<p>I am the father of a sophomore who wants to apply for the Wharton school's Leadership in the Business World program after his junior year. He and I have been exploring local business internships for this upcoming summer that seem good but we live in a small southern city so they are limited. We found the website for "discovery internships". While expensive, it looks good. But knowing that colleges sometimes are unimpressed with students who do paid for volunteer/work programs but are impressed with the free or less expensive competetive programs, is it worth the money? He could get an unpaid internship locally in a small business that would be a good experience. Or should we consider a more expensive but seemingly valuable option like discovery internships? Money is not an object but I hate to waste money! Any opinions?</p>
<p>You might find post #12 in this thread addresses your question: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/summer-programs/1089299-discovery-internships-anyone-have-experience-them.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/summer-programs/1089299-discovery-internships-anyone-have-experience-them.html</a></p>
<p>I would also add that students and parents choose our program for many additional reasons besides the internship placement. If the ONLY thing you’re looking for is a quality internship experience for your son, and there are good opportunities available locally, there’s no reason to do our program. There are plenty of great internships out there (and infinitely more bad ones). It can be difficult to acquire a good internship as a high school student, but persistence and the right attitude will pay off eventually.</p>
<ul>
<li>Discovery Internships</li>
</ul>
<p>Let me start by saying the Summer Discovery/Summer Internships/Musiker “Family” is made up of a bunch of money hungry greedy people. I personally enrolled and experienced one of their internships and even though I had fun and somewhat gained knowledge, I cannot tell you how much I loathed the program itself. The internship they promised me was NOT AT ALL what it was in reality. They abused their employees/interns and the Discovery Internships team simply looked the other way. I tried changing my internship the first week of the program and they could not be any more impassionate and selfish. This meant I had to endure the horrible internship I was so looking forward to for 4 weeks. I thought after the ridiculous amount of money I had paid, they’d have to care. On another note, I really felt ripped off from all the promised “meals” that ended up being cold Papa John’s after I got home from my internship and nothing in between. I thought maybe being in another country and such a diverse metropolitan city, we’d be able to experience different foods and activities. Well, I was wrong. All the restaurants we went to were American (Hard Rock Cafe, Pizza Hut, Subway, etc.) and the activities ranged from Bowling, going to the movies, going out for ice cream, etc. And the worst part was that it was all MANDATORY. Basically, if you want an authentic, enriching experience with a program who even slightly cares about your affairs, DO NOT ENGAGE WITH DISCOVERY INTERNSHIPS/SUMMER DISCOVERY.</p>