For many students, an internship is a must for finding a job after graduation. Dream Careers, a Chicago-based company connects students to summer internships.

“It’s a very impressive program,” Associate Director of Employee Direction Marva Aimes said.

The full-time internship is provided in over 30 industries including music, communications, business and film. The program has three international locations Barcelona, London and Hong Kong.

“They’ve done a great job with outreach to employers,” Aimes said.

In the past 13 years the program has placed students in 13,000 internships. According to the Dream Career’s website, they have a 70 percent of participants receive a job offer. Alice+Olivia, Michael Kors, Quadrant Management, Inc. and Fingerprint Communications are just a handful of the internship opportunities.

The program is open to first-years, sophomores, juniors and graduating seniors. After students enroll in the city and industry of their choice, they are assigned an internship coordinator. The internship coordinator will grant access to internships available. Students then will go through a series of phone interviews. Dream Careers has an internship placement success rate of over 99 percent and guarantees a full-refund if the student is not placed in an internship.

Although SMU has not officially partnered with Dream Careers, Dream Careers has visited the campus for the last four spring semesters. The program doesn’t currently allow students to receive credit to count toward graduation.

“It’s the cost,” Aimes said. “We don’t want students to pay to intern.”

The downside of the program is that it can cost upwards of $10,000. A $999 deposit is required upfront. The fee includes housing, food, daily transportation and
weekend events.

Aimes, who visited the Dream Careers center in Hong Kong spent time at a with about 30 interns.

SMU also has an international internship program along with the study abroad program.

Senior Savannah Stephens, a communication and history double major, studied abroad twice. Once in London for the communication program and at Oxford.

“It was so wonderful, I did it twice,” Stephens said.

Stephens didn’t have the chance to intern internationally because her history major required a lot of credits. However, some of her friends who have graduated had the opportunity to do more.

“It gives you really interesting experiences and you get to do more,” Stephens said.

Erica Robbie, a senior journalism student, interned in London through SMU and studied abroad in Barcelona. In Barcelona, she volunteered as an English teacher in Sant Joan Despi.

“I cannot be more of an advocate for students pushing their boundaries and getting outside their comfort zones,” Robbie said.