University of Dreams, an all-inclusive, destination internship program, provides college students with the experience of a lifetime. The program gives college students the opportunity to get an internship with a big name company that may have otherwise been impossible without the necessary connections. In addition to the internship, students are also given housing, transportation to and from work, food, and the option of a variety of weekend trips.

"We want students to stop and really think about what they want out of their lives before they jump into a career that perhaps was indicted by the major they chose, or that their parents want them to do. Students must think by and hard about what it is that makes them happy...so that they are able to say ‘I had the courage to live the life I want to live, '" said Eric Lochtefeld, CEO and founder of University of Dreams.

The company currently has 13 programs worldwide in 11 different cities. Its most popular program is New York City followed by their program in the Los Angeles based area.

Alex Echols, a Vanderbilt senior and member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc, is a campus marketing intern for the University of Dreams. As an intern, Echols promotes the company by speaking with numerous organizations on campus, and by use of e-mail, facebook, and poster sites on campus. He participated in the Los Angeles program in the summer of 2008 as an intern at the IMAX Company.

"Being an African American from a small, bad neighborhood in Chicago, I never had a huge network base already constructed by my family and friends. [University of Dreams] opened up a door for me and I want to bring my experience to more students on this campus." Echols stressed the fact that while he has many friends who come from worse neighborhoods than himself and even though they think they have no way to get to the big name businesses, "what they don't know, is that they can."

"This is just a way for me to show them that there is a way; you just have to have the drive, the grades, and the willingness to put yourself out there. This is just one-stepping stone of personal success," said Echols.

Like Echols, Aaron Santos, also a campus-marketing intern for the company and a former participant in the Los Angeles program, has had the opportunity to experience the University of Dreams. Last summer, Santos interned at People's Liberation/William Rast, a clothing company co-owned by Justin Timberlake. Through his experience, Santos was able to "make future contacts and discover Los Angeles."

When asked what impact the company has had on his life, Santos responded positively, saying "everything is attainable if you take a step out of your comfort zone, try hard, and love what you are doing."

As for whether the current economic crisis will affect the company's ability to find students internships in the coming months, Lochtefeld suggests that it will not. "We have over 2,000 employers that we work with and we have reached out to almost all of them this fall. The indication is that they're re-upping with us and that there are going to be even more people this year to fill the open positions," said Lochtefeld.

He explained that the individual intern might, however, find it harder to get an internship in this time of economic crisis. Thus, according to Lochtefeld, "students may find us to be a valuable service in a down-turned economy."

Deadline to apply for scholarships is October 31st. For any addition questions, please contact Alex Echols at alex.echols@Vanderbilt.edu.