One thing that college students want to avoid is getting to graduation and not having any work experience under their belt. Potential employers will be looking for summer jobs, volunteer experience, and work outside of your studies. The optimum experience to have is within your chosen field. The common way to get this is through internships or co-op programs. You will be a step ahead of the pack if you have some experience you can point to. Also, it has the added advantage of giving you the opportunity  to work at a job and see if you like it! Better to find out now, when you have time to change direction if necessary.

Curiously enough, internships can be harder to obtain than full-time positions! Everyone has their son or daughter or neighbor working as a summer intern. It is more important than ever to use your personal network in order to snag one of the plum internship positions.

All internships are not created equal. Some are paid, some are unpaid. Some are formalized and some are very free-form. Some have to be for college credit.

Start early! Many companies take applications in November or December and choose their interns in January. If you wait until May to look for an internship, you may be out of luck.

The same skills needed to find a job when you graduate are needed to get an internship. This is great practice for your "real" job. You will already have a resume formatted and a chance to practice those interview skills!