Each year, students applying for internships are looking for an edge in the application process—even if they have to pay.
That’s according to Sarah Viskovich, a 20-year-old public relations major at UF. Viskovich is an alumna of Dream Careers, an organization that secures internship positions in foreign and domestic companies for students. The service is available only to those who can pay the tuition, however, which can exceed $10,000 for an eight-week internship.
“At first I thought it was a little sketchy,” Viskovich said. She paid $8,000 for her summer internship with a Broadway public relations company in New York City.
She said this initial impression proved to be false as the one-time fee paid for housing in a New York University dorm, resume and interview critiques, and a 24-hour staff available to answer any type of question she might have. The program also hosted students on weekend excursions to New York City landmarks.
“It’s pretty much what I wanted out of my summer in one easy package,” she said.
But companies such as Dream Careers are not without controversy. Mike Ohanyere, a fourth-year sports management major at UF who works as a career ambassador at UF’s Career Resource Center, said paying for services that are already offered at universities is unnecessary and unjust.
“When you have free career services, you should take advantage of it,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense not to.”
He said the existence of such companies is unfair to equally qualified students who can’t afford to pay for summer internships.
“It puts [other students] at an extreme disadvantage because you’re already paying for those services at your college,” he said.
Ohanyere said the Career Resource Center offers a variety of services to students, including resume and personal statement critiques, mock interviews and advising from full-time staff members.
