Is taking a semester off for an internship a good choice?

Ken has some good insights above and I would like to add my thoughts on the subject as well. First, your school is in the business of training students for potential careers. If your program recommends taking the semester to do an internship, I would recommend taking their advice. It appears that your career path is in the accounting/taxation field which is very complicated and has many different aspects that need to be explored. An internship would allow you time before you graduate to investigate the various possibilities and as Ken says, try the shoes on to see if they fit. It would also allow time for you to make any last minute adjustments to your education if you find that you need a little more training in a specific area of interest before you graduate.
Your proposed career path is very versatile in its applications from local HR implications to international tariff and taxation. Within that group, there are many different roles from "number cruncher" to management and influencing policies. It is not a static field as it is changing constantly and poses great challenges. I recommend getting a preview of the role in an internship, investigating and networking as much as possible with everyone in the related tasks and see what excites you. Once you find what you think you would enjoy the most, evaluate what courses you have taken and see if you need to adjust. Talk to your councilor or your department head and get their take on the issue. Use the resources you have at hand to make the best informed decision possible. I would also add that once you make your decision and graduate, keep your options open. Always be willing to learn new things. I have found that doing the jobs that no one else wants to do is the best way to learn back end processes and increase your value proposition. Never feel like you are "stuck" in a role. There are too many options out there to let yourself stagnate because you feel tied down to a particular decision. Since you are in the honors program, I don't think this will be a problem for you. Good luck in what ever choice you make!

Hi Esther!

You asked a very important question. Career exploration is very important and an internship is very important way to learn about the inside of a career area, as most career areas look much different from the inside that they do from the outside.

Internships not only allow you to see the inside of a career area, but they help you to engage with people in the career area and form relationships that will help you throughout your career. Here are some tips on networking which will assist you in getting valuable information and forming relationships:
http://www.wikihow.com/Network
https://www.themuse.com/advice/nonawkward-ways-to-start-and-end-networking-conversations

So, I would close by saying that internships are very important for career exploration and developing very helpful networking opportunities.

Here is a good site for locating internships:
http://www.fastweb.com/

Best of luck! Please keep me posted. I would like to follow your progress!

I agree with Wayne. If you have the opportunity to complete an internship and your school recommends a term off for it, I recommend that you follow their recommendation. If at all possible, take the advice of your school program, which is based on their experience helping many students be successful in their career fields.

Also, my experience as a career counselor was that internships during the traditional academic year are more valuable than summer internships. You have a better chance of working on more meaningful projects when the most people are in the office and not taking summer vacations, etc. Hopefully the employer will recognize that you are taking a term off from school and deserve a very meaningful experience in return.

Best of luck!

It is a good idea to put your education on hold for a limited time to get some real-world experience.

Why?

-- You'll get some time away from the grind of dealing with syllabi and papers and quizzes and all that edu stuff to think over what you're learning.

-- You'll get a chance to see what's going on outside of the edu world. You'll gain a perspective that will help you make the most of your remaining semesters in your degree.

I think everybody should do this. If your school encourages it, so much the better. That means your faculty is accustomed to students doing this. Go for it. Pay limited attention to the people second-guessing you.

I did this, years and years ago, at a school where it was a strange choice. It's one of the best learning experiences I had.

I tend to agree with the above listed responses. Whenever you can get real world experience, be supported by your academic institution to do so, and get your foot in the door of a desirable employer, you are doing well.
Real world experience is critical in several ways. First off you will get a better feel for what you have been training/learning about. Second, in subsequent classroom work it will be easier to relate your assignments to the long-term outcome. And finally, it is increasingly difficult to find opportunities out of college without some internship experience.
Best of luck.