This summer thousands of UNC students will get a taste of their potential future careers as they pursue internships at businesses and organizations all over the country and across the globe, but not all will be so lucky. Countless students fail to procure internships for reasons ranging from a competitive applicant pool to submitting cover letter copied straight from the internet. 

“Bruh, my mom is going to be so pissed at me,” says Chauncy Cheddarsworth, a third-year at Kenan-Flagler Business School.  Just this morning Cheddarsworth received word that Morgan-Stanley and Bank of America had both turned down his internship applications. Last week it was Blackstone and JP Morgan. 

“I never expected poor Chauncy to be a rocket scientist,” his mother said. “But Jesus, is it too much to ask that he take some initiative and get a job?”

Cheddarsworth was never worried about finding an internship until he heard all his applications had been denied. 

“I mean this is bullshit,” he says, “I spoke to all my dad’s friends about business stuff, I have 500 plus connections on LinkedIn, and, I mean…I’m in the B school.”

Unfortunately for Cheddarsworth, 500+ connections on LinkedIn would not be enough to compensate for last semester’s 2.4 GPA.  

The low GPA was attributed to an Econ 410 TA who was allegedly, ‘out to get [him].’ Whether or not Cheddarsworth’s Econ TA actually was evil, hindsight is 20-20 and all the students who have not yet found an internship are scrambling for one. Everyone except Cheddarsworth, that is.

As it turns out, Cheddarsworth, of none other than the Cheddarsworth Roach Extermination dynasty, had an ace up his sleeve the whole time: the family business. The 20-year-old even scored himself a cushy corner office just down the hall from his father.  

“It’s pretty sweet dad found a spot for me at the family biz,” Cheddarsworth says. “I thought I was going to be stuck at home with mom all summer.”

The emotional roller coaster that was Cheddarsworth’s summer job search turned into an opportunity for him to reflect on what he is thankful for. 

“I’m just glad there is a social safety net like family businesses to make sure bad things don’t happen to people like me,” Cheddarsworth says.