Internships forge new paths

"At first it was quite challenging, because I had to learn everything from scratch," she said. "But later I began taking pleasure out of working with all these interesting people."

Of course, knowledge learned in college helps. "My major and my internship in marketing have one thing in common: both are about getting information to the right audience," Xu said.

Xu is now seeking a career in marketing and learning as much as she can.

"I have been through two internships before. But it was not until this one that I found out where my passion is," she said.

While college students like Xu are carefully planning their future, others are still searching for the perfect place for their internship. Liu Yueqiao is one of them.

Unlike her fellow Chinese schoolmates who took up internship overseas, the soon-to-be sophomore student from New York University returned to China during the summer vacation and started her very first internship at one of China's most influential news outlets in China.

A major in the liberal arts, Liu said it was the first time she had entered the field of journalism.