It’s not easy being a college student. We certainly anticipated the rigorous course load when we chose to come to an Ivy League school. We definitely saw that balancing all of our social, academic and extracurricular obligations might provide a bit of a challenge. But isn’t summer vacation supposed to be the time to recover from the stress of the school year? The time in which we can pretend to be carefree high-school kids again?

College students everywhere are taking summers as an opportunity for more pre-graduation resume padding, trading part-time jobs and beachside bathing for often-unpaid internships in constraining cubicles. In a society that places increasing emphasis on early career success, as indicated by annual lists like Glamour’s Top 10 College Women to Watch and Teen People’s 25 Under 25, what you did on your summer vacation suddenly takes on a new meaning.

A recent poll on The Cornell Daily Sun website asked whether respondents would rather spend their summers in a lucrative field unrelated to their career interests or at an unpaid internships closely in line with their plans for the future. Although hardly scientific, 60 percent of respondents chose the latter. (Loafing around and drinking with friends from high school was not an option).

The choice of an unpaid internship over a paying job is a decision that torments career-driven students and perplexes parents everywhere. Summer is often the best time to earn some fast cash to use as spending money during the school year. Even working a single day at minimum wage will make enough money to buy you ten Wednesdays of Group Therapy at Dunbar’s. (Yes, that reasoning alone might have just convinced a hefty number of Cornellians to freelance as a waiter or a sales clerk in their spare time.) And shouldn’t full-time jobs really be a concern of graduates only? We’re still young and having fun!

Like the 60 percent of the polled, I also chose an unpaid internship over a paid job. Like many other college students, I actually spent money (in the expense of a daily commute) to work full-time for free. Those that choose to relocate to the city are often in debt at the end of the summer, due to sky-high housing and living expenses.

Yet internships, paid and unpaid alike, are valuable in their own right: a first-hand glimpse of whether one is suited for a particular career path is unarguably worth more than all the tips from waiting tables during one summer. After shadowing many physicians that specialized in gastrics and nutrition, Olivia Carpinello ’09 was pleasantly surprised to discover that she loved observing the operations in the O.R., and is now contemplating becoming a surgeon herself. On the flip side, the best part of Jenny Hollenberg ’08’s marketing internship at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital was the realization that she hates marketing. Jenny has thus avoided ending up in a career that she detests, the fear of many 20 year-olds that has been perpetuated by movies like Office Space.

The opportunity to build lasting connections (translation: future job recommendations) with employees is another priceless quality of summer internships. Another decision that many must make is whether to intern at a small or large company. A smaller company might not have the prestigious name that whets many a career-driven-student’s appetite, but it often provides an opportunity for the intern to work more closely with those in higher-up positions. At one of my internships, I worked alongside the fashion director of a women’s magazine, literally sharing the same 900-square-foot fashion closet with her. As a result of the proximity, I thus developed a closer rapport than most fashion interns have with their fashion director, learning her favorite designers and penchant for lollipops.

Certainly, some of the tales that students share about becoming more like a personal assistant to their bosses rather than an intern might play true in some internships. In stark contrast with my first internship, the fashion director at my second one (a fashion magazine) only knew me as the intern who fetched her gourmet cookies from her favorite bakery on the Upper West Side when she needed a sugar boost. And yes, I did have several Devil Wears Prada days in which I literally sprinted (in heels, nonetheless) to designers’ showrooms to pick up evening gowns before the editors left on a plane for a photo shoot. In my experience, however, everyone was always extremely gracious to the interns for running their errands.

Of course, there remain a few horror stories among the bosses out there. An anonymous female Cornellian recounts the worst part of her internship: “…having to be the owner’s temporary secretary when his regular one went on vacation. He was old, gross, fat, pretty sexist and had poor hygiene.” After contemplating her statement, she re-evaluated the internship: “Then again, it was a paid internship, so I really can’t complain too much.”

Although they might not be able to mollify the smelly boss situation, if anything, fellow interns can at least make the day go by more quickly. Working with a large group of interns from various colleges can be a great way to make some new friends — and future co-workers. I was quite delighted to find out that in the company of my fellow fashion interns, it is perfectly acceptable to talk incessantly of fashion. Molly Schieck ’08 was happiest about the happy hours she and her fellow interns attended weekly.

Although the hours might be long, and the entire summer might take a huge chunk of a student’s savings, even an unpaid internship in one’s potential career is worth the time and financial sacrifice. After all, those fairy-tale internships, though rare, really do exist. After one summer spent waiting tables and another summer in an unpaid internship, Ray Wang ’07 left his paid internship at Lehman Bros. with a job offer as a full-time trader, beginning next September. Even if school’s out for the summer, we can still continue to be the over-achieving Cornellians that we all intrinsically are.

Carrie Bodner is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be contacted at cjb56@cornell.edu. In My (Kate Spade) Shoes appears alternate Mondays.