Here are some of the very real and very important things you'll learn at your internship:
1) The "real-world" is actually just like high school.
It really never ends. Lunchtime is absolutely anxiety-provoking. You still have minor freak-outs that no one will ask you to sit with them and you’ll have to eat alone. There are still cliques and office gossip is extensive. Your coworkers will be giggling by the Keurig probably about someone’s new haircut or latest Instagram and you’ll sit there feeling like you are standing in your underwear in a crowded room because you are certain they are talking about you. When the internet goes out, it’s kind of like having a substitute teacher. You countdown to 5pm like the last bell and vacations are undeniably cherished.
2) No one care what your college major is.
Whether you major in Accounting, Biology, Spanish, or Communications, you will most likely be sitting behind a computer for 8 hours straight creating spreadsheet after spreadsheet, but if you’re lucky, you may be able to glance away from the screen for two minutes and sort through some of that paperwork your boss conveniently left for you on your desk.
3) You are a child and you know nothing.
College can make you feel like an adult with living on your own and kind of realizing you can actually function as a human being without Mom and Dad dictating your every move, but in reality, you’re at the bottom of the food chain. No one cares that you can write a six-page paper an hour before it’s due or that you can solve for “x” because even though they seem so important, most of this is irrelevant.
4) Take every opportunity you can to learn something new.
Because you never know what may help you in the future or where these new real-world skills will come in handy. It’s totally cool to be completely clueless, but you can’t stay clueless forever. Most of the time, your ideas won’t matter because no one will care to listen since you are only an intern. Let’s face it, if the company starts to tumble down, you’re the first to get booted. Think of it as another class. You are the student and you should be learning instead of believing after a week of being employed that your ideas are better than your coworker who has been doing this job for the past 10 years. Know your part and play the roll accordingly.
5) If you think you're overdressed, you probably are.
This one is self-explanatory.
