My dad is very involved in a couple of startups in the tech and production industries. My dad asked me if I wanted to work in either of them, and I am going to be working in product design for one of the companies. However, I was wondering if this is looked down upon by prestigious colleges as my father is technically an executive even thought the work itself will be of substance.
Obviously I will be working in father’s company regardless, but will it be looked down upon even if the tasks performed are valuable?
Well, at one point you asked about Ivies and Stanford. It will be obvious, if reflected in his occupation on the parents page. It might get a momentary, “Umm,” but then they will go right back to evaluating you holistically. This isn’t much different than that stem kid who works in the lab his mother runs. (On one hand he/she got the experience. Otoh, the kid got in via a connection.) It’s going to be up to you to have a fuller background than this one experience. If you and your father (or his team) do something great, it’s fine to note that. Same, if you work your way up to some earned responsibilities. Make sure you know what your targets really look for, the whole of it.
Do what makes sense for you to do – in this case if you can get valuable experience working for your dad’s company then go ahead. Don’t run your life being worried about what an admission officer will think.