Last week, I received a very exciting and potentially careerchanging phone call. A friendly man on the phone informed me I had been “recommended for a summer internship” and he was a “corporate recruiter for the University.”

After being asked to confirm I am a second-year journalism major, the man told me not only I could receive up to three hours of college credit for this internship, but also I could make an average of $8,400 in the process.

“Well sign me up,” I thought excitedly. He also told me to come to an informative meeting about applying for this “internship” the next day at the University Career Center in Clark Howell Hall. He even told me I could bring along a friend to apply for the internship as well.

During the meeting, I found this “internship” was less of a career-furthering opportunity than I had been led to believe. After sitting in a room with 12 other students for about an about an hour and a half, I learned this so called “internship” was actually a job going door to door selling “educational textbooks and software.” Not quite the summer internship I had in mind.

The job offered by the Southwestern Company actually entails moving to another state for the summer, most likely in the Midwest, living with a host family in a garage or basement apartment and soliciting to families door-to-door.

I was told I had the potential to earn as much as I wanted to, and some students made anywhere from $40,000 to $90,000 in one summer. I also had the potential to make no money. I guess that would all depend on my salesmanship skills. Maybe all those years of selling wrapping paper to my grandparents for elementary school fundraisers would actually pay off.

Astounded that the University would allow this company to use the Career Center for their business scheme, I wondered how much the University really knew about the way in which The Southwestern Company solicited to students.

Career Center Executive Director Scott T. Williams is fully aware of the company’s doings and said they use “cold calls” to contact students.

Dictionary.com defines a cold call as “a telephone call or visit made to someone who is not known or not expecting contact, often in order to sell something.” Gee, this sounds just like a summer internship opportunity phone call to me.

Students’ phone numbers are retrieved when they are recommended by someone within the company and when students respond to internship surveys in classes, Williams wrote.

He added this opportunity is an internship only if it is alignment with “an individual student’s career goals.”

Perhaps I missed the memo, but I was unaware the University now offers a major in door-to-door salesmanship. In fact, I was under the impression door-to-door sales is a dying business because of the popularity of online purchasing. Maybe it’s making a comeback. The next time my local milk delivery man stops by, I’ll make sure to ask him how business is doing.

Yes, the Southwestern Company is a legitimate business. Yes, you can make a decent sum of money in one summer, and earn three hours of college credit. But, unless you a majoring in door-to-door sales, or perhaps want a future career as a spin doctor, students should know that this “summer internship” offered by the Southwestern Company is more like selling Girl Scout cookies than furthering your future career.

- Allie Byrd is asophomore from Fayetteville majoring in political science and newspapers.