The early birds begin showing up at the Career Development Center in stylish suits in October, trying to snag a serious summer job in banking or accounting--or even a post with the CIA. But Natalie Lundsteen, an internship adviser at the center, says she pushes students to look beyond the business world. "I'm a big advocate of summer jobs for exploring and testing, especially for freshmen," she says. "It may be the last chance they have to do something totally wild."
Where have all the fun-loving interns gone?
Sesame Street. Andrea Oldendorf, '98, spent a summer watching children's educational shows as an intern at a PBS affiliate in Schenectady, N.Y.
"Typical grunt work." That's what Thaila Sundaresan, '00, says she did in 1999 for San Francisco-based Netmundo, a Latin American e-commerce start-up. And, by the way, she got to use her Spanish on a daily basis.
Forget Paris? Not if you're senior Colleen Shaw. Two years ago, she pounded the pavement of the Champs-Elysées and landed a job organizing sailing trips off the coast of Brittany for Newsweek clients.
Still available at press time: a stint tearing down beach furniture for Southern California's exclusive Jonathan Club, a position as a cabin steward aboard Lindblad Expeditions' cruises of the Alaskan Inside Passage and a job as the ice cream man--er, Scoop Truck Coordinator--for Ben and Jerry's at marketing events.
