Undergraduate Internships and Postgraduate Success

Do Undergraduate Internships Lead to Postgraduate Success?

by Melissa Vorndran and Nayantara Breuer

Introduction

Overview

In the current zeitgeist, internships are an integral and oftentimes expected component of the undergraduate college experience. Supporters claim they add valuable experience to students’ resumes, while teaching them on-thejob skills. Detractors claim they are underpaid (if they are paid at all), and can be on the verge of exploitative. While it is clear they have both positive and negative components, there is no denying how prevalent the culture of internships is, especially in the United States. As students in an industry that heavily relies on internships and connections to begin a career, we were particularly interested in the impact that internships have on undergraduate success and postgraduate career outcomes.

Methodology

This report will explore the impact of internships on undergraduate career outcomes, focusing specifically on the differences between paid and unpaid internships. It begins with an analysis of the current state of internships at TNS, NYU, and across the US. The second portion of the report explores the career outcomes and top industries of graduates.

Finally, the third section relates the two previous sections, making suggestions based on the results of the data. We hope to illustrate that, while internships can be beneficial to a student’s college and early career experience, there is a large difference between the experience that a paid internship offers compared to an unpaid internship.

We began by compiling information relating to internships from The New School (TNS), New York University (NYU), and the National Association for Colleges and Employers (NACE). For TNS internship data, we are indebted to Lisa Romeo of the New School Experience office, who facilitated our access to postgraduate employment information, which is not made publicly available.

We also consulted the Class of 2016 Fact Sheets for TNS, Parsons School of Design, and Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts. For NYU, we relied on the “Life Beyond the Square: Undergraduate Class of 2017” report compiled by the Wasserman Center for Career Development, as well as the “Part-time Job and Internship Survey” from the 2016-2017 academic year. Using data made available by NACE, we reference reports such as “Understanding the Impact of Unpaid Internships” from December 2016 and the “2017 Internship & Co-Op Report,” which incorporate data compiled from national universities. Once we compiled this information, we cross-referenced it, making appropriate comparisons. However, since the data was acquired from various sources, these comparisons may not be enough to imply causation.

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I. Undergraduate Internships

The New School’s number may seem low, but when broken up by academic college, the trend

This section examines the prevalence of undergraduate internships for New School, NYU, and National students. It offers insight into the number of students who intern, what proportion get paid, and which students are most likely to intern.

# of Internships Students had Nationwide Internships are increasing in popularity each year, with almost 70% of the national class of 2016 having completed at least one during their undergraduate education

0 Internships 31%

2 or More Internships 39%

becomes more apparent. Students studying at Parsons, studying art and design disciplines, intern slightly more often than their liberal arts counterparts, but much more often than the students studying public engagement or performing arts.

% of Students who Intern at each College within the New School

66%

(NACE).

1 or More Internships 30%

% of Students who had an Internship

63%

In New York, this trend is apparent at TNS and NYU, with many more than half completing at least one internship during their

64% 42%

undergraduate career (TNS, NYU).

We found it surprising that NYU students

*

88%

seemed to have such a high rate of internships, but NYU’s methodology for gathering graduates data also includes those students

33%

who held part-time jobs during their undergraduate studies. * This also includes part-time jobs

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II: Postgraduate Destination

We also explored the prevalence of paid internships, as this topic has garnered much debate. On the national level, just under half of all internships are paid, but these numbers greatly differ than those at Parsons. Research has illustrated that certain industries hire

This section analyzes the percentages of students who seek employment or further education

more unpaid interns, especially nonprofits and arts organizations (NACE). We assumed that

after graduation. It also explores the most popular employment industries by school, and, for

more New School students, specifically those at Parsons, would be taking part in intern-

the national data, by gender.

ships such as these due to their area of study. As such, it could be expected that Parsons students would have a lower than the national average paid internship rate. However, this

Following our initial analysis, we then moved to analyzing post-graduate destinations

low pay rate raises an important question: what are the benefits of these internships? Do

that students from all samples matriculated to. The vast majority of all students pursued

these unpaid opportunities greatly affect post-graduate employment?

employment after graduation, with a much smaller percentage immediately pursuing further education. At Parsons, 77% of the graduating class of 2016 continued into employment,

% of Students who had a Paid Internship vs Unpaid Internship at TNS and Nationwide

compared to 81% of those at NYU (TNS, NYU).

% of Students who continued with further education or employment at NYU, TNS, and Nationwide Paid 34% Unpaid 52%

Paid 48%

Key Findings:

81%

77%

71%

Percentage (%)

Unpaid 66%

Employment

Further Education

New School students, and especially Parsons students, intern near or more than the national average. However, they are paid only a third of the time, compared to the national average of a half. The majority of undergraduate students intern at least once before graduation, indicat-

23% 13%

12%

ing that students must view internships as a key factor in their postgraduate success.

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Of TNS students who continued into employment, the Fashion and Textiles, Design, and Entertainment and Media/Arts industries were the most popular. NYU students also pursued the Entertainment and Media/Arts industry, but were focused also on more traditional fields such as Financial Services and Banking. At the national level, men and women pursued different fields, with Tech being the most popular for men and Marketing and Public Relations being the most popular for women.

III. Impact of Internships This section analyzes the success rate of students who have had paid, unpaid, or no internship experience. It explores the positive impact that internship experience has on hiring, but also cautions against overenthusiastic interning.

Top 5 Industries Students pursued at NYU, TNS, and Nationwide It is clear that undergraduate internships have an impact on overall career success, although the exact impact is unknown. However, recent research has shown that, in many instances, 1 Entertainment & Media/Arts

2

3

Financial Services & Banking

5

4

Healthcare

Computer Science & Tech

Education & Teaching

students who participated in unpaid internships during undergraduate have only a slight postgraduate advantage over those who participated in no internship at all (NACE). Out of those students who participated in paid internships, 63% were offered an internship or job 6 months after graduation, compared to 37% with an unpaid internship and 35% without any internship experience.

1 Fashion & Textiles

2

3 Entertainment & Media/Arts

Design

5

4 Non Profit Philanthropy

Education & Teaching

Internship and Job Offers 6 Months after Graduation, by Experience Paid Internship 63%

1 Marketing & PR

1 Tech

2 Goverment

2 Goverment

3 Consulting

3 Consulting

4

5

Community Organization

Healthcare

No Internship 35%

5

4 Marketing & PR

Unpaid Internship 37%

Financial Services & Banking

Key Findings: The majority of graduating students matriculate into employment after graduation. The importance of undergraduate internships may vary across the wide range of industries.

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Additionally, in the Non-Profit and Government sectors, students may be financially better off without internship experience. Students with paid internship experience received an average starting salary nearly $10,000 more than those with unpaid experience. More surprisingly, students without any internship experience received an average starting salary of $3,000 more than those who were unpaid (NACE).

However, this doesn’t mean that all internships are a bad idea, it just encourages students to be more thoughtful about the industries and companies that they choose to intern with.

Whether students are initially aware of it or not, undergraduate internships can have a large effect on a student’s postgraduate career, with 13.2% of the NYU class of 2017 securing a postgraduate job from a company that they had previously interned for.

Starting Salaries for People in the Non-Profit/Goverment Sector: $4 4, 44 0

13.2%

8 63 $3

5,

$3

8,

57

2

Secured their position from the organization where they held an internship of a previous role.

Starting Salary ($)

No Internship Unpaid Internship Paid Internship

Key Findings: An internship may offer valuable connections, as seen with the NYU data, but it could also have unintended consequences. As seen in our one-industry example, sometimes one could be better off having no internship at all than to devalue their work with an unpaid internship.

These conclusions could motivate students to be extremely thoughtful when making

Experience

decisions regarding internships.

There are a variety of potential reasons for this salary and hiring discrepancy. The first is that, by having previously worked for “free,” students’ skills and contributions are being undervalued by hiring companies. Another reason lies in the types of internships that pay compared to those who don’t. Large companies, specifically in the for-profit private sector, are more willing to pay interns, and can also afford to pay graduates more than their counterparts in the Non-Profit and Government sectors.

This is an issue pertaining specifically to New School Students, as the Non-Profit and Philanthropy industry is the 4th most popular career destination for graduating students.

Students and their faculty advisors should be especially aware and cautious regarding unpaid internships, as they can have unintended negative effects on a student’s postgraduate opportunities.

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Conclusion

Bibliography

Overall, this report provides both a comprehensive overview of the current state of under-

Crain, Andrew, “Understanding the Impact of Unpaid Internships on College Student Career

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Development and Employment Outcomes,” National Association of Colleges

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and Employers, December 2016.

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“First Destination Survey: Class of 2016,” The New School, 2017.

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“Graduating Student Outcomes Class of 2016,” The New School, 2017.

“Graduating Student Outcomes Class of 2016: Parsons School of Design,” The New School,

As a result of this, we would recommend a placement program in which students are encour-

2017.

aged to pursue paid internships, perhaps through partnerships with The New School. This

“Graduating Student Outcomes Class of 2016: Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts,” The

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“Part-time Job and Internship Survey, Academic Year 2016-2017 and Summer 2017,”

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September 22, 2016.

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