The greatest benefit students can get from the externship is they can finally see how everything they’ve been studying in the textbook plays out in the real world.  Not only that, but with a little effort, they will have several networking opportunities available to them, allowing them more options when they graduate than they would have had otherwise.

Sometimes, externs do come back and realize they’re in the wrong field of study.  This isn’t an uncommon outcome of the externship experience, and it’s quite a good outcome, too.  It’s better to figure this out now, rather than several years later.  It’s like that old saying, “A stitch in time saves nine.”