<p>hey all</p>
<p>i brought this up in the careers section of the forum, but response is weak there, but does having a solid internship with the CEO of a marketing company that will get me a strong letter of recommendation signed by the CEO and board of directiors give me a extra boost for getting into a school like wharton?</p>
<p>alot of people say that everyone needs a ‘hook’ to get into these kind of schools, so would this satisfy the definition of a hook, and a good one?</p>
<p>I don't mean to steal your form but I too have a really strong internship at a tech company...</p>
<p>What would be the best way to put that in the application?? Should I write about it in my essay?? I plan on that sorta being my hook?</p>
<p>how r u sending in your recs? i intern at a corporate law firm and some of the attorneys i worked with offered to write me recs. am i supposed to attach them to my app or something? or should they mail them? i want to apply online...to the college btw, not wharton.</p>
<p>Well, having a strong internship can't hurt, but it might not necessarily help that much. it's still just an EC</p>
<p>I don't think having an internship is a hook, though, unless you're interning with NASA or something, you know? (which has been done before by people on this board). a hook might be something for which you can be recruited, such as being the national swimming champion or something. or if they need a bassoon player this year and you happen to be really good.</p>
<p>corporatelaw, can anyone write a good rec for you? if not (sometimes recs written by people unfamiliar with the admissions process may not turn out too well), summarize it as best as you can in a line or so to put in your EC space. if you can brag a lot in as few words as possible, that would be good.</p>
<p>bluehunny, it'd be better if the corporate law firm mailed it to the undergrad office on official letterhead/envelope and everything. sealed and signed. the office can also hand you the rec, but sealed and signed; then you can mail it yourself if you want.</p>
<p>thanks afaforce. for me personally i have my internship at the tech company, which i could have someone write a letter of rec but dont think theyd have much experience with college appps. i kinda thought that letters not from teachers or counsalers didn't hold any weight??? also i have an intership in the judical system which i could have the judge i interned for write a letter??? and i plan to have an intership for a senator or congressman this year.</p>
<p>i agree that an internship might not hold that much weight as it is only an ec...especially if all i say about it is on that part of the app.</p>
<p>so is having a letter of rec sent in by whoever you interned for the best way to get the attention of the adcoms?? i have been working at this tech company for 4 years now and its really been a big part of my life and i have done a ton for the company and want to show that off??</p>
<p>For everyone who is interning, there are a couple ways to show it off in your application. First, you must list the internship in the EC section--just the title, dates of employment, and a brief description of what you did; you have to put it in the EC list to put the adcom on notice. Second, you could write about it in your essay if it has a substantial impact on you, your future career goals etc. If you don't want to write about it in your essay or you don't have room, you could attach an addendum [like 1-2 paragraphs max; in the EC list say 'see addendum for detail'] that states what you did at the internship, what type of projects you worked on, what you learned etc. Finally, you could show off the internship with a recommendation. </p>
<p>Recs are tricky because you can always send in 1 extra, but you don't want to send in too many. Also, the same rule applies for outside recs as for teacher recs--you want the writer to know you really well and to be able to speak about your abilities, give some examples of outstanding projects you've done, and how your personal qualities will help you succeed at Wharton. If you're getting a rec from someone you've interned for I would REALLY sit down and talk to them about it and let them know that it should be a specific recommendation and that it would be nice if it discussed the types of factors listed above [not just a 'Joe is a nice kid, smartest HS student I know, and will do great at Wharton' type of rec]. DO NOT just assume that because someone is an attorney or other highly educated professional, he will know what to write in a rec because people tend to forget about the admissions process once they've been out of school for a while. People tend to think that recommendations should just make these grand statements of how great an applicant is and how wonderful he'd be at that school and don't want to include examples because they seem trivial. In contrast, examples of the type of work you've done or how you worked hard in a particularly difficult situation is what helps the adcom learn more about you. </p>
<p>The other thing to think about with an internship rec is--will it give off the impression that the writer doesn't know you really well and you're only sending in this rec to influence the adcom? You'd be shocked how many people do this; lots of people work for senators but only meet the senator 1 time in person and get a rec and all the rec will say is 'X is a great kid and my staffers say he does a good job.' If its that type of situation, its much better for your application for the rec to be from the senator's staffers or the judge's law clerks that you worked with daily because they actually know you. Same for getting a rec signed by a CEO + board of directors. Its easy to understand that you got to work with the CEO daily in a small/mid size company but does every board member actually know you and your work? If not, then do not get them to write or sign a rec because it'll look kind of obvious--particularly for a large corporation where the board is larger than just the CEO, CFO, COO.</p>
<p>The procedural part of handing in a rec is the easiest. Just get them to fill out the small form that goes with the letter and write the letter, and give you both in a sealed envelope--you just include that unopened envelope with the rest of the application. If you've done an internship and aren't way over the recommendation limit, I would hand in an internship recommendation. But realize that internships are not that uncommon for Wharton applicants. Thus, a particularly stellar internship recommendation may push you over the top but the internship alone may not; thus, do not assume that just because you worked at Goldman Sachs or worked for an influential gov't office, that you're automatically going to stand out in the applicant pool by virtue of having that name on your resume. Instead, use that internship as another way to show the adcom more about you and why they should accept you.</p>
<p>Hope this helps. Feel free to post/PM other questions.</p>
<p>Browse down: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=87592%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=87592</a></p>
<p>thanks aj725. good advice.</p>
<p>i especially agree about geting the rec letter written by someone who dosn't really know you. so if say by the time i finish up hs i have somthing like 3 or 4 differnt internships then i get one really good letter of rec from one of them for the other 2 i should write a 2 paragraph ammendum for the ones that i have left? thats not over the top?</p>
<p>im planning to appply to 6-10 differnt colleges so do i need to ask the person writting the letter of rec to make 10 differnt sealed copies?? </p>
<p>if next summer i can get a differnt internship at a differnt type of company im thinking either a midsize m & a company or brokerage house would it look like i am doing to many differnt things?? considering i am going to have my policitical and other internships??</p>
<p>If some of these internships are unpaid does that count for volunteer work on the app???</p>
<p>I think your goal should be to get an internship where you actually get to do real work not just filing or xeroxing. Look for upward movement and more responsibility. Of course its hard to really put in the effort when you care only about apps but if you really liked the work then it should be possible to get responsibility. That should be your goal not just what looks good for college apps.</p>
<p>And no it doesnt count as volunteer work.</p>
<p>alright so assuming my internships are real work is it bad to have several that seem unrelated?? or better to stick with one or 2 throughtout the 4 years??</p>
<p>the best way to show off the internship (assuming you dont want too many letters of rec or the boss wont write a good one) is to write a 2 paragraph amendum about the activity??</p>
<p>corporatelaw, don't worry bout the internship unless it's something huge that you seek to really really show off. Doesn't sound special to me, no offense.</p>
<p>Now you can mention it as an EC, and no one cares if they're related or not, but I don't think its worth setting up as a big part of your app.</p>