Internships
With two years, four semesters and only one summer left before I graduate, I realized that I really need to start thinking about internships. (As a Graphic Design major at AU, some sort of approved internship is required for graduation.)
I’m just gonna pause for a minute and comment on how terribly disappointed I was when I realized this. Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally pumped about interning somewhere and seeing the professional design world from a firsthand perspective, but… at this very moment, I’m halfway through college. But…I’m not totally ready to stop being a kid! I don’t feel like I’m prepared to go out into the working world. Part of that has to do with the fact that I feel terribly young, while the other part has to do with the fact that I feel like I totally blew off my first year and a half of college. I did not devote myself at all to my major, and just did what I could to pass, rather than push myself to take as much as possible from the experience. Hopefully, my anxiety about it all will get better as the year goes by and I put more and more into my work.
Back to internships, I’m planning on talking to my advisor at school as soon as possible when the fall semester starts. For now though, I’m doing a bit of research. I would love the opportunity to work for Disney as a graphic designer. Even though I always wanted to be a Disney animator as a kid, that’s not really my thing. But Disney has some really accessible internships, plus the Disney College Program, which I would be really interested in. The only problem is that there aren’t summer sessions. Both programs mainly run in 6 month periods. Missing a semester of school will make me lose my financial aid, and I’m pretty sure you can’t do your GD internship post-graduation. Still, if it doesn’t work out any other way, I may apply for the Disney College Program for the semester after I graduate and just do it for the experience, not for the college credited internship. Having Disney on a resume would simply be invaluable, plus a really great, unique experience.
So, aside from Disney, I’m still looking for internship opportunities for next summer. I would like to get out of Anderson and maybe even out of South Carolina, since, for several reasons, I feel like I’ll probably be in SC for a while after I graduate. Even if it’s just Atlanta, I’d much prefer that. Anyway, here I am asking for suggestions. To all my GD friends, have you guys found any good info or resources? Anyone have any suggestions?
