Dream works
by Paige Holton

For some students, the University of Dreams may be the easiest way to attain an extra line on the résumé; pay up to $9,500 and get the guarantee of a brag-worthy internship.

Some college students earn internships through connections. Others earn them through stellar résumés. Still others paper their dorm rooms with rejection letters in the internship process. But thanks to the University of Dreams, a new option exists: Hand over a couple thousand dollars and that “dream” internship, with such companies as Gucci, Google, 20th Century Fox, NBC, or Betsy Johnson, is theirs.

The University of Dreams, a summer, fall, and spring internship program, guarantees placement in an industry of a student’s choice in one of 11 locations around the world — Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, Washington, D.C., San Diego, San Francisco, Barcelona, Sydney, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, or London. Founded in February 2000, the University of Dreams started with 73 students and has grown to more than 1,300 students this year, with 750 employers in 20 different industries. The company successfully places 99 percent of its applicants. The catch: A student must pay up to $9,500 for an eight-week program.

Amanda Krause, a UI graduate, paid the University of Dreams two summers ago to live in Los Angeles and work for Juicy Couture. Her parents were willing to pay because for her, it was like a study-abroad program. The University of Dreams provided Krause with housing on the University of California-Los Angeles campus, rides to and from work each day, academic credits, 10 meals each week, and seven weekend excursions, including a weekend trip to Las Vegas, and day trips to Catalina Island, the Santa Barbara wineries, and a Los Angeles Dodger game.

While many students think paying thousands of dollars for an internship is a gamble, Krause thinks it is an investment. The application process is very straightforward and simple, she said. On the day of her phone interview with Juicy Couture, she took the entire day off from classes to prepare. Little did she know that after 10 minutes of hearing about the internship, she would have the job.

“Some people think it sounds crazy to pay for an internship, but with today’s job market, it is an easy way to get a job offer,” she said.

Krause received a job offer as a Juicy Couture sales associate at the end of her internship but chose to turn it down to attend Drake Law School this year instead. She is now a representative for the University of Dreams at the UI. Krause said her job, which consists of recruiting students, is easy because all she has to do talk about what an amazing summer she had, her favorite part being all of the sample sales, in which she could buy clothes, shoes, and handbags at cost.

For others, such as Stacey Clarke, paying for the University of Dreams was a ticket to breaking into the entertainment industry, a hard sphere to enter anywhere, especially if you’re from Iowa, she said.

Clarke, a journalism and mass communications major, worked as an intern at Agency for the Performing Arts, a talent agency in Beverly Hills, where she shadowed talent agents. She was chosen by her employer to plan a charity event for Project Red, a campaign sponsored by the GAP to raise money for AIDS in Africa, and at the event, she met the Black Eyed Peas, JaRule, and Paris Hilton.

For senior Brenna Krieger, the University of Dreams was the perfect opportunity for hands-on experience in the public-relations world. She worked at Shandrew Public Relations, located in West Hollywood, just off of the Beverly Hills Miracle Mile. She spent her summer as a junior publicist for Jerry Shandrew, whose clients included Josh Hartnett, True Religion Jeans, Beach Bunny Swimwear, and Sony Pictures Studio. Like Krause, she was interviewed over the phone and immediately offered the internship.

Krieger said she picked a small, boutique public-relations firm because she knew she would actually get to work with clients. As with most interns, she sent e-mails, made phone calls, and wrote press releases, but she was also successful at getting celebrity stories into such magazines as People and In Touch.

Forty-seven percent of students who participated in the University of Dreams in 2007 received offers to become full-time employees or interns at the end of their internships. But there seem to be a few downsides to the program. Working roughly 40 hours a week was hard, Krause said, because there were several things she wanted to do in Los Angeles but never had the opportunity. She would have liked to see the taping of a show or movie première but could never make it to one because they were all during the day.

Another downfall to the University of Dreams is that almost none of the internships it offers are paid postitions.

David Fitzgerald, an internship adviser at the UI Pomerantz Career Center, said he thinks that the University of Dreams seems a bit expensive. He urges students to think about a few questions when they are considering internship options.

“For students to decide if the University of Dreams is worth it or not, they need to consider what field they are interested in, where they would want to go geographically, and especially, how willing they would be to put in the individual effort,” Fitzgerald said.

He offered an alternative option for internships: The Pomerantz Career Center has set up many internships for UI students through the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars in Washington, D.C. During the past 30 years, approximately 1,000 UI students have participated in the program. While students must pay for the internships through the center, they give students the ability to earn a full semester of UI academic credit — more than the credit offered with a University of Dreams internship. The Pomerantz Career Center can help students attain internships because it has access to special programs in Washington, D.C., and Des Moines, and the Washington center offers summer internships in London, Oxford, Sydney, and Monterey, Calif., Fitzgerald said.

In order to apply to the University of Dreams, students must have a grade-point average of 2.5 or higher, be a full-time student, and be able to read and write English fluently. Included with the online application are ways to attain financial aid for the program.

UI junior Kimberly Hanneman has previously applied independently for internships with the UI Alumni Association, the Lake Darling Outreach Program, and the St. Luke’s Resource Center. She spent countless hours building a résumé, constructing cover letters, and gathering clips of her writing for each of the interviews, she said. After struggling through the strenuous steps of trying to attain an internship, she thinks the University of Dreams sounds like a good option.

“Finding an internship is similar to finding a real-life job, because it is so competitive and hard,” Hanneman said. “The thought that the University of Dreams guarantees an internship is a comforting feeling.”

About the writer Paige Holton is a UI junior majoring in business and journalism. Ultimately, she hopes to work for a fashion or travel magazine. Her secret pleasure is shopping on the Las Vegas Strip, and she eagerly awaits traveling on a cruise ship this coming spring for Semester at Sea.