[nknighthb]

It's also highly illegal. If you're performing valuable work for a business, they have to pay you, lest they get a visit from a deeply unimpressed Department of Labor.

Internships are almost always paid now. Even where the internship might qualify to be unpaid, it's cheaper to just pay minimum wage than try to prove you're not extracting value from the intern's labor.

[chasing]

This cannot be stressed enough. It's not an option for a company to pay you for your work. It's a legal requirement. Do not work for free.

An internship is not employment. It's something a company does that's supposed to benefit you educationally. It's not a way for a company to get free labor.

It took a lot of fight to get labor laws in place in the United States and they exist for a very good reason.