People come back from internships with more understanding than they can easily quantify.
You learn a lot of intangibles that are hard to express except by relating lots of examples of experiences you had. People usually return to their academic studies with a sense of purpose and a better knowledge of what is important to them. Actually, there are some internships that don't pay, yet are still sought after for the experience they provide. Besides money, it is possible to get course credit for some internships at St. Olaf. Also check out the archive of past internship listings .