Nobody cares about followers or likes anymore; the new goal is 500+ connections on LinkedIn. This number helps students feel well-connected and networked, making it easier for them to gain internships and job opportunities. Fordham’s “Internship Promise” ensures that all undergraduate students have the opportunity to gain an internship. However, this promise has added to the pressure for every student to start seeking and applying for internships for the future. 

The shocking part about the internship hunt is how early students feel the need to look for and apply to them. Internships used to be something mainly upperclassmen and some sophomores would apply for, but as the job market has become increasingly competitive, students feel the need to get an internship as early as possible. I personally know first-years who started applying for internships during their first semester. The increasing hunt for internships, though, is further driven by the approaching summer months due to students wanting to feel productive and make their summers feel worthwhile. 

It also doesn’t help that we’re in New York City — a notoriously career-focused city — where people are driven to push their professions to the fullest potential. This mentality has come to Fordham, and now students want to achieve their dream careers, starting with the internship. The first step in one’s career is something everyone is constantly applying for and thinking about. How does one even come upon the perfect internship?

Although having an internship sounds ideal, having an unpaid, highly demanding internship is glorified volunteering and not something a college student wants to spend their time doing. This makes the hunt for an internship even harder. 

It is also important to note the distinction between the internship hunt for Gabelli (GSB) students and Fordham College (FC) students. The internship hunt begins much earlier for Gabelli students, according to Genevieve Motolenich, GSB ’29. “You are expected to recruit and essentially receive a full-time offer in the winter of your sophomore year,” Motolenich said. This ultimately “increases the pressure to find anything during your freshman year summer — any experience, any work or any distinction to set you apart from the large recruiting crowds,” she said. This recruiting aspect is definitely something GSB students have to pay more attention to than FC students, forcing finance students especially to seek out internship opportunities as early as possible.

Although it is important for FC students to get internships, there is truly no timeline like GSB students’ because they have their entire four years to gain experience. However, many FC students explore various opportunities in the humanities to gain hands-on experience, such as volunteer work. Personally, I decided to volunteer last semester and work at polling sites to gain insight into elections, especially in a city like NYC. 

Internships are highly coveted for college students trying to get their foot in the door, yet they are hard to come by due to the strenuous qualifications some require. For example, a dream internship for a finance major is to intern at Goldman Sachs, which has a 0.7% acceptance rate. While many political science majors (like me) would love to intern on The Hill, this takes significant effort and connections, as practically every political science major in America applies to intern there during their sophomore and junior years. Another issue many students struggle with is that these internships require prior work experience, which many students don’t have because it’s their first internship. This causes them to feel more stressed and just apply to internships for the sake of applying.

The internship is a highly coveted opportunity that every student, no matter the major, wants to obtain during their four years of college; however, with the increasingly difficult job market, it has added great amounts of pressure to almost every student in college.