Think Twice Before Reneging on Your Internship

BusinessWeek recently put out an article looking at how business schools are cracking down on students

By Paul Davis

who accept, then back out of, internships. These relationships are critical to MBA programs and administrators are mindful of how reneging on internships can impact a school's reputation.

The publication highlighted an case at Georgia Tech, where two students reneged on their initial internships when better opportunities surfaced. BusinessWeek notes that the students were barred from career services and can no longer meet with career advisers or on-campus recruiters.

Georgia Tech isn't the only business school program that has taken a hard-line stance on internship defectors.

• At Harvard, students who back out of an internship run the risk of losing access to career services and permanent loss of alumni privileges, including reunions.
• MIT's Sloan School of Management also has a policy that can strip a student of recruiting privileges if he or she welshes after accepting a job.
• Wharton has a tough policy that requires you to meet with a member of the school's career management advisory staff even if you are simply thinking about reneging on an accepted offer. "Our goal is not to prevent students from making optimal career choices," the school's policy states. "But rather to counsel students on the handling of this difficult situation to help them minimize the negative impact of their decision."
• Finally, Columbia makes it clear that students who renege must undergo the Dean's Disciplinary Process, where consequences range from receiving a warning to dismissal from the school.