If you’ve been a college student for a while, then there’s a possible chance you’ve heard about The Disney College Program. You may not know what it entails, but you’ve heard the name, and you’ve wondered about it. Just Google it and you'll come across tons of articles that are about this incredible and magical, life-changing program. The thing about that is...it's not all flowers and butterflies. The reality is that there are great things and not-so-great things to everything in life. Including the Disney College Program.
I’m not a pessimist, but I do think it helps to see the cons when making a decision. This wasn’t really available to me when deciding if I wanted to go through with a college program, so I thought I’d make it available to others deciding whether or not this is something they want to do.
Here are some things no one tells you about the Disney College Program.
You technically can’t choose the job you’ll be doing.
“Role” is the Disney term for job, and within the Disney College Program, the role of your dreams is barely guaranteed. When applying for the program, you can check on each role with the level of your interest. For example, if you’d love to work on an attraction, you put “high interest,” and if you absolutely do not want to work in food and beverage, you can put “no interest.” However, when you are accepted for your program, your role is picked for you and it’s usually not something you put high interest in.
One of the top roles that most college program kids get is Quick Service Food and Beverage. It doesn’t really matter how badly you don’t want it, you could still get it and no, you cannot ask for a change of roles ever.
You are in the bottom of the food chain and don’t get regular job benefits.
You are the lowest of the low as a college program kid. You’ll get the worst hours possible and you won’t even get holiday or overtime pay when applicable. You also can’t use any managers or leaders as a job reference for the future.
You are automatically a full-time employee and can get as many hours as they want to give you. Holiday hours range to more than 40 and yes, you’ll have to work holidays.
The pay is terrible.
Your apartments rent gets taken out of your check weekly. So after rent is taken out, your paycheck is usually just enough for some groceries and other necessities. If you don’t have any other priorities in terms of bills then you should be OK, but this is definitely not the place where you come to save up money.
In fact, I ended up maxing out my first credit card. It was the only way to be able to enjoy the internship and have fun experiences.
You have to leave your friends at the end, with the possibility of never seeing them again.
My roommates were some of the best people I have ever met and I miss them so much. Two of them are from Brazil and the others are from different parts of the country. It’s the ugly reality that comes with realizing you won’t wake up in the same place as these people but even worse, not being able to even hang out with them.
Overall, I don’t regret the Disney College Program at all. My job was terrible and miserable, but I met such great people and had such a fantastic experience.
This program is not for everyone, that’s for sure.
