For some students at UT, summer is reserved for family vacations, amusement parks and much appreciated time off from college courses. While for others it is a chance to earn more college credit and gain more experience in the workforce. Dream Careers, a guaranteed eight-week summer internship program, caters to those students striving to get ahead. Offering internships through a wide array of companies allows the organization to adapt to countless of students, regardless of their intended major or personal qualifications.
Through the Dream Careers internship program, students are given the opportunity to work firsthand with media moguls both nationally and internationally in places such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Barcelona, London and Hong Kong.
If interning during the summer months does not seem appealing, students have the option to intern during the spring and fall semesters as well. In addition to offering hours of college credit after a completed internship, this program also features room, board, transportation and weekend sponsored events, which are included within the advertised tuition price.
One Dream Careers representative and senior at UT, Breanne Gill, shared her experience with the internship program in on-campus sessions aimed at fellow students. Gill recently spent a summer in Los Angeles as an intern for 3D Management, a music managing company that houses mainstream artists, such as Coldplay and My Chemical Romance.
In regards to the value of the internship, she said she learned that “[In the workforce] it’s who a person knows, not what a person knows. Don’t get me wrong – college is important, but this internship can really help a person get their foot in the door.”
Gill supports the idea of students participating in Dream Careers over the summer because the program can help students be more self-assured in their chosen major or career path along with getting to network with prominent people in their desired job field. In her own words, Gill suggests, “it’s one thing to be doing work in a classroom, it’s quite another to be out there doing [the work] hands on.”
Her positive experience with the organization made her feel more supported, more confident in her abilities as an employee and more in touch with an accurate perspective of the real world.
After the program is completed, Dream Careers attempts to help their interns find jobs by networking to other companies, writing letters of recommendation and being an addition onto any resume.
Breanne Gill, UT’s campus representative, has requested that if anyone has questions, comments or concerns with the Dream Careers program or wants to know when the next informational session is scheduled, she can be reached at bgill@spartans.ut.edu.
Dani Carpenter can be reached at danielle.carpenter@spartans.ut.edu.