Remember when summer was all about pool parties and summer camp, Nick at Night marathons and lemonade stands? Sadly, those carefree months have been replaced in college by summers of rsum building and academic and professional competition. Gone are the days of dance camp and part-time jobs at ice cream shops; vanished are long afternoons of aimlessly walking around town, contemplating what life would be like as a zebra farmer. This summer is the last of my college career, and I have been reminded countless times of how important it is. It is time for an internship! It is time to make connections, to network, to work my way up in the industry so that I can have a career in my future! But therein lies the problem. Not all of us, myself included, know exactly what we want to do when we grow up. Some are lucky and have well-paid, important internships already in the bag. And others, like myself, are still waiting with bated breath to hear back from the myriad of places we have applied to. Let me share with you my experience of formulating a summer plan. Until I get accepted or rejected from the many places I applied to, it will be unclear whether this column is a "how-to" or a "how-not-to."

I started thinking about what I would do this summer at the end of last summer. My tactic for applying to summer internships has been to apply to as many places as humanly possible. I have scoured the appropriate categories on Craigslist daily for the past four months. When I saw anything that remotely piqued my interest, salary be damned, I e-mailed my cover letter and rsum to my hopefully future employer. I applied to everything from big-name magazines to obscure T-shirt design businesses. I made up three different rsums, each tailored to the different types of jobs to which I applied.

At the risk of falling into a retail rut for the rest of my life, my "work rsum" (as opposed to my "art rsum" and my "writing rsum") is certainly the most padded. If you have as broad ambitions as I do, then I recommend this multi-rsum route. Although I shouldn't speak until I actually land a job, it just makes sense to me that a museum wouldn't care about my candy-store clerk stint, just as a clothing store couldn't care less that I write for the newspaper. The Hiatt Career Center might disapprove, but this is my logic. Take it or leave it.

If you are applying with the rapid fire (not rabbit fire, as I foolishly thought all throughout my eighth-grade basketball career) technique I employ, be careful not to let your cover letters get too floppy. After hours of e-mailing person after person, it's hard not to get discouraged and address the editor of a magazine as "Boss" and sign the letter "Desperately Yours."

Another thing to keep in mind is the whole notion of an unpaid internship, which, in my opinion, is spiraling out of control. On Craigslist it is hard to determine which internships are slave labor and which are actually worthy of working for free. One business I applied to a few weeks ago called me the other day for an interview. Basically. this guy and his friend run a little T-shirt company. The description on Craigslist made it sound like I would get "hands-on experience" in designing and making T-shirts. By the end of the conversation, I had to refrain from laughing into my cell phone. Here's a sample from our conversation:

Unprofessional entrepreneur: We have a unique, uh, marketing technique. We don't really sell to store-more off the street. This is really a marketing and sales internship. I think you would gain a lot of really valuable experience in your professional development.

Jaded Intern Applicant: And it is unpaid?

U.E: Yes. You would mainly be selling our shirts on a street corner for six hours a day in the hot sun. Is that something you would be interested in?

J.I.A: Nosorrythanksbye!

Another amusing Craigslist post I saw was for an unpaid internship opportunity with a landscaping company. Here, mow my lawn for free, contract skin cancer in the process and gain invaluable experience in the lawnmowing business!

I guess my point is that despite what "they" say, this summer will not make or break your future. I'm slowly realizing that this is the last summer until I have to become a real person, so I should make sure it's a good one. It is during this second-semester purgatory that you must come to terms with the fact that no matter what you do during the three impending scorching summer months, as long as you have a memorable, enjoyable summer, it will include "invaluable hands-on experience." And even if you come back in the fall with nothing more than a pocketful of pizza shop tips, you'll be able to brag to your friends about all the fun you had while they were busy pushing artsy T-shirts for no pay on the streets of Manhattan.