Interning at a Medical Research Lab

Undergraduate research sparks curiosity, fulfills intellectual discovery, and provides an outlet for creativity. As an undergraduate researcher at medical research lab in Kansas City, my classroom knowledge is reinforced, and I am given an opportunity to apply that knowledge - Nicole Nuckolls

Interning at a Major Accounting Firm

My name is Christine Tonnies and I am senior at Rockhurst working towards my degree in business administration with a major in accounting. This semester I am doing an internship at a major accounting firm in tax.  I have always felt that tax is what I wanted to focus on with my accounting background. My dad did taxes for years and loved it. Since we are very similar, I assumed I would too. My first day was January 20 and by the 21^st, I was in love with it.
 

Each day I arrive between 8 and 8:30 A.M. The first thing I do is check my email and see if I was assigned any returns to do. If I have been, I work on those, and if not, I pick a return from the prep pool and complete it. While to most people, the idea of sitting at a computer all day and looking at a bunch of numbers and doing tax returns sounds incredibly boring; to me it is so much fun.

 

Learning about taxes in class is one thing, but actually getting to do a real return that is filed and submitted to the IRS is such an amazing thing to be able to do. One of the first returns that I did has already been filed and I get the biggest sense of pride. To me, it is such an incredible feeling to know that I did something for the “real world.”

 If I could give any advice to other students looking for an internship, it would be to not give up and to be persistent. I was dead set on working for a different company and when I didn’t get an internship from them, I was crushed. However, if I had gotten that internship I would not be at the firm I am at now, which is the best thing that could have happened. I cannot imagine working anywhere else.