Agreed, however, with hindsight, I'd still have taken one. Got a degree in Electrical Engineering, looked for over a year for a EE job and no one would take me without any formal experience. Any kind of an internship would have made that transition easier.
So instead, I went into computers and that's paid my bills for the last 20-ish years. I guess I can't complain.
Instead of interning, I worked college summers as a Convention Coordinator. Ultimately, that was more valuable than an internship, I think, because it taught me how to deal with people.
But, at the time and after being told for four years... "Yeah, you'll graduate. No problems finding work. Engineers make a ton of money, too!" .... no work was a little hard to swallow.
Did not say an internship would not help — but I still consider unpaid internships as a rip-off. I had four years experience as a computer operator and database analyst by the time I graduated from college, and got paid for that work. My oldest son had two paid summer internships at Lockheed-Martin in college. And so forth.
I am not really sure of the value of unpaid work, however. Know plenty of people who did unpaid work, and then spent a year (or more) after college looking for work.
Key to finding paid work is focus and networking. Spent my non-classroom/study time working in college rather than partying and found my jobs via networking — someone who knew someone else was looking for someone to work for them. I think a lot of folks go to college thinking everything will take care of itself once you get the degree. I went there thinking I better dig hard if I wanted a job after graduation.