Internships: The Best Places to Start

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Next, we judged the organizations based on three criteria: the internship survey completed by employers, their ranking on Best Places to Launch a Career, and the undergraduate student survey conducted by our partner, Universum Communications.

There are some big surprises on our list. The CIA, No. 21, for example, offers a highly competitive undergraduate scholarship program that includes summer work experience at the intelligence agency and is targeted at high school seniors and college sophomores. One college senior told Universum, "The Central Intelligence Agency offers the best opportunities because they have co-ops, internships, and scholarships combined with job placement opportunities immediately after graduation. Participants gain experience and are able to apply as soon as possible." The super-secret agency won't disclose how many interns it employs, but of the interns who receive job offers, 100% accept. The only other employer to have that high an acceptance rate is another government agency, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, No. 23.

Looking for the Highest Pay?

Our list also reflects the realities of the world of business: The best opportunity to make top dollar as an intern is in investment banking. The five investment banks on our list offer their interns the highest pay—an average hourly wage of $26.14.

Clearly, the lot of interns has improved over the years. Not too long ago, many employers were still unsure whether to even have a formal internship program, says Universum's Tattanelli. Now it's a necessity for large prestigious companies and firms if they want to appeal to a Gen Y crowd that craves engaging work. "You can't just have [an internship program]," says Tattanelli. "You have to have one and give them meaningful work."

Next Stop: High School

PricewaterhouseCoopers, for example, enriched its program in recent years by making changes to a four-day conference it holds for its interns at Disney World. The firm asks its partners to tie the conference coursework back to what the interns learned over the summer. It also gives interns an opportunity to do community service (and learn important teamwork skills) through a project that involves assembling bicycles for children in need. Competitor Ernst & Young, has a similar Disney World program and even flies some of its top interns to Florida on the company jet with the CEO.

No wonder more students are interning than ever before. According to a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 62% of entry-level hires have had internships, as opposed to only 49% in 1997. Companies are also starting to recruit interns earlier in their college careers. The next frontier, according to some recruiters: high school.

See BusinessWeek's slide show for a ranking of the 50 Best Internships.

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Gerdes is a staff editor for BusinessWeek in New York.