Every senior knows the feeling. That looming question: “So what are you going to do after graduation?” Some of us are more prepared with answers. Some of us, like me, just started on that journey two months out from the end.

What I didn’t realize, and many of us seniors only have now in retrospect, is the new necessity of experience to accompany an MSU diploma. Who are you if you haven’t had at least two or three internships before you send in that first real world job application? In today’s competitive job market — unemployed.

To compete with the couple thousand MSU graduates and the unimaginable number of students graduating nationwide, you need a special something to set yourself apart from the rest, and that is experience. With only one internship (in Argentina) and no involvement in student organizations, an employer might take one look at my résumé and ask: What has this girl been doing these last four years?

The answer is working. However, I haven’t quite figured out a way to professionally communicate, “Student internships don’t pay my rent.”

All of your advisors encouraged it — some of them required it — but the fact of the matter is that undergraduate internships are the key to becoming employed right out of college. Not only does interning give you a leg-up in a company if you choose to stay there, but it also gives you valuable contacts and builds your résumé to entice other employment suitors.

Even if “previous experience” does not appear as a requirement in a job posting, it is “highly recommended” and many times is the deciding factor for whose résumé gets a call back and whose goes in the trash. The drawback of these internships, however, is that they generally are not paid or pay very little. Thus, we see a trend appear where those who can afford to work for free generally are the ones who have the opportunity to intern.

This brings me to my dilemma — opportunity. Unfortunately or fortunately (whichever way you wish to view it) my family could not provide me with much financial support during my time at MSU. As a result, I have been working full-time at a local restaurant since sophomore year, living off of minimum wage and my student loan refunds. As I apply for jobs, I retrospectively see how vital student internships are for life after graduation. Even with my dual degree stamped with so many wonderful achievements (MSU, James Madison College, Honors College, etc.), I feel as if all my hard work will be lost in the shuffle of “Well, the other applicant understands this kind of work environment and you don’t.”

This suggests a need to incorporate internships into curriculum to prepare students for the professional world. Many colleges within MSU require and/or give credit for internships, showing a campus-wide recognition of the need to gain experience relevant to your career goals.

However, what these programs fail to recognize is the importance of time. Generally, these internships are conducted in an independent fashion on the student’s own time. So how does one who is juggling a full-time job and full-time school commit to an internship if he or she does not have time in which to conduct it? If these programs took these challenges into consideration, maybe they could work out a solution to this problem.

For example, students could take a “lab” where they would have scheduled time dedicated solely to an internship. This could help students like me who work as much as they can to use what would normally be class time for an internship. I realize that this is the point of making the internship for credit, but the reality is that most students take on a full schedule in addition to these internships just to graduate on time.

Those that have the time and opportunity to intern for free in this manner, whether for credit or for their own personal growth, generally have an advantage over those who simply do not have the luxury of time or financial resources. This perpetuates a sort of classist division that going to a university hopes to erase — the idea that if you work hard and do well in college, you will obtain the career of your dreams. However, the system in which MSU is currently operating does not exactly accomplish this goal of opportunity for all.

Colleges within MSU should work together to rethink how they incorporate internships into the undergraduate process in order to open up the field of opportunity. After all, shouldn’t we a feel ready to graduate?

Nicole Strobel is a comparative cultures and politics and Spanish senior. Reach her at strobeln@msu.edu.