Beyond the Game: Internships, Alumni Networks, and Career Outcomes

Abstract

In recent years, it is common for college students to complete an internship. However, there is limited research on how students navigate internships and careers. My study examines the "internship effect": how access to internships shapes students’ post-graduate career paths. It contributes to economic and educational sociology. I collected information on 1,146 Princeton varsity student-athletes graduating in 2020 to 2025 through LinkedIn profiles and other publicly available records. The analysis was conducted in three stages: descriptive statistics, bivariate analysis, and binary logistic regression. My study finds that students with internships are four times more likely to enter elite industries. Athletes on teams with high internship participation rates are around ten times more likely to enter elite industries. There were major findings related to internship timing, geographic location, and inequalities across gender and pre-collegiate background. The evidence emphasizes the need to reexamine how internships are communicated to college students.