Giving credit where it's due

If I could restart my college career, I would transfer to Wharton. Not for the money; I'll start worrying about money once my dad cuts me off. Not even for the prestigious degree; I have no interest in i-banking or trading.

My reason is simple: free dinners.

College students can't help but feel a little jealous of our Wharton counterparts this time of year. Sure, they sold out, but when February rolls around, it's the Wharton kids who are being wined and dined at Pod and White Dog Cafe, while us College kids are stuck eating leftover pizza.

When summer comes, Wharton students take over New York and rake in $10,000 for ten weeks of finance. Meanwhile, the majority of liberal arts students earn far less than their business-school peers.

Often, they earn no money at all.

How has this unpaid internship phenomenon become so accepted and embraced?

To some extent, it makes sense. We live in a society obsessed with GPAs, standardized test scores and resume builders. Students are willing to sacrifice money in order to boost their resumes and to appear well-rounded for employers.

Some unpaid internships are in fact worth the sacrifice.

College senior Ashley Berger enjoyed her internship at Warner Bros. Entertainment so much that she didn't mind working for free.

But College junior Romy Danilewitz had quite a different experience. While interning at AstraZenica International, a pharmaceutical company, Romy "pretty much never saw the light of day." She performed meaningless tasks such as faxing, typing, copying, making coffee and "telling people how interesting their jobs sound."

"I was the bitch," Romy said, and she didn't get paid.

Then there's College freshman Julia Paris, who has skipped Career Services' On-Campus Recruiting altogether.

"I don't think summers should be spent in an office, and I don't want to do somebody's bitch work for no pay," she said.

I have had two unpaid internships -- one at a film production company in Los Angeles, and the other in Universal Music's legal department.

In the course of those internships, I learned how to answer phones, restock the company refrigerator and gained a newfound appreciation for the smell of fresh photocopies.

My employers, meanwhile, had no sympathy for me. They thought I was getting academic credit because the Penn College Office had signed a form stating that it would add an "internship credit" notation to my transcript upon completion of the internship.

Companies often hire unpaid interns on the condition that they receive academic credit in order to ensure that interns are protected by company insurance.

And Penn, not wanting to limit its students' employment options, then offers the notation to meet employers' requirements.

It's a vicious cycle, and Penn's notation only makes it worse.

Penn doesn't care what an internship entails because administrators know that the notation is meaningless. The notation "pertains to any internship, whether paid or unpaid," said Doug Stuart, a College Office administrative assistant who works directly with student interns. "This difference is not of direct concern to the College Office ... and is up to the student to negotiate with an employer."

It's time we College kids go on strike against unpaid internships. If you're not getting paid, quit and go travel. That way, when Wharton students return to school with contract offers, at least you can say you're more worldly and cultured.

Some internships can be rewarding. Students can learn a lot and establish good connections for the future.

But before unpaid internships become truly worthwhile for Penn students, the College Office must change its approach. It should start giving real academic credit for internships.

While none of the eight Ivy League schools award credit for internships, several other schools, such as Northwestern University, offer academic credit for major-related internships.

In fact, Penn's urban studies majors already receive academic credit for internships they complete during the year; doing an unpaid internship is a requirement for the major and minor. Why not apply that system to all programs? Going out into the world and applying your knowledge in a practical setting will enhance the undergraduate experience at Penn.

English majors should get credit for interning at local magazines, political science majors should earn credit for working in a local senator's office and philosophy majors should get credit for ... philosophizing.

If Penn established a real internship program that assessed each application individually and only awarded credit to those internships that were serious and academically relevant, students would have better experiences and employers would be forced to give interns real responsibilities.

Who knows, maybe they'll even start taking College kids to Pod.

Josh Pollick is a senior political science major from Los Angeles. On Point appears on Mondays.

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