More students than ever are taking advantage of internships during college to better prepare them for the job market and stand out among other job seekers.
A recent Gallup-Purdue University study shows that more than one-third of recent college graduates strongly agree that their internships or jobs applied to the material they learned in class. At 35%, the figure was the highest percentage in decades but shows there is room for more students to participate in internships.
The study found black graduates (32%) were slightly more likely to participate in college internships or jobs related to their studies than white (29%), Hispanic (29%) and Asian graduates (26%).
In addition, 31% percent of women reported taking part in an internship, compared with 27% of men. The slight differences show that no demographic is excluded from internships.
College internships and jobs are designed to prepare students for real-world experiences and offer a preview of their future job, profession or field. Among survey respondents, 48% said taking part in an internship prepared them for life after college compared with 19% among those who didn’t have an internship.
The Gallup-Purdue Index was a joint effort between Purdue University and the Lumina Foundation to research the connection between college experiences and graduates’ lives after school. Lumina is an independent, private foundation that works to graduate more students from college.
The study was based on the random sampling of 29,560 U.S. graduates with a bachelor’s degree or higher and Internet access. It was conducted between Feb. 4 and March 7, 2014, and had a margin of error of 0.9 percentage points.
The survey underscores the growing importance of internships, especially at a time when universities are competing to better equip students with tools needed to succeed in life. While universities have long emphasized work experiences, the study shows schools should be doing more to make internships expected and typical, said Purdue University President Mitch Daniels.
Participation in internships has been rising steadily. Less than one-quarter of college graduates prior to 1980 reported having taking part in an internship compared with more than one third today.
Part of the increase may be due to challenging economic times. Whereas internships focused on more on professional fields in the past, schools have expanded their programs to match the needs of modern employers who often expect job candidates to have internships on their resume.
Employers often place more importance on internships and work experience during college than on graduates’ GPA, where they went to school, their major and other academic credentials, according to a report by the Chronicle of Higher Education.
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