A presumption behind work-integrated learning activities such as internship programmes is that student thinking will shift as a result of exposure to industry practice. We wondered if all students experience this change in the positive sense that teachers expect. To examine this presumption we asked to what extent and in what ways students reorient their thinking about self and identity as a result of an internship experience. Analysis of student reflections following a structured internship programme leads us to believe that not all students experience a shift in thinking, and that their personal narratives speak instead to a complex relation of modalities.