As the subway doors beneath the Hart Senate Office Building closed in front of me, my heart skipped a beat.  I had just missed the train to the Capitol Building.  There was only one thing to do—run like the wind.

At the time, I was a 17-year-old intern for U.S. Senator Mark Hatfield, Oregon’s senior senator.  On this final day of my internship, the senator had suddenly sent word that he could meet with me right away at his alternate office in the Capitol.  I had been waiting for this moment for many weeks.

Clad in the first suit and tie I had ever owned, I sprinted alongside the track with Senator Edward Kennedy and an aide watching me curiously and then cheering me on from inside the moving subway car.  When I finally reached Senator Hatfield’s office, I was red-faced and pouring with sweat.

“Can I get you some water?” Hatfield asked upon seeing me.  “Take a moment to catch your breath.”

Gathering my composure, I told the senator about the community service manual I was writing, and summoned the courage to ask if he would write a foreword for my manuscript.  To my amazement, he agreed on the spot.  On this high note, a summer of processing constituent mail, researching policy papers, summarizing committee hearings and eating legendary Senate bean soup came to a stunning conclusion.

And that’s the beauty of a great internship.  Instead of learning passively, you learn by doing.  This experiential learning paves the road for even greater things to come.

Over the years, I’ve interned for a documentary filmmaker, a Wall Street investment firm and a Manhattan-based magazine.  I even spent two summers at the Nasdaq Stock Market, learning about American capitalism from the inside out.

Since then, I’ve advised hundreds of students at my seminars and ScholarshipCoach.com website on how to find great internships.  Follow these three strategies to score internship opportunities perfect for you.

Create Your Own Internship

There are plenty of prominent national internship programs such as ones offered by Microsoft, Mattel toys, or the American Conservatory Theater, but my best experiences have always been the internships I created for myself. 

Do you have a family friend who works in a field that interests you?  If not an immediate acquaintance, what about a friend of a friend? 

To get Nasdaq’s media relations director to respond to my initial internship cold call, I had to drop the name of a magazine publisher I recently met.  It was enough to get my foot in the door.

Show Your Enthusiasm

When creating your own internship, it’s all about demonstrating enthusiasm.

For a moment, put yourself in the shoes of a potential internship provider.  Would you be more inclined to create a position for someone who thinks what you do is really cool?  Would you be more eager to help someone who seems really appreciative?

When I first approached Senator Hatfield’s chief of staff, for example, I was told that I was probably too young for an internship.  But after I demonstrated my enthusiasm—even sending him an article I wrote about a prior trip to Washington D.C.—he decided to make an exception.

Don’t Worry About the Money

Some of the best internships are unpaid, but don’t let that deter you.  Internships should be about learning, not about the money.  When I interned at Nasdaq, I took the position assuming it was unpaid; they liked my work and ended up offering a nice wage.

More important, I’ve learned that great internships are powerful stepping-stones to new interests, fascinating career paths and a world of infinite possibilities.

Directly and indirectly, my unpaid internship with Senator Hatfield led to opportunities to attend the Democratic and Republican national conventions, write for major national publications, and launch my first book.

You just can’t put a price tag on that.