Dear Dr. Laura,

As a senior at the University of Texas in the process of searching for a full-time job, I found your take on the current post-grad situation disconcerting.

You discussed the struggles of employers who must wade through resume after resume from scores of students with over-inflated GPAs and no real skills. What you failed to address is the struggle that we competent students face when we find out how little these employers actually value us.

You're right to say that grades don’t matter anymore—they don’t. At least in my industry public relations, experience is king. A 3.8 GPA used to be an impressive thing, and would probably get you an interview at most firms. Soon, though, everyone began making good grades and the qualifier became internship experience. This quickly shifted to two internships, then three or four.

In a college city such as the one I’m in, the quest for internships is more competitive than the school’s football team. Each semester, my classmates and I send out dozens of résumés and cover letters touting our knowledge and skills. When no one responds, we follow up and send out dozens more. We attend lectures, networking events and job fairs, all in the hopes of securing one more prized internship. We finally get an interview with an employer. We research and prepare days in advance. We make sure we’re wearing the perfect professional outfit and arrive at the interview. We then agonize for days afterward over whether or not we got the unpaid internship.

That’s right. Unpaid.

I am now working in my third unpaid internship of my college career. Meanwhile, I have a part-time job in order to earn an income. My weekdays consist of shuttling between my internship, job and campus to attend classes. There’s no other option; as you said, a 3.8 GPA doesn’t impress anyone, and without copious relevant experience, job prospects are slim.

The majority of employers, at least in my field and in my city, take advantage of this desperation by offering to students coveted experience and nothing else. They know we need internships, and they exploit us because of it. In 1992, the number of college graduates who took an unpaid internship was 17%. Today, it’s 50%. 

I understand the difficulty of finding suitable hires. As someone in a writing-intensive major, I get as annoyed as the next guy when I see a poorly written cover letter. I cannot, however, sympathize with the employers who must sift through them.

You talked about judging the “real value” of a student. The word ‘value’ is defined as “the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something.” Employers go through a lengthy process to find this combination in a student. This begs the question: if we’re deemed to be deserving, important, worthy and useful, why are we then not treated as such?

I hope you'll consider a student's perspective.

Sarah