Do colleges really care if you worked at microsoft or google as a high school intern? It’s a pretty big accomplishment that you even passed the interview process, and probably shows that you know more than anything a grade can demonstrate. When I was talking to an admin officer about my previous work, he/she didn’t seem to care or know how hard it was to get one… Usually working at microsoft is probably much more interesting than what you did in your robotics team…
If you’re a HS student, don’t worry about not having an internship.
Internships are typically reserved for students in college. The intent is for the company to “test drive” you before committing to offering you a regular job after you graduate.
Admissions people are aware that HS students with internships often are just calling a regular ole job an "internship’, or that the HS student has “connections”.
An example of “connections”: at my kid’s private HS, Wall Street parents would give “internship” jobs to their Wall Street friends’ HS kids. These privileged families would just scratch each other’s backs… Regular folk cannot compete with this.
I think the admin officer was well aware of what it took to get those jobs. But an EC (job) will not overcome average grades or scores.
Check the common data set for the college you are interested in, it will tell you. Berkeley lists work experience as “iimportant” weighing it about the same as service and EC’s.
You are on the right track with this kind of work. I try to discourage students from taking min wage jobs in food service or retail…that doesnt show much about your college readiness. Your internship does, especially if that is your career goal.
Dont dismiss the robotics team though. I think that EC has a lot more kick than the school play or some sport. Consider adding some volunteer time with coderdojo (or similar) and you will have covered this admission area pretty well covered. GL