There's a few perspectives here, not specifically for internships: http://www.gayle.com/blog/2013/09/18/companies-who-give-candidates-homework-assignments-knoc

There's a few perspectives here, not specifically for internships: http://www.gayle.com/blog/2013/09/18/companies-who-give-candidates-homework-assignments-knock-it-off http://www.gayle.com/blog/2013/09/18/companies-who-give-cand... I think the company should be very clear about the maximum amount of time you are expected to spend on tasks as part of the application process. There are some cases where companies do this kind of thing to get candidates to do unpaid work. From your perspective, perhaps the most useful and actionable thing you can do might be to get more offers for internships / work from a range of other companies (easier said than done, of course). Ideally offers not just from startups -- larger orgs, despite their other faults, can have a more professional approach to hiring people.