The New World of Internships

Those unpaid summer jobs are no longer for rich kids, college juniors — or even just for summer

Like many of his new classmates at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, freshman Cory Hipps spent the summer working. But instead of stocking jeans at the mall or pulling sodas at the Dairy Queen, Hipps, 18, clocked 9-to-5 days at the accounting firm Deloitte, testing software designed to help customers manage debt. He earned wages, kudos from his bosses, and the promise of internships at the firm throughout his college years. "Anyone my age can say they want to do something with their career," he says, "but I already am."