<p>Sometimes I just don't have a clue:</p>
<p>Is there any scenario where a "for-credit" internship trump a paid one in the same industry?</p>
<p>Daughter has to make decision asap......I think I know the answer, but wanted some of your feedback.....</p>
<p>Mods: please move if this should be elsewhere.....</p>
<p>I would think that any internship where its quality, whether it be the company’s reputation or the depth of experience the student will gain, could very well outweigh the “quantity,” i.e., pay. It brings to mind the MasterCard commercial: “priceless.”</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Is there a reason why she can’t get credit for the" for pay" internship?</p>
<p>D1 has had both. She took a no pay internship for the experience when she didn’t need the credits. It was invaluable to her as it was with a professional sports team. She had “for pay” and for credit and one just for pay. All helped her land a job in her field.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Same for me. Last summer I had an unpaid internship that was not for credit. This summer I am doing a paid internship and getting college credit for it.</p>
<p>
Assuming she can’t get both, then yes - when a for credit internship is required for the major. It sometimes is.</p>
<p>A problem with the for-credit internship (paid or unpaid), at least at my son’s college–is if he does it in the summer and wants credit, he has to pay summer tuition. No extra cost during the school year. So is it really worth paying 7-10K or so merely to get credit, unless they desperately need it? A for credit internship sounds good in theory (especially if they aren’t getting paid), but in this case, he doesn’t want the credit.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It was only recently that I had ever heard of paying by the semester no matter how many hours. I’ve always heard of paying by the credit hour. I hate having to pay for my internship hours because it’s stupid, but that topic’s been hashed once or twice ;)</p>
<p>
Some schools do not allow credits for paid internships.</p>
<p>Does she need the credit? Which internship is more beneficial to her professionally / academically? I would decide based on that…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Why would a school do that?</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Maybe some arrangement with companies that sign on to provide a certain number of internships to their students?</p>
<p>thank you all…
she does not need the credit for her major; her school requires payment for a “credit” internship ($950/credit “yikes”) and the one that she will be paid for is a better internship (more structured/more involvement etc)…I was just wondering if there was a case where the other one would make more sense…confirming what I already thought…</p>
<p>“Which internship is more beneficial to her professionally / academically? I would decide based on that”… yup, that’s the way…</p>
<p>As an employer, to me a paid internship is worth more. For a firm to pay someone to do something, the work itself has value. A firm wouldn’t just hire anyone for a paying job. I would always ask at interview - “Did you get paid for it?” D1 did a non-paying internship at a finance firm last summer. There were times when she literally was sitting there with nothing to do. The employer didn’t care because she was free. The internship was part of a course.</p>
<p>rodney - you said it is in the same profession, that’s my answer, take the paying job. If it’s a choice of working as a salesperson in a mall vs a non paying internship, I would say take the internship.</p>
<p>oldfort, that may be true for your industry. In science, an unpaid reserach internship that results in a publication may be more valuable for future employers and graduate school applications than being paid for cleaning mouse cages.</p>
<p>"I would always ask at interview - “Did you get paid for it?”…that’s actually good to know…</p>
<p>thanks to all again; she just accepted the position at the paid internship…just to let you all know, the reason why I asked the question in the original post was because the unpaid one was with a nationally recognized company while the paid one is with a boutique firm…didn’t want that to cloud your judgment…</p>
<p>thanks again…</p>
<p>BB - you are right. I have no experience or insight into the science research area.</p>
<p>My daughter had a no pay-for credit internship with a large multi national bank after her junior year. It was in New York, and she planned on moving there after graduation.</p>
<p>She received great experience and contacts. The senior people in charge of her group gave her references and got her interviews at companies that were hiring. </p>
<p>(She was not offered a position from her internship, there was a hiring freeze due to the economy and she knew this going in.)</p>
<p>Because of the credits that she received from the internship, coupled with AP credits, she was able to graduate early and we did not have to pay for spring semester.</p>
<p>
All the more reason, IMO, to go with the paid internship. My d had an internship at a small local company; she got to do anything and everything. Then she got one at a nationally-known, larger company; was pigeonholed into her department, a lot less to do and a lot less cross-learning going on.</p>