highest paid internships

If you are a recent graduate you probably had to suffer through an internship of sorts and it was probably unpaid. For a long time it seemed like paid internships were far and few between (or so competitive you couldn’t get your hands on one).

More recently, however, companies have been placing more stock in their interns and paying them higher salaries. Of course these interns aren’t fetching coffee and donuts or taking down notes on a notepad. They are actually working for the company, coming up with innovative ideas and, in some cases, becoming the heart and soul of the company itself. CEOs recognized the impact these interns have on the company and decided to pay them (and handsomely at that).

Highest Paying Internships in America

recently released a list of the 25 highest paying internships in the country. Among those mentioned were big companies, like Yelp, Adobe, Capital One and Bank of America, with intern salaries climbing all the way up to $8,000 per month. Here are the top 10:

1. Facebook: Facebook’s internship program has been ranked #1 for a couple years in a row, according to Glassdoor. Interns often rave about the perks of working at the social media giant and the median intern salary sits at $8,000 per month. That is the median salary, which means there are interns that have made more than that while working there, making Facebook the highest paying internship in the U.S.
2. Microsoft: There’s no surprise that the next mention on the list is a tech company. Many of the interns at Microsoft help engineers develop new software and even perfect new equipment. Because of this Microsoft interns earn a median salary of $7,100 per month.
3. ExxonMobil: ExxonMobil likes to give its interns an idea of what it is like to start out at ExxonMobil. They give them a good idea of the different levels and parts of oil engineering and a healthy median salary of $6,507 per month.
4. Salesforce: Salesforce prides itself on giving its interns a good idea of what it takes to run a business but they don’t do it without paying a nice salary. The company’s interns pull in a median monthly salary of $6450.
5. Amazon: Amazon is one of the largest companies in the world so it is no surprise it is listed on the highest paying internships in America. Similar to other internet-based internships, Amazon is rather fast-paced and pays its interns a median monthly salary of $6,400.
6. Apple: Apple also pays its interns a median salary of $6,400 per month. The company trusts some of its most critical projects to the interns it hires.
7. Bloomberg L.P.: Interns at Bloomberg have a really great chance of getting hired on full-time down the road but they don’t have a small salary before they become permanent members of the team. Bloomberg’s interns pull in about $6,400 per month.
8. Yelp: Yelp is another growing website that relies on interns for some of its bigger projects, which is why it is on the highest paying internships list. Yelp’s interns have a median monthly salary of $6,400.
9. Yahoo: Yahoo looks for interns that enjoy being hands-on. The company paid its interns a median monthly salary of $6,080 to work on projects in departments such as Robotics, Social Media and Media Entertainment.
10. VMware: Like the other internships listed above, VMware offers its interns a real look at what the prospective industry is like. The company does this through paying the interns a healthy median salary of $6,080.

*Keep in mind that not all internships are restricted to recent graduates. You may be able to apply for any of the internships above, depending on your qualifications.*

Each of these is among the highest paying internships in the United States and are extremely competitive. Most who apply won’t even get a reply but, if they do, they will be lucky enough to be paid a high salary and receive a boatload of valuable experience.

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Photo: Vanguard University and University of Omaha