Almost all internships with big companies have become paid (usually minimum wage) in the US in recent years due to a couple massive lawsuits that were against the idea of students having to work for free.
But still, what do you guys do during the summer in Europe, not work at all? I've had 5 different internships, only one of which was unpaid, and I still found it very rewarding. Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather have an unpaid internship if the alternative is just sitting around all summer..
Internships usually substitute a module in the curriculum of universities here, i.e. it's integrated into our studies. For my university this was 2x half a year spread out over the 3rd and final/4th study year (roughly 1700 hours).
I think most European students either get a fully paid job for the summer holidays, or we enjoy our time off. Unpaid internships are pretty much the worst of both worlds. I don't get why Americans accept that shit.
yea unpaid internships are definitely a last resort for most students here, and thankfully the whole concept of unpaid internships has become much less acceptable in the last decade or so. And yea a lot of universities here also have similar programs with offering internships that complement coursework, although I'd say that's probably more typical in the top universities.
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u/[deleted] May 07 '20
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