Many students are in the process of applying for summer internships.

Over 66% of college students who graduated in 2024 participated in an internship during their collegiate years, an increase from previous recorded years, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. More and more students view internships as an essential component of their college experience to gain experiences or skills for the workforce, a 2025 report from the nonprofit organization Strada found.

This report was based on answers from more than 2,000 seniors enrolled at public four-year universities and colleges sampled by the National Survey of Work-based Learning. Students reported that internship experience helped them stand out as stronger candidates in their intended career fields.

Bradley Morgan, a third-year electrical engineering student, said internships are a useful way to gain experience in the current job market.

“Nowadays you see companies asking for months and years of experience,” he said. “It seems like having internships at these companies would be very helpful for gaining that experience, not even just to have it on your resume, but for learning things as well.”

UCLA Career Center representatives Carina Salazar and Halee Harrell said in a co-authored emailed statement that internships can be used as instruments for future employment.

“Many employers leverage internship programs to source great people for full-time jobs,” they said in the statement. “It’s even becoming more and more common for employers to watch interns over the course of an internship and extend a full-time offer at the end if they see great work.”

Joshua Ji, a fourth-year human biology and society student, said the short-term nature of internships have been helpful for him to gauge future career paths before committing to any longer pre-health academic commitments.

“Internships and these sorts of part-time opportunities and short-term opportunities are … there for you to decide, ‘Is this something that I really want to pursue?’” Ji said.

Internships have also been proven to support students’ personal development beyond their career preparation.

Jesse Flores, president of the UCLA Internship Alumni Network, said internships help students build soft skills – the traits, behaviors, and attitudes that enable people to interact effectively with others.

Soft skills, as described by the job site Indeed, include observing situations carefully and effective problem solving. Some other traits include teamwork and time management, which many employers look for in addition to a candidate’s technical skills during the hiring process, according to Handshake.

However, securing internships has become increasingly competitive for students in recent years.

In 2025, Handshake found that 41% of students in the graduating class of 2025 used its platform to apply for an internship, up from 34% in the class of 2023. The same report found that although internship applications rates are up, internship postings are not rising to match the increase in interest.

Flores said depending on the industry students are seeking internships in, there may be increased competition between peers and friends, leading to tense engagement that is inconducive to support.

This competition is often referred to as “hustle culture,” which the BBC reported as the belief that one should constantly strive for more, often at the expense of other aspects of life.

Morgan said he has felt the impacts of hustle culture during his time at UCLA.

“I’ve been under the impression that if I’m not sleeping, then I’m being lazy if I’m not working,” Morgan said. “It can be pretty detrimental to your mental health if you are constantly always feeling the need to be productive.”

A 2024 report from the Internship Alumni Network found that some students felt a lack of financial and personal support during their internship search due to the limited number of paid opportunities.

The report included some solutions to student uncertainty, including leveraging more donors for internship finance support, reassessing communication with students regarding existing UCLA resources and expanding and retaining alumni networks.

For both Morgan and Ji, an extensive alumni network has helped them find opportunities.

Morgan said he has established connections through his engineering fraternity Theta Tau to guide his internship search.

“It’s very useful to connect with a lot of the alumni because I believe it’s over 100 big tech companies that Theta Tau alumni work for,” Morgan said. “Just having that instant access to people, not even just for the referral, but being able to talk to them and ask them for advice has been very helpful.”

Ji said as the president of the pre-health society group Alpha Epsilon Delta, he often talks to alumni for advice and networking opportunities.

The Career Center and Internship Alumni Network provide direct services to help students throughout the internship search. For example, the Career Center hosts over 20 career fairs each year, geared differently to students across all majors, Salazar and Harrell said.

The Internship Alumni Network also offers the Alex White Scholarship, which provides a stipend to students pursuing summer internships. The scholarship awards $1,500 to students with unpaid internships who demonstrate financial need in order to support them in gaining valuable career experience, according to the UCLA Center for Community Engagement.

Leaning on fellow students is another way to navigate the internship landscape, Flores said. He added that having friends to hold oneself accountable in creating resumes and applications as well as being sources of motivation is beneficial.

“It’s often a lonely process, but if you can do it in a group, then I think that makes it less harsh,” Flores said.

Although there may be competition for positions at times, Morgan said he found that the internship search allows students the chance to make like-minded friends and foster connections.

Viewing internships as a pivotal milestone in the college experience, Salazar and Harrell advised creating strong application materials at one’s own pace and setting short-term goals.

Ji added that open-mindedness and persistence are key mindsets to have throughout the internship search.

“It’s important to not give up and to remember this is just one small step in this long process, and every application that you send out is one more step towards that goal,” he said.