According to the American College Health Association (ACHA), over 25% of college students experienced high levels of stress during the spring of 2025. Internships often require applicants to have prior experience in that specific field, and it can be hard to find internship opportunities that actually interest students. On top of that, only 46% of students end up working in their field of study after graduation.

University of Utah career coaches from U Career Success said they have noticed growing peer comparison and anxiety among students looking to build their resumes. The pressures of navigating early career decisions, they noted, can also add to that stress.

Challenges of finding an internship

Samantha Wisell, a career coach who works mainly with students in engineering fields, said that any job, regardless of the field, is a good start. “Any work experience is valuable and can be generalized and leveraged in an application, because you’re developing soft skills in any of those,” she said. Previous experience can be anything, from a part-time food service job to professional field work. “I think sometimes the definition of experience needs to be broadened, because it doesn’t have to be [that] you’re hired to do a thing as experience.”

Career Coach Sean McKelvie helps students across finance and environmental science programs. For students looking to find their first job experience, he said, “part of [the search] is an ability to, through the application process and with a resume, highlight what skills they do have — that tends to be both hard skills and soft skills.” A hard skill is something specific and teachable, such as a coding language. Soft skills are more personal, like communication. Every kind of experience brings value to an application in its own way, he added.

According to Wisell, it has become increasingly difficult for students of all majors not to compare themselves to their peers, whether or not they have similar career paths. “[The struggle] comes down to a lack of information and the culture of always comparing [yourself] to other people,” she said.

McKelvie said something similar. “I think a lot of that comes down to the same reasons of comparative analysis that we tend to do when you’re looking at any social media,” he said. “If there’s a void of information or a lack of information, we automatically place ourselves behind.”

Resources at the U

Internships can be beneficial for gaining professional field experience in a student’s desired industry. However, McKelvie said many students end up “rarely hearing back or just getting rejections” while applying. This becomes especially relevant in a student’s second and third years of college as they try to set themselves up for success after graduation. He said the stress of finding an internship can become so overwhelming that students often fail to use the resources available to them.

At the U, there are a handful of resources students can use to help them find or strengthen their internship applications. The Hinckley Institute of Politics helps students find internships locally, in Washington, DC and globally, as well as receive support for creating their own internship. The Goff Strategic Leadership Institute helps hone student leadership skills through four different student programs, including the Explorer program that matches students to their first internship.

Students are also able to meet with members of the U’s team of career coaches. These coaches guide the process of exploring internship and career opportunities, as well as help narrow down a student’s academic and professional goals.

Every student will have a different experience when it comes to finding internships, and depending on the major, they might not even need one in the first place. “Not every student has to have an internship, and not every student has to have the same job experiences,” McKelvie said. “The most important thing you’re doing right now is being a student.”

There are specific resources available for students of every major. “Come meet with a career coach,” McKelvie said. “There’s a lot of ways that we can work with and help students better understand their individualized path.”

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