It may hit before you step foot on campus, arrive in a late-night epiphany or not until diplomas are in hand and mortarboard has been tossed. But no matter whether it dawns in a flash or crescendos over four years, the post-college existential crisis is a rite of passage. Rather than "No Exit," however, the problem is that the exit sign looms ever larger as four years at Duke whip by.
To ease the panic, students are turning in increasing numbers to lucrative internships, hoping to gain experience, bulk up resumes and perhaps even secure an offer. This in turn, has led to an ever more competitive race, with freshman attending seminars meant for juniors and hundreds applying to companies that hire two or three Duke interns each year.
"I thought for this summer I really needed to get a pretty decent name internship," says senior Bryan Zupon, who is working at McKinsey and Company's office in Chicago this summer. "I feel like down the road I still have time to do what I want to do, but now it's a pressure to get the name there."
The rate of graduating seniors who have completed at least one internship has remained steady around 90%, says Sheila Curran, executive director of the Career Center, but internships are shifting away from their traditional aims of allowing students to explore different fields, build skills and put classroom knowledge into practice.
"Employers are increasingly using internships as a sort of apprenticeship--a way for employers to try out students, mainly rising seniors, to determine if they want to offer them a full time position after graduation," she says. "The recruiting model for investment banks and consulting companies, for example, now puts much more emphasis on intern hiring. Their aim is to make offers to as many of their interns as possible."
Even so, the numbers game means that someone will lose out.
"It's quite competitive, for every kid who gets a job there's probably one or two other who just don't quite work out," Zupon says.
Like Zupon, junior Sungho Yoo identifies with a Duke culture that emphasizes prestigious employment over the summer.
"I definitely do think there is pressure. I felt that very much. A lot of my friends are doing the finance thing, pre-meds are focused on doing some sort of volunteer work and I think it's really good, but at the same time I feel like a lot of people get trapped into that," says Yoo, a summer intern at Mosaic Media Group, a talent management company in Los Angeles. "I was freaking out because I thought, 'Oh my god, I'm not going to be able to get an internship at Capital One or Merrill Lynch, I had to stop myself and be like, 'Wait do I even want to do that?'"
Some students say they don't plan on pursuing careers in their internship fields, rather they see them as once-in-a-lifetime chance or as a way to impress potential employers.
Senior Tom Donaho is working for Senator John McCain's presidential campaign, but confesses that he does not particularly want to work in politics after graduation.
"I really just jumped at the chance of working on a presidential campaign because there are only so many opportunities where you can work crazy hours and can afford to do it unpaid," he says. "It's very fast-paced and very high stress. I think a lot of people don't understand how I can work 50-55 hours per week unpaid at crazy hours, but once you realize the kind of contributions you're making to the political process it's kind of worth it."
In the long run, Zupon says he would like to combine his interest in business and his love for food-he previously interned with Zagat's and operated a restaurant out of his Central Campus apartment last year.
"I see [the McKinsey internship] as a springboard to do a variety of different things in business, I feel like it gives me a little more exit opportunities," he says. "Ideally, I would be helping run big-name restaurants, but because those opportunities aren't really available for people my age I thought it would be good to get broad base exposure even though it may not be in the industry I'm most passionate about."
Even the trappings of Hollywood-helping promote "Knocked Up," chatting with Drew Barrymore, eating lunch prepared by the office personal chef- have not convinced Yoo that he wants to be an agent or manager after graduation. But going through the internship search this year has helped him cross a few career choices off the list.
"The first thing that turns me off is the whole worker bee, the whole conventional I-bank/consultant kind of guy," he says. "I just know for sure that's not what I want to do."
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