College and University Blog
Beware of Illegal Internships
An intern is a person – generally a student – who works in order to gain experience in a particular field. Internships are usually unpaid positions, but paid internships are common in the medical field. Internships are typically part-time and usually considered to be a great way for college students to gain familiarity with a potential career while they are still in school.
Internships are pretty common. In 2008, the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that 83 percent of graduating students had held internships, up from 9 percent in 1992. I was an education major, so I had to complete a full-time, semester-long student teaching internship during my final semester of college in order to graduate and gain state certification. This internship was required training in order for me to earn my degree, and some of my friends did various internships at different companies and organizations as well.
Strange, then, that I just read a New York Times titled Growth of Unpaid Internships May Be Illegal, Officials Say.
This April 2, 2010 article by Steven Greenhouse states:
Melissa Rhone+
Melissa Rhone earned her Bachelor of Music in Education from the University of Tampa. She resides in the Tampa Bay area and enjoys writing about college, pop culture, and epilepsy awareness.