TAN LINES & INTERNSHIP ANXIETY: THE EVOLUTION OF COLLEGE SUMMERS
BY ALEX CREEKMORE ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF MINJOON LEE
Every college summer feels different from the one before it. The post-freshman year break feels endless, filled with new friends, late nights, and no real pressure to figure anything out. By junior year, the countdown to summer starts to feel more like a deadline. You watch your peers secure the internships of your dreams and hope your anguish will lead to steady employment. What used to be a peaceful break is now a preview of your future life spent navigating incompetent coworkers and decoding corporate jargon.
Picture this: It’s the last day of your freshman year at Ohio University. You pack up your twin XL bed sheets, say farewell to the communal bathrooms and their daily test of character, and ride off into the sunset to start your summer of fun alongside your new friends. As many of us carry on with the summer jobs we’ve had since high school, there is little pressure to secure a job that will heavily impact your future career. Personally, I spent my summer after freshman year babysitting the three children under the age of three. Changing diapers and watching “Paw Patrol” might not be everyone’s ideal summer activities, but for me, it felt like my last opportunity to make money without the stress of corporate America.
The easygoing nature of freshman year summer doesn’t last long into year two. The fall career fair marks the first sign of inevitable employment anxiety that slowly crescendos throughout sophomore year. The clock ticks as sticky nights at Crystal are clouded by job applications in an oversaturated market. While you sift through listings and desperately cling to your dwindling social life, there is one horror we haven’t yet discussed — unpaid internships — a phrase that speaks for itself.
NACE reports in its 2024 Student Survey that 43% of interns were working with zero financial compensation. The mere concept of working 40 hours a week for a pat on the back and a few extra lines under the “Experience” section of a resume is enough to break the spirit of most college students. All that said, with a bit of luck and grace on Indeed.com, I was able to secure my first internship three weeks into summer. Let me say, it was a rude awakening to the next 30 years of my life. Spending 40 hours a week in a dimly lit office space surrounded by men in khakis was not exactly my idea of summer fun, but the experience was insightful nonetheless.
Now we enter junior year, the time of competitive sport sponsored by LinkedIn and mild panic begins because post-grad life is closer than everyone is willing to admit. Your first look at the job boards seems promising, but with each passing “We have decided to move forward with other candidates at this time,” the options become few and far between. According to Forbes, millions of college students compete for internships each year, but less than half actually secure one, creating a large gap between demand and opportunity. So, how do we join this exclusive club of interns within such a limited market? Submit applications like it’s your full-time job, cross your fingers, and prepare for a summer of collared shirts and performance reviews!
All sarcasm aside, giving up a summer of bliss for a career-altering opportunity is well worth the occasional moments of existential dread. Meeting new people and putting ourselves in unfamiliar situations is the only way we will truly transform. From freshman-year peace to junior-year dread, college summers will bring us joy, test our patience, and quietly shape who we become. So, as I sit here writing this article, days out from moving 18 hours away from my friends and family for a corporate internship, I hope to embrace the unknown, send those “per my last email” emails, and accept that my final college summer will be spent in dress pants and loafers. And if you’re heading into an internship this summer, just remember: smile, nod, and remember that no one actually has it all figured out.
