Sh*t I wish I knew

3. An unpaid internship is better than a paid (but irrelevant) job

Heed this, it's one of my biggest regrets. Instead of working on getting more catering hours I wish that I had focused on finding an internship that was applicable to what I was studying. UVa, and any university really, has so many research projects and internship opportunities for the person willing to go out and hunt for them. It's about figuring out what you like to study (or what you think you may want to do in the future) and ask around. If there's a professor you like, chances are they are doing some research (or know someone who is) so make sure you ask if they have any assistantships. I know that especially for the psych. department they were always looking for research assistants (though I knew early on that I didn't want to have anything to do with the psych. department) but if I had been interested this would've been a perfect opportunity. And how cool would it be to be able to say you had been published as an undergrad?!

Spending time doing unpaid internships is going to be a much more valuable way to spend time. Think about how it'll look on your resume, especially when you're applying to grad school or a real job. What looks better, research assistant or catering employee? The money was nice but experience would've been even better!