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&lt;p&gt;Internships are tricky. You know you should have one, but you&#39;ve also heard that they can go off the rails, specifically to &lt;a href=&quot;/blog/workplace-issues/are-unpaid-internships-fair/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;unpaid-menial-labor-land&lt;/a&gt;. You might not want to waste your winter break on an internship that doesn&#39;t give you any new skills or training. Or maybe your biggest fear is investing time and energy into a company name won&#39;t pop on your resume.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Maybe you&#39;re just fulfilling a program requirement for school—it which case cushy perks are your priority. Or maybe you&#39;re not sure about your chosen field and need as much exposure to the industry as possible.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Whatever you&#39;re in the market for, Vault&#39;s here to help: with the right information, you can find an internship that&#39;s well organized, well respected, or even well paid!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We&#39;ve done the hard work, surveying real interns about their goals, experiences, and needs--then asking them to rank their internships in categories like training, mentorship, industry and career insight, meaningful assignments, access to upper management, and compensation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The results are a list not just of the top internships overall for 2012, but the leading programs specifically in the fields of finance and non-profit, and those with the best perks (social events, seminars, lectures, workshops, and maybe a trip or two to MTV studios!).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here are a few of the big winners:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/wps/portal/usa/internship-detail?internshipId=954&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bain &amp;amp; Company&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bain made our list of best internships of 2012, thanks to excellent full-time offer prospects (10/10, according to interns we surveyed). And though they also topped our perks rankings, rest assured that Bain isn&#39;t low on substance: one intern wrote that &quot;The amount of responsibility I received is unbelievable, and as a result, I have learned a lot.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/wps/portal/usa/internship-detail?internshipId=1176&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Goldman Sachs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Looking for an authentic taste of the finance industry? Goldman&#39;s your best bet for real world experience: interns rated it 9.09 out of 10 for potential career path insight. This top finance internship was also a career booster: &quot;This was perhaps the most interesting, challenging and career-propelling move of my life,&quot; said one intern.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/wps/portal/usa/internship-detail?internshipId=865&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Actors Theatre of Louisville&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dollars and cents not really your thing, but still looking to get ahead? The Actors Theatre of Louisville topped our list of non-profit internships thanks to its networking opportunities. One survey-taker said that “The mentors that I acquired during my time there have remained incredibly useful to me even after my time in the internship.&quot; Others surveyed ranked the theatre 9.67 out of 10 for its career-advancing connection opportunities.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/wps/portal/usa/internship-detail?internshipId=1380&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Nickelodeon Animation Studios&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wants connections without sacrificing perks? Nickelodeon offers its interns weekly lunches—that means food &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; a chance to chat up an executive. Other insider perks: trips to events, film festivals, and MTV Studios, plus access to entry level job postings before they get published on the website.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Want more? Find Vault&#39;s full list of Top Internships 2012 &lt;a href=&quot;/wps/portal/usa/topinternship?year=2012&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;--Cathy Vandewater, Vault.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Read More:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/blog/workplace-issues/3-lessons-for-interns-from-the-first-chapter-of-why-i-left-goldman-sachs/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;3 Lessons for Interns From the First Chapter of &quot;Why I Left Goldman Sachs&quot;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/blog/job-search/what-it-takes-to-join-a-top-wall-street-bank/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;What It Takes to Join a Top Wall Street Bank&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/blog/job-search/advice-for-new-grads-from-t-boone-pickens/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Advice for New Grads from T. Boone Pickens&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Cathy Vandewater

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