Tabassum Ahmed

After participating in summer internships, students prepare for the new school year.

As the summer comes to a close, many students return to school after participating in various activities. One common activity is the internship. For many high schoolers, the draw to internships comes from three main goals: boosting college applications, gaining real career experience, and building professional networks. The Classic spoke to students with internship experience about how worthwhile they found the experience.

For many, the question of payment is important. Is an unpaid internship worth it for the experience one gains? Or is a paid summer job better.

After earning a position as a paid intern at a corporate law firm, junior Krish Wadia said, “Personally, I felt like doing a program wasn’t enough, and I wanted to get paid and have real work experience.”

While internships that mimic real-world work experience can be beneficial for students, they can also bring similar stress and time commitments as the job it’s mimicking.

 Krish said, “Having numerous deadlines and having your work held to a higher standard than you are accustomed to was a challenge.” Since summer is supposed to be students’ time away from stressful deadlines, an internship might not be the right choice for some who need the time away. 

Sometimes, however, summer experiences can lead to bigger and better things. Last summer, then rising freshman Evan Lianos volunteered for the Suozzi for Congress 2024 Campaign. Based on Evan’s performance as a volunteer, the campaign offered him a fall internship for the election season where he helped oversee volunteers. 

 “My motivations for this internship were to complete necessary service hours and to support a good candidate in a national campaign,” Evan said.

While this may not have been a paid experience, Evan said that it was valuable in its own way. 

“Firstly, I gained a lot of experience. Secondly, the letter of recommendation I received from it was very useful. Lastly, the networking was very valuable,” Evan said.

Krish said he also found his experience to be worth it, overall, despite the stress involved. “I gained a lot of good experience and can put it on my college and work resume,” he said.

Sophomore Julia Pavone, who interned at the Children’s Health Fund nonprofit, said that students who hope to get selected for an internship next summer should plan ahead.

“I recommend applying early,” she said. “If applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, it’s much less likely that they’ll admit someone who submitted the night before the deadline.” 

Though students are not necessarily going to start applying for summer 2026 internships any time soon, many do begin planning their summers well in advance (often starting at the beginning of the spring semester). For now, the return to school after summer vacation offers students a good time to ask others about their internship experiences from this past summer, allowing them to learn about what opportunities are worth pursuing in the future.