it’s not revealed ahead of time if the internship will be paid, I see no reason why you couldn’t ask before the interview.</p>
<p>I read this thread imagining it as an AA meeting and couldn’t help but crack up. Finance/Accounting major, my internship after Freshman year was at an insurance company paying $10/hr. Not great pay, but then I didn’t really do much besides guzzle wikipedia for most of the day.</p>
<p>Dungareedoll - No, that is not common if you found it through your campus recruitment site. It should clearly state whether it’s unpaid. Unpaid positions are fairly common in every field now.</p>
<p>Edit: umdclassof80 - While the complaints about using unpaid interns for paid roles are valid, I fail to understand why having unpaid interns get coffee, run errands and make copies is a bad thing. My first unpaid internship included the latter two, and I did so happily. Plus, having unpaid interns do those things is one of the few LEGAL tasks you can have your unpaid intern do.</p>
<p>I have no problem with an unpaid internship I just think that the company should disclose that information ahead of time. This way you don’t waste either party’s time. </p>
<p>Thanks for all your comments. Very helpful and good to know for the future.</p>
<p>A number of my friends took on unpaid internships; in the end, they were paying to work, upwards of $20/day. It was silly; they did menial, free labor.</p>
<p>Unpaid internship managers have gotten incredibly arrogant recently. They expect interns to work 40 hours/week, no transportation stipend (gas is expensive!), and have you update the company’s Twitter, get coffee, and answer phones from cursing people.</p>
<p>One particular internship I saw wanted interns to translate chemical terms from a complicated language to a English and to facilitate discussions with scientists in the language, for free, on the fly, for forty hours/week. Never mind that the kids they were recruiting probably had two years of the language, at best, under their belt…</p>
<p>An honest day’s work deserves an honest day’s pay. Otherwise, it’s not work, but fluff.</p>
<p>Just finished my first year of graduate school. Working as a GS-5 interpretive ranger for the Forest Service in southeast Alaska - pay is a shade under $17 an hour.</p>
<p>I just finished Freshman year. I’m a Systems Science & Engineering and Political Science double major (planning on switching to Chemical Engineering in the fall). I’m going to be taking classes over the summer and will be doing a part-time political internship. Political internships for the most part are unpaid, and the ones I’m deciding between are as well. Working to secure the future is payment enough!</p>
<p>Just as a note, if you are doing an internship, you should include the title of the role you will have or a brief description of the job you will be doing. A freshman undergraduate could have an “internship” at a top law firm, but his experience would differ WILDLY from a 2L’s internship at that same law firm.</p>
<p>Undergraduate Level: Although I am at my 3rd year, I will be beginning my Junior year in Fall.<br>
Major: Mechanical Engineering</p>
<p>Role: Research Intern
For whom: California State University
Paid/Unpaid: Paid (Stipend)
Field: Civil Engineering</p>
<p>I am very grateful to be awarded this opportunity and position: this is after many, many, many months in not being able to secure employment in various entry-level jobs. I guess there is a time and a place for a person’s calling, be patient!~</p>
<p>I just recently found out the Notre Dame offers their students $3K stipend toward expenses (travel, living) for unpaid internships and $1K for paid internships, over the course of your undergraduate time. My S goes to a very well funded university and they don’t do this. I think its fantastic. Does anyone know of any other schools that have something like this?</p>