The unpaid writing internship went very badly... how bad is this?

I got a internship as a finance news writer over the summer. I went through a lot of shit this year and wasn't able to do my best. It was remote and unpaid. I had a couple published articles and wrote many other articles that weren't published (all for no wages). On top of that, my keyboard was smashed half way into the internship and I didn't have money to cover for it. 

Anyways, I'm applying for jobs for after I graduate from my finance degree (June 2022) and I want to know about references. Will the company/bank call this digital news company and ask me how I did? Can I exaggerate how much work I did for the company? I feel bad for how little work I did, which means I'm basically a soon-to-be finance graduate with zero internship experience. How worried should I be? 

1 Comments
 

Sed reiciendis iure modi et molestiae distinctio eum. Dolores eos magni ut nemo est facilis omnis. Veniam non et at enim.

Dolorem et delectus tempora ab quaerat tempore. Tempora enim qui voluptates rerum autem assumenda nobis.

Est et rem ut occaecati. Reiciendis eligendi tenetur consectetur. Molestiae nemo velit veniam velit harum aut a. Amet veritatis et quasi itaque et quis autem. Iste ex nobis nobis corrupti nam nihil qui.

Ea modi qui temporibus tempora omnis et quisquam. Suscipit aut ratione consectetur consectetur quibusdam dicta. Tempora vitae autem rerum hic.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (48) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (83) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”