<p>Hi, I’m a high school junior trying to get into Wharton, and I was wondering what the best unpaid summer internship would be. I’ve tried getting an internship with countless investment banking firms, but they do not hire high school interns. I’ve also tried the management divisions of major companies, but with no luck, and there’s no way I’d be able to spend the summer in a city with more opportunities. Any suggestions? Should I look into accounting, or banking, or financial planning? Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>"I've tried getting an internship with countless investment banking firms, but they do not hire high school interns..."</p>
<p>Depends... try to get one through your school... but I would say take some courses in Economics and/or Finance... just do something productive to show your interest...</p>
<p>Well, I'm already in both economics and statistics AP, and I went to the guidance counselors at my school for internship help, but they expected me to set my sites very low and not specifically seek out an internship in a field I preferred. They actually gave me a business card for a local veterinarian looking for interns. I've definitely been trying to show my interest, but I thought an internship would not only help with that, but would give me some good real-life experience.</p>
<p>I think you should really just do something you sincerely like. It's Penn's admission office that chooses you, not Wharton's. You can make your academic interests very clear later, because they have a nice essay about why you like Penn, and there's where you make it clear why Wharton in addition to why Penn.</p>
<p>If you believe that an internship is something that you will enjoy (and I don't blame you, since I felt the same way), the only way you're going to get anything connected to the business world (and you need to lower your standards to "the business world" to find anything really) is to know someone who might have an opening or make an exception for you because high schoolers are not high on companies list of intern priorities. This likely won't be at a large or even medium size corporation, but it's better than nothing. I also wouldn't be afraid to accept some perceived menial duties in your job, because let's be perfectly honest we're just not really qualified for high-skilled work yet. </p>
<p>But ultimately I think you should enjoy what you're doing, since you'll have to live it, and if you enjoy it enough, you may be able to write a good essay about it later.</p>
<p>I think you should do should something that will really stand out. Like for me i did 2 study aboard programs: one to Japan and one to Hungary with program called AFS. And in freshman year I help rebuild a school. So i think you should do something, that an average student wouldn't do.</p>