Friday Faves: Should I Feel Guilty That I Can Afford an Unpaid Internship?

No one would ever walk up to a friend on financial aid and accuse her parents of being lazy, good-for-nothing, bad parents for not making enough money to send her to college. Yet people feel completely comfortable going up to a friend with an unpaid internship and accusing her of being a spoiled brat because she’s fortunate enough to be able to afford spending a summer making no money.

Don’t think that’s true? Just read the comments on almost any internship post on this site (like this one or this one).

I had two unpaid internships in NYC and I can’t even count the number of times people told me “it’s ridiculous that your parents are just letting you live in the city and make no money.” But was it ridiculous? In today’s world you’re expected to graduate with internship experience and if my parents decided to spend their hard-earned money paying for me to live in NYC and reach my dreams, was it wrong for me to take that opportunity? Should I have spent my summer waitressing instead? I don’t want to come off like a whiny bitch, but I want some answers on why I should feel bad that my family can afford this. Isn’t complaining about unpaid internships the same as complaining to a friend when her family goes on a week long resort vacation?

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Should I Feel Guilty That I Can Afford an Unpaid Internship?

No one would ever walk up to a friend on financial aid and accuse her parents of being lazy, good-for-nothing, bad parents for not making enough money to send her to college. Yet people feel completely comfortable going up to a friend with an unpaid internship and accusing her of being a spoiled brat because she’s fortunate enough to be able to afford spending a summer making no money.

Don’t think that’s true? Just read the comments on almost any internship post on this site (like this one or this one).

I had two unpaid internships in NYC and I can’t even count the number of times people told me “it’s ridiculous that your parents are just letting you live in the city and make no money.” But was it ridiculous? In today’s world you’re expected to graduate with internship experience and if my parents decided to spend their hard-earned money paying for me to live in NYC and reach my dreams, was it wrong for me to take that opportunity? Should I have spent my summer waitressing instead? I don’t want to come off like a whiny bitch, but I want some answers on why I should feel bad that my family can afford this. Isn’t complaining about unpaid internships the same as complaining to a friend when her family goes on a week long resort vacation? Read More »


The CC Weekly Weigh In: We Are Thankful

thanksgiving.jpgThanksgiving is almost here, so it’s time to eat lots of really delicious stuffing and pumpkin pie and buy things on sale look around and say thanks for everything that we have. We are all very lucky people who have so much to be grateful for; like our education, our families and CollegeCandy.com.

With the holidays just around the bend, it is nice to stop focusing on what we want in life and focus instead on everything that we already have. We at CollegeCandy are so grateful to have a job that lets us laugh every single day…and the ability to work from home in our sweatpants.

This week we asked our writers to weigh in and tell us what they are thankful for this year:

Elise – UCLA: I’m thankful for Pumpkin Pie Frozen Yogurt….so thankful, in fact, that I plan to buy twenty quarts right before Thanksgiving’s over…that should last two weeks, right?

Jill – University of Wisconsin: The usual (my job, family and friends, etc) BBQ Soy Crisps, the ability to blink (seriously, the dentist pinched a nerve once and I couldn’t smile or blink on the left side of my face for 12 straight hours; you would be thankful too). Oh and of course, The Rachel Zoe Project.

Ali – Syracuse University: I am thankful that gas prices have gone down, making my drive home a little less painful.

Suzanne – Tulane: My education (if, of course, it actually gets me a job after graduation).

Amber – Old Dominion: I’m thankful to have made it through my sophomore semester at home without going (completely) insane. Read More »