For my fellow high school classmates and I, the second half of senior year was an incredibly exciting (and nerve wracking) time. In addition to figuring out where we would be heading for the next four years of our lives, we also were finishing up classes a whole six weeks earlier than everyone else. I kept that image of sweet relief in my mind as I willed myself to do homework and to study hard to finish out the year strong, knowing that in just a few short weeks I would be lounging pool side (think Sharpay in HSM 2) while other students were sitting in calculus.
However, there was a catch to getting out early: seniors had to participate in a six week “capstone project.” For my project, I had two ideas that took me quite a bit of time to choose between. On the one hand, I thought an internship at a publishing company would be perfect for me. The school had many graduates that worked for local companies and I could have done some networking (woo!) to weasel my way into an internship. On the other hand, the idea of pursuing something new really intrigued me. I have been singing my whole life, and while I had always possessed an interest in song writing, I had never really tried it before this time. In the end, I decided to design a song writing program for myself that consisted of voice lessons, piano lessons, song writing lessons, and open mic performances.
Boy, do I regret that.
I don’t regret it because it wasn’t informative for me— I realized early on that song writing is not something that I am either a. particularly good at or b. particularly motivated to do— but rather because I didn’t feel like it was benefiting me. I couldn’t help but feel that if I had chosen to go the other route and take an internship that I would be en route to solidifying my “life plan.”
When I applied for internships last summer, one of them was at the publishing house I had wanted to work for senior year. I didn’t get it. And, honestly, a big part of me wonders if I had taken an internship there senior year, would I have received the internship?
I spent my summer asking incredible women what advice they would give themselves or to others in college. I have learned an immense amount from these responses, but I have yet to ask myself what advice I would give myself. Looking back, I would tell myself to not worry about the “prestige” of an internship. I think a large part of me was scared about taking a six week internship because I didn’t want to just be on coffee run duty. I was afraid that in the short period of time I wouldn’t learn anything beneficial and wouldn’t really get any “good” experience. However, what I wish I had thought about is that maybe if I had done the six weeks and gotten through the “coffee stage,” I could have skipped it another summer altogether. Or, maybe, I would have just received some office experience in general and learned how the working world works. I didn’t take the chance because I didn’t think it really would do me any good. Now though, I try to not think about that when I am looking into internships. Yes, it would be incredibly cool to get a highly selective internship at a top notch company… but I also know that is setting a very impractical standard for myself as a sophomore that has had one internship. I need to work my way up, even if that means starting as “coffee girl.” Plus, you never know where any career is going to take you and what opportunities it may bring!
Did you work your way up to where you are now? Was your first position informative even if you weren’t directly involved in the company’s business?
