Internships, internships, internships!

[s3raph1m]

Did you intern before applying to grad programs? How many internships did you do and how long did you intern for? Where'd you intern at? What did the work consist of? And how did this shape your grad program applications?

Inquiring minds want to know.

I have two semesters left of my undergrad after this current semester and have completed a total of two internships thus far. I pretty much interned all summer full time. I received a fellowship from my school to fund a 240 hour field and lab intensive archaeology internship with a local government organization. After that, I went home and then did a historic preservation internship with a main street program in a historic district (I also volunteered at a small local museum while doing this). This winter I'll be interning with a large fine arts museum working with the folks who design and prepare the exhibits. Not sure what I'll be doing next summer, but I'm hoping to do a field school and then do the archaeology internship that this state park near me offers afterwards. I'm thinking all of this will play a big part in my applications when I finally get started, but I'm not sure in what way. For those who got into a grad program, how valuable was internship or volunteer experience for your application process?