It seems like the last two years of college are filled with expectations and pressures for students to figure out what they want to do with their lives after graduation.

I am not sure if these are cultural expectations or pressures that universities have habitually grown to lean on. Either way, it is difficult for many students to choose a career path before experiencing that career for themselves. This is what internships are for.

The Career Center, on the first floor in Driscoll South, has advisors who can help students in their search for career opportunities as well as creating and polishing their resume. It is an unbelievably helpful resource for students who have a vague idea about where their life path is taking them.

Interning with different firms or companies allows students to realize whether the career they are sampling is a good fit for their life, or if perhaps they should shift their focus in another direction. Internships make available much valuable information about specific careers, though they also have negative aspects.

The sad fact is that most internships these days require hard work with little to no payment. Fortunately, many unpaid internships require that their student interns receive credit through their university as compensation for work.

It seems unfair, however, that students be expected to expend such amounts of time and energy toward a company with no payment for their work. It is legitimate for newcomers to start at the bottom of the company hierarchy, but it seems that many internships take advantage of this system.

Giving interns busy work and file-stuffing tasks does not allow the student intern to truly experience things that actually occur in that office; they become so busy with meaningless “intern work” that they often miss the true work being done in their chosen company.

Why, do you ask, do students put up with this type of treatment? Internships quite often may lead to a full-time position within the company, and this fact alone pushes students to follow any orders given to them by prospective employers.

Not only do internships look great on a resume, but also they often open doors to students for post-graduation opportunities. Today’s world has led students to believe that it is necessary in some cases to act practically like a slave in order to be successful in the future.

It is difficult to understand how this mindset became so widely accepted in America, but it seems to be one of the more successful strategies in getting hired by corporate and private businesses.

Career advisors and companies will advise students to put up with “intern treatment,” that it will pay off in time.

Perhaps this is true; hopefully this is true. Otherwise companies are reaping huge benefits while students suffer financial despair and lack of time.