"If my work (or my product) is good, why does it matter how I present it--or myself?" When we visit students during their summer internships, one of their most common observations is how important it is to present themselves well: the boss's perception of the entire team's effort over a 12-week span often boils down to the success of a 15-minute presentation. Our advice to dress "smartly" for work turns out to matter a lot more than they had realized.

"It is up to them to figure out how smart I am." Well, employers often don't. To prepare students for this reality, UPOP runs mock interview sessions with the help of many alumni volunteers. Students are often completely surprised by the feedback they get, and many come back for more help.

"Networking is for the birds; I don't need it." One of the required UPOP spring events is the "painless networking" seminar and "mocktail" evening led by a famous etiquette consultant and attended by dozens of alumni volunteers and potential employers. The students also keep internship journals, in which they are required to describe networking encounters both inside and outside their immediate work groups. After complaining about the requirement at first, many students later write that they wish they had taken time to network with more people during their internships.

UPOP makes a strong statement about engineering education by giving undergraduates exposure to real-world engineering practice. I believe in UPOP, because a realistic understanding of what a good engineer does prepares students to be successful. "Yes, good engineers do that!"