Comments on: top 10 most exclusive internships

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:48:36 +0000

To “Josh” who “interned” at Disney. I am on my second Disney internship. It sounds more like you were in the College Program. As a CP you will be doing things like selling popcorn, soda, and merch. You are also required to live in Disney housing, and yes, your rent is deducted from your pay automatically. CPs are not always the most responsible bunch (I’ve heard some say they never drank so much alcohol as when they were CPs).
Disney Professional Interns are free to live whereever they please. Typically, the internships are more related to actual career fields. Internships are usually involved in positions like engineering, PR, science, management, so on. Both of mine correlate directly to my major and career field. It has been a great benefit to me, and I have learned things I could never have picked up in class.
I think it is unfair to classify the internship with the college program.

By: Jay

Jay — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 10:08:08 +0000

I think what a lot of these “best internship” lists fail to point out is that in order to intern at a top company they look a lot into experience. So if you’re a first-time applicant (with no internship or work-related experience) at any of those BW top 50 internships, then don’t expect to get a call from them. I currently intern at HP with their product management team and it took A LOT of work to get there. I first interned at Sybase as an HR intern, then moved on to Trend Micro where I did competitive analysis (worked with Product management). After having Trend Micro on my resume, it definitely boosted my resume and I had more freedom to pick and choose where I wanted to go.

Best advice I could give to anyone looking for an internship is “Beggars can NOT be choosers”, if someone offers an internship, I suggest to take it. It’s better to build your resume than to cherry pick the companies you want to work for.

By: Will at Virtualjobcoach

Will at Virtualjobcoach — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:01:39 +0000

# PriceWaterhouseCoopers – In 2007, BusinessWeek ranked PwC’s exclusive internship program the best in the country, and here’s why: it pays well (an average of about $24 an hour) and as one of the country’s largest employers, many of the 2,800 interns handpicked each year go

Are you KIDDING me? First, there are many, many better name-brand companies to have on your CV – what about Mckinsey or Bain, BCG anyone?
Also, if you are in the industry (as opposed to bribing BusinessWeek) PwC (or as I call them ‘poopers’ :^) ) really isn’t that exclusive or well regarded company. It certainly is a good one – but to put theirs up with the White House is a bit perplexing…

Will at virtualjobcoach.com

By: Roberto Angulo

Roberto Angulo — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:28:09 +0000

Great article Vanessa and Jen. We are sharing this with our college audience.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:13:17 +0000

Just out of curiosity… how was this list devised and how much further down was an internship at Vogue? I’m surprised it didn’t make the top 10! :)

By: Christian

Christian — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:54:57 +0000

There are a lot of companies with terrific internship programs, but sometimes working for the smaller, local company can provide a student with the best experience. A friend of mine is interning on Wall Street this summer, and is miserable—I think he was pulled in by the pure prestige of the offer. IMHO,the best internships—even if they’re not the most competitive—are the ones where one has lots of responsibility, works closely with company leadership, and learns a lot. John V, great to hear you learned a lot at yours:)

By: John V

John V — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:46:55 +0000

Nothing related to the Finance Industry except that of PWC? I had both of my internship experiences on the New York Stock Exchange, and although they were for some fairly small brokerage houses, I wouldn’t trade them for the world!
I learned alot there. Incomparable learning experiences that taught me things that I am still realizing today, 5 years later,
I am also glad to see that Cheezhead is looking at internships as well now. It is a highly overlooked portion of the college growth.

By: Lauren Berger "The Intern Queen"

Lauren Berger "The Intern Queen" — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:29:54 +0000

I’m just excited that Cheezhead is writing about internships. Congrats Joel ! You are now officially on board the Internship Train.

By: Josh Greenfield

Josh Greenfield — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:54:08 +0000

I did the Walt Disney internship…I cooked fast food at the Plaza Pavilion in Tomorrowland. I can work 8 industrial deep friers, a pizza machine, and other fancy large kitchen tools. The “fully-furnished apartments” are deducted from you salary. I did make great friendships!

By: Steven Rothberg CollegeRecruiter.com

Steven Rothberg CollegeRecruiter.com — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:31:45 +0000

I loved almost everything about this article except for the opening where a “poop-swabber” was referred to as an intern. Unless the student’s career path is in the cleaning industry, there is no way that any reasonable person could describe that position as being an internship. By definition, an internship must be career-related. Accounting students who wait tables cannot be referred to as interns. Engineering students who prepare tax returns cannot be referred to as interns. And just about any student who cleans toilets cannot be referred to as interns.