The Power of Internships

Amy Rylander, director of the Baylor University Career Center, said that when she was in college, internships often had a bad reputation among students –– and for good reason.

“When I was an undergraduate, internships were almost always unpaid, and they often involved menial tasks such as getting coffee for people, stapling and filing documents, and doing other administrative chores,” she said. “But the good news is that most internships have shifted over the past 20 years or so to become jobs that incorporate real work experience. They now involve a lot of the same things that entry-level employees are doing, and are a three-months-long interview to see if a company wants to hire you for a permanent position.”

One of the responsibilities of the Baylor Career Center is to help students from all academic divisions and fields of study discover appropriate internship opportunities. Rylander said they try diligently to make sure that the employers allowed to advertise positions through the Center are offering students work experiences that are truly professional.

“One of the things we do here is to fully vet the companies that post internships in with us,” she said. “We explain to them that we will not approve an internship if it does not replicate a real job, because we don’t want to waste a student’s time.”

Multiple advantages

There are a number of reasons that internships are valuable to students. First of all, they give students the chance to test out an industry or profession to see if it’s a good fit for them.

Dr. Rebecca Flavin, director of engaged learning curriculum in the College of Arts & Sciences and a faculty member in political science, has experience helping students obtain internships and research opportunities in political science. She said completing an internship can be an eye-opening reality check for students that comes before they have made a final decision on a career.

“Some students have an image of what being a worker in a certain field is going to be like. And like a lot of things, that image might be shaped by what they see on television or what they read about in books,” Flavin said. “But actually going and experiencing the day-to-day work and seeing what it’s like is incredibly important for students to help them to discern, ‘Is this a career path that's right for me? Or, is there something else that’s going to be a better fit for my skill set and talents?’”

For students who aren’t really sure what they want to do after graduation, an internship many times can give them ideas about the kind of jobs they might or might not want to pursue.

“If students are not sure about things, internships give them a way to try something out of their comfort zones, and those might be places where they learn a lot about themselves and pick up different skills,” said Andrew Boles, associate director of business intelligence in the Baylor Career Center.

“Internships let students understand a company and the role they might play with them, and it gives them the time to decide if that’s a good fit for them,” Rylander said. 

Better odds, more pay

One big advantage students who complete internships have is that they’re more likely to find a job –– and make more money –– following graduation.

“Since we began surveying students on this subject in the summer of 2019, we’ve found that those with an internship were placed 91 percent of the time. By contrast, students who did not complete an internship were placed 79 percent of the time. That’s a very large jump,” Boles said. “Not only that, but the starting salary for undergraduate students who have an internship is almost $10,000 more a year than those without them. And that’s true across all colleges and universities.”

All other things being equal, students with internship experience are likely to fare better in the job market than students without it.

“If an employer is looking at two students who have the same grades and test scores –– and one has internship experience, while the other doesn’t –– the person with the internship is going to have value added,” Flavin said. “But beyond what’s on their résumés, having internship experience is going to allow them to give a better interview, and talk about their professional experiences in tangible ways that a student who has focused exclusively on coursework can’t. Having that professional experience from an internship is also something students can draw from when they have to write personal statements or essays when they apply for various opportunities beyond the classroom.”

An internship can also give a boost to undergraduate students who move on to graduate school or seek professional degrees.

“Whether that’s a Ph.D. or a master’s degree program, or a degree from a professional school such as medical school, students with an internship are placed about 7 percent more into those programs than their counterparts who don’t have one,” Boles said.

All majors are welcome

One misconception concerning internships is that the large majority exist for students who major in fields such as business, science and high tech, while few supposedly exist for majors in the liberal arts. But that’s not the case.

“Companies have a wide variety of internships available. We have helped students in all majors get places in companies they never would have dreamed of working for –– and they’re happy with the experience,” Boles said.

Even if a liberal arts student doesn’t find an internship that lines up exactly with their major, Rylander said that student should keep an open mind and pursue something else that sounds interesting.

“It’s not always about your major. Many times our students –– in the liberal arts especially –– get locked into thinking things such as, ‘Well, I’m an English major, what do they do?’ English majors do things they find interesting.  They can do a variety of things,” Rylander said. “I was an English major, but I never once taught English. I worked in marketing, I worked in mergers and acquisitions, I worked in finance and I worked in recruiting. The skills I learned as an English major positioned me for success in all those roles. Your major doesn’t necessarily determine where you can go.”

First steps

Flavin said it’s a good idea for students in a particular major to first talk with fellow students in that major to see what kind of experiences they’ve already had with internships, either through certain programs or with particular companies. 

“Using word of mouth and having a community of students that is being intentional about paying it forward by helping each other out is wonderful,” she said.

After talking with fellow students and trusted professors to get any recommendations they might have, Rylander said the next stop should be the Career Center, where students are able to work with trained staff members assigned to their specific majors.

“By each staffer working with specific majors, we’re able to find out what the students are interesting in doing, and then match that to the companies that are most likely to hire them for internships,” Rylander said. “We have good contacts within those companies.” 

When should students begin looking for internships? Rylander said a good idea is to start looking in the fall of the sophomore and junior years for internships to take place in both of the summers. 

“The most popular time for companies to recruit interns is in the fall –– and that’s even for summer internships,” she said. “Here at Baylor we host the Fall Career Fair. A lot of companies recruit for the summer because they want to get ahead of the curve and get the best people. But, at the very latest, students looking for a summer internship should begin by early January.”

Numerous and available

At any given time there are more than 9,000 internship openings listed in the database updated by the Baylor Career Center. Those internships reflect a wide variety of available positions –– in multiple fields, in many cities and states, with some paid and others unpaid. The large majority are open during the summer months, but some are available during the fall and spring.

Despite the availability of internships, Rylander said only about 60 percent of Baylor students report back that they completed at least one during college.

“One hundred percent of the students on Baylor’s campus need to have an internship while they’re here,” Rylander said. “Even if they end up walking away from the company or industry they first choose, they still have the experience they’ve gained. There’s just no downside to an internship.”

*This story originally appeared in the Fall 2024 issue of Baylor Arts & Sciences magazine.

ABOUT THE COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY 

The College of Arts & Sciences is Baylor University’s largest academic division, consisting of 25 academic departments in the sciences, humanities, fine arts and social sciences, as well as 11 academic centers and institutes. The more than 5,000 courses taught in the College span topics from art and theatre to religion, philosophy, sociology and the natural sciences. The College’s undergraduate Unified Core Curriculum, which routinely receives top grades in national assessments, emphasizes a liberal education characterized by critical thinking, communication, civic engagement and Christian commitment. Arts & Sciences faculty conduct research around the world, and research on the undergraduate and graduate level is prevalent throughout all disciplines. Visit the College of Arts & Sciences website.