A Big Oops

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - So a couple of days ago I just found out something that throws a sizable dent into my plans to graduate after this summer's Wall Street Journal internship. Turns out, I can't do it for credit as I thought I would.

I was planning to make this WSJ thing my 6-credit internship to complete my journalism major here at Rutgers. But---stupid me---I only decided to ask the internship coordinator about the possibility of doing it for credit a couple of days ago when I should have asked, like, say, in December, when I decided to take the internship in the first place? <> And here I am telling everyone I'm going to be graduating after this summer internship is over.

Chalk up another highlight in the Kenji Fujishima Wall of Shame---or, to put it more optimistically, Wall of Stupid Mistakes to Learn From In the Future.

Thus, it looks like I'm going to be a student here for about a semester longer than I had anticipated. Those 6 credits are all I really need, though. I'm thinking about whether I'd want another internship for the fall, or simply to take two more classes to finish it up. The journalism department here at Rutgers doesn't absolutely require a credit internship; the department strongly recommends it, but it isn't technically required. Frankly, though, I'd rather try to get more real-world experience through an internship, paid or unpaid, than sit through more dull lectures and stuff. But then I'd have to try to find that fall internship in the first place. It's just like a finding a job. I guess that's a good thing.

I'm trying not to get too hysterical over this as I probably would have if I were the Kenji of, say, two years ago, when this kind of temporary setback might have depressed me for days. In the past, I might have dwelt on things that I should have done or didn't do. This time, I try to say to myself: Hey, I made a dumb mistake. No use dwelling on it now, because what's done is done. Move on.

One thing, though: obviously this is my fault, and I take full responsibility for it. But why didn't anyone tell me that usually paid internships usually mean internships that aren't for credit? When I told people that I was hoping to get credit out of this, no one said to me, Are you sure you can do that? Because, from my experience, most paid internships don't allow you to get college credit out of it. Now I hear this is the trend? The obvious response to that is, I should have done my research. But still...

I haven't told my parents yet, by the way.