By Mary Morley
For many students, the BYU Career and Internship Fair will be the first step in the transition from school to the 'real world.' But internships can provide much more than just a transition.
One advantage of internships is that they can help lessons that students learn at school come to life.
'I feel like the experiences I got in the field made coming back to the classroom easier because it wasn''t all just theories,' said Colette Dean, 20, a junior from Dallas, Texas, majoring in communications marketing.
Since her internship, everything in the classroom has come a lot faster and made a lot more sense, she said.
Internships can also serve to confirm or change the choice of major for some students.
Prior to her internship, Dean had been majoring in public relations. Then during the internship she worked with both marketing and public relations aspects of the job.
'I hated the experience I had with public relations so I switched my emphasis to marketing and now I''m a lot more confident in my choice,' Dean said.
Tara O''Collins, secretary specialist at the Academic Internship Office, said having an internship could help students avoid graduating into a career field that they would not enjoy.
'It would be so sad to realize that you had wasted your time,' O''Collins said.
Internships may also help students get jobs because the employer knows the student has had experience and likes what they have been doing, O''Collins said.
Some employers might even prefer a student with experience before a student with better grades but no experience, she said.
'People can be book smart, but they need the experience,' she said.
Internships are even important if they are unpaid like about half of available internships, O''Collins said.
'If it''s a really good experience, you value the experience even if you''re not getting paid,' she said.
Christal Jackson, 24, a senior from San Diego, California, majoring in Humanities, also said experience is important.
'It only helps to have experience, the more the better,' she said.
Jackson, who works at the Communications Internship and Job Placement Office, said the office recommends having more than one internship if possible.
Some students find that getting paid internships or using their jobs as internships make this suggestion financially possible.