Southwestern Advantage set me up for success after college, and for that, I’m incredibly grateful. Because of a friend I made who was also part of the internship that summer, I was able to move to San Francisco and immediately get a job that I love working in executive placement downtown in the Financial District — right out of college. … Read More
Mike Ford – Controlling my circumstances
Mike Ford – University of Kentucky, B.S. in International Economics “My name is Mike Ford, and I’m a District Sales Leader with Southwestern Advantage, and I’ve been here going on my 10th year. I’ve gotten a lot of things out of working with the Southwestern Advantage program. I would say the biggest thing I got out of my first summer was just the … Read More
Jessica Starrett – Success is Growth
Jessica Starrett- Purdue University It’s been two years almost to the day since I first heard about Southwestern Advantage. I was nearing the end of my sophomore year at Purdue and was driving home one night when I got a call from a number I didn’t recognize and on the other line was a guy who invited me to hear … Read More
Jeff Hsieh – The two summers that almost never happened
Jeff Hsieh – UC Berkeley My story with the Southwestern Advantage Internship starts with a simple Facebook status: Aaron Ho: If you’re looking for a paid internship this summer, message me! I’ll hook you up! 😀 To which I responded with little enthusiasm: Jeff Hsieh: I’m interested. Little did I know, those two words would change my life forever. I … Read More
Julia Zamatajeva – It gets better!
Julia Zamatajeva – Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia My name is Julia Zamatajeva and I am from a tiny European country named Estonia with a total population of 1.3 million people and 3 times smaller area than the state of Illinois. I grew up in a little town Haapsalu with a total population of 12,000 people. If somebody had told … Read More
Jon Pinches – Stubborn vs Coachable
Jon Pinches – Arizona State University I first heard about the Southwestern Advantage Summer Program after I filled out one of those little surveys in one of my business classes at Arizona State University. Actually, I apparently filled out 3 or 4 of them before I finally got a call from my future student manager, Monique Flores. I was a … Read More
Laura Jones – My chance to shine in the Southwestern Advantage Internship
Laura Jones – University of Iowa I first became familiar with the Southwestern Advantage Internship in the summer of 2004 when my mom bought a set of huge burgundy books from two Estonian boys. Two years later, in 2006, my older brother became a “book boy.” Three years later in 2009, my mother, who had initially tried talking my brother OUT … Read More
Bobby Nicholson – Finding an Excuse or Finding a Way?
Bobby Nicholson – University of Tennessee “What are you doing this summer?” This is a question I randomly asked my friend Tara Bell that changed my life forever. Her answer was, “I’m selling kids books door to door.” I said to her, “That’s interesting.” She goes, “Yeah, I made $15,000 doing it last summer.” I looked around at my other … Read More
Manny Vargas – Making myself recession-proof in the Southwestern Internship!
Manny Vargas – University of Florida It was Fall 2002 when I first heard about the Southwestern Advantage summer work program. I was walking out of my Architectural Design class, when a classmate brought up the old “what we did last summer” conversation. I told him about my glorious summer before college interning for free at a firm in Tampa Bay … Read More
Lucas Karasch – A polite decline turns into an amazing opportunity in the Southwestern Internship
Lucas Karasch – Wheaton College I had never heard of the Southwestern Advantage internship before until a good friend from high school in Scottsdale, AZ, returned from his first summer. “Lucas, it was such an incredible experience, you should totally do this with me next summer!” I thought to myself, why would anybody in their right mind voluntarily give up … Read More
Chris Samuels – The Good, the Bad, and the Worthwhile
The Good, the Bad, and the Worthwhile Chris Samuels, University of North Carolina I will never forget the day that I set off to Glencoe, MN for my first summer in the Southwestern Advantage program. I had never been off the east coast and I was amazed at the difference as I started to experience the Midwest. Pulling into Glencoe, I … Read More
Rose Sheen – Los Angeles Girl Arrives in Pennsylvania for Her Southwestern Internship
All of our authors would love comments on their stories! So take a minute and add your thoughts. Los Angeles Girl Arrives in Pennsylvania Rose Sheen – Notre Dame I was born and raised in a little place called Los Angeles my entire life and I’m a city girl through and through. When my roommates and I arrived in our … Read More
Zac DeVries – Make lemonade out of your summer!
Zac DeVries – Grand Valley State University I think one of the funniest and most endearing things about your first Southwestern Advantage summer is not only what it reveals about you, but also WHEN it reveals it. My first summer I was working in North Branch, MN a town only slightly larger than your high school. I remember that week I … Read More
Kevin Hoffberg – Realizing my son was becoming an adult
Kevin Hoffberg – Kevin’s son Jake worked with Southwestern Advantage while at Indiana University Does any parent dream about his son or daughter selling books? For a living? For a summer? At All? It certainly wasn’t on my radar when my son Jake called me to tell me that he was going to spend the summer, somewhere he didn’t yet … Read More
Chris Salata – To sell or not to sell, that is the question . . .
Chris Salata – University of Kentucky One random phone call on one random night changed my life for the better in a multitude of ways. I was actually at the library studying for an exam in my freshman year of college when a strange incoming number appeared on my cell phone. I always enjoy answering weird numbers so I picked … Read More
Evelina Prodanova – From Bulgaria to the Bookfield
Evelina Prodanova – Bulgaria I am from Bulgaria, not a huge Eastern European country. Being in one of the best High Schools and coming from a family of teachers and professors, education was a big deal for me. Logically I had to be in one of the best universities as well. For my US friends – things in Bulgaria are … Read More
Tina Edmonds – A national champion conquers the Southwestern summer program
Tina Edmonds – University of Maryland The way I got into the Southwestern Advantage summer program is very different from the standard individual. I saw an ad in the newspaper one day on campus. I went to an information session, and knew that it was something I wanted to do. Playing field hockey for the University of Maryland, I came … Read More
Andres Martin – A Southwestern Advantage Internship review 10 years in the making
Andres Martin – Thankful for the opportunity I was happy to get the opportunity to sell books in the Southwestern Advantage Internship, and expected to start fast. But – only 100 bucks. That’s what I made my first week. Not exactly close to the $1,500 I was thinking I would make. But it was OK. I was still excited after my … Read More
Jeremy Locklear – Taking on the Southwestern summer program challenge
Jeremy Locklear 231 cities in 13 countries. Scuba diving in Cancun, skydiving over Texas and Oklahoma, snorkeling in the Bahamas, wake boarding in Argentina, climbing mountains in Peru, playing soccer on the beach in Chile… I’m not bragging, this is what I want everyone to have the option of doing. The life I’ve lived so far in my 23 years … Read More
Kate Marshall – The system works!
Kate Marshall – Utah State Unlike most, it didn’t take much for me to decide to do the Southwestern Advantage program. I think it was within the first 10 minutes of the informational session that I mentally signed up. It never even came to my mind that it might be a scam (it isn’t), or to call it a pyramid scheme (it … Read More
Devan Dror – From Italy to the Bookfield
Devan Dror – Macquarie University I heard about the Southwestern Advantage program through my friend Lance. He told us all that he had “sold books” for the summer. After going on and on for what was probably close to ten minutes about what I felt was my eye-opening, life-changing cultural experience summer job, I decided I should be polite and ask … Read More
Ashley Zandbergen – Growth and perspective
Ashley Zandbergen – Grand Valley State University My recruitment was a little unorthodox . I first heard about the Southwestern Advantage when my twin sister first participated. I thought she was crazy at first when she said she would be moving to Minnesota for the entire summer to sell books to families! Then, as she was telling me about it, … Read More
Matt Baumgartner – A shy kid breaks out
Matt Baumgartner – University of Maryland I heard about Southwestern Advantage at the University of Maryland. I grew up in an over-protective environment. Part of this was due to my parents, but part of it was also self-imposed. I was definitely the quiet/shy kid, never quite fitting in nor able to get comfortable. I had always gotten straight A’s, but … Read More
Danielle Roos – Extraordinarily difficult, extraordinarily rewarding
Danielle Roos – Dordt College I was a sophomore at Dordt College when I first heard about Southwestern Advantage. A girl I knew, Jessi Rieken, mentioned to me that she had a job the past summer where she had made $10,000. I was immediately intrigued, as I had to pay my own way through private college and had made, let … Read More
Josh Falkiewicz – Willing to pay a price
Josh Falkiewicz – Michigan State University I heard about Southwestern Advantage at Michigan State. During the interview process I was never really skeptical, although my Dad seemed to have reserved enough skepticism for the two of us. I remember my first day like it was yesterday. My roommate Maurice dropped me off and screamed “IT’S GONNA BE A GREAT DAY” and … Read More
Will Hemmert – Not exactly by the book!
Will Hemmert – Central Michigan University It was the career fair at Central Michigan University in the spring of 2010. That’s where I met Maurice Howell, a corporate recruiter for Southwestern, and we talked for a few minutes. He told me about the program and offered me a chance to interview. After meeting with him a few times, I decided … Read More
Antoinette Sedillo – Getting REAL experience
Antoinette Sedillo – New Mexico State University When I was in high school I was the type of person who never tried anything new unless I knew for sure that I was going to be good at it. As you can imagine, that attitude kept me from trying out many new things. A week after my 19th birthday, I got … Read More
Haley Price – Today is the Best Day of My Life
Haley Price – University of Texas When asked about my proudest accomplishment or my most valuable experience – at the top of my list, no doubt about it, is “selling books door-to-door in the Southwestern Advantage Internship”. There is no better way to catapult oneself into emotional and mental maturity than through going door-to-door. Right around Spring Break of my freshman … Read More
Daniel Cumming – Coachability
Daniel Cumming – University of Richmond Everyone has a different experience working with Southwestern Advantage, and I think it has everything to do with who the student manager they work with is. I had one of the most eccentric and without a doubt the most caring student manager in Chris Sica. When I was a sophomore at University of Richmond … Read More
Morgan Franke – A new way of thinking
Morgan Franke – Michigan State University I always knew that after I graduated high school that I would never spend another summer in Canton, Michigan. So when I got the opportunity to work with Southwestern Advantage, I didn’t think twice. Little did I know that what I would experience would change my outlook on everything in my life. The things … Read More
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