Research suggests that internships lead beneficial outcomes for students, universities, and organizations (e.g., Eyler, 1992; Knouse & Fontenot, 2008), yet a large body of internship research is devoid of a theoretical basis. Previous research that has incorporated theory has positioned internships as vocational anticipatory socialization (VAS) – the period in which one is not yet in the workforce but is learning how to be an organizational member from school, family, and experiences (Jablin, 2001) – without much explanation or exploration as to its theoretical fit. There is limited research on internships, and even less research on internships as VAS. With increasing numbers of students completing internships and more universities encouraging and requiring them, it is important not only to understand what outcomes can come from internships, but why internships lead to these outcomes, if and how these outcomes can be experienced by all interns, and where internship research belongs within socialization theory. Internships offer an opportunity to understand the interconnection of multiple socialization contexts, and may serve as a particularly influential anticipatory experience. The purpose of the current study was to examine how students conceptualize internships in relation to their goals and expectations in order to more definitively understand how internships fit within socialization theory.