<p>I have just gotten word that it is highly possible that I get an internship through a program known as the Emma Bowen Foundation. This is a program that gives students an internship at a well-known company around their area. For my area in Beaverton, Oregon, it would be Comcast. I would be doing marketing jobs and promotional advertising jobs etc etc for comcast and probably a $10.00/hr wage. They also provide matching funds of however much you make towards your college tuition. Which means if I make 2500 during the summer with them, I get 2500 added to cover some college tuition. However, the program requires that I work 40 hours a week for 8 weeks during my summer. Additionally, it has a contract that makes you do this for 5 years in a row, every summer, at the same location (Oregon). However, once you graduate, there is a high potential that you can get a job straight out of college at one of the participating firms (ABC, CBS, Comcast, Disney, etc).</p>
<p>Since I will be going to UCLA, that would mean i would have to come home for the majority of the summer working there at the same internship. </p>
<p>Now I feel this is an awesome opportunity and all, but there are some things I find as a downside because this is such a huge commitment for me. First of all, I would need to come up to Oregon every summer for 8 weeks at least. For OOS students, do they usually just go home for around that much time? Also, if I do this, I'm sure I wont have time to do different internships, simply because it may be too much for me....</p>
<p>So what is your advice for me? Do it or dont? Do the benefits outweigh the costs?</p>
<p>Will you have to do this every summer or just the first summer? If only for one summer, test drive it. Although you will be limiting your options (other internships), not many companies are willing to match your earnings and put that towards tuition. Sounds like a great opportunity.</p>
<p>cant you back out of it if you find out you cant fit it in your schedule or if you find out you hate it? i'm sure you dont sign your soul away to them...whats the worst they can do if you quit?</p>
<ul>
<li>What if you want to, or 'need' to, take some summer classes? This is an especially important question if you're in Engineering or some other tough areas of study.</li>
<li>What if you want to study abroad over a summer?</li>
<li>What if you want to intern at some other companies that would help your employment opportunities later?</li>
<li>Is the money from this internship significant enough to you to lose the flexibility? Their matching funds are only about 10% of the cost of going to UCLA.</li>
<li>Trying to pin you down contractually for 5 years of your life at this changing phase of your life seems like an odd thing for any company to do. If you end up not liking it but staying only for the matching funds, the company ends up with an unhappy worker which isn't good for either the company or the employee (and certainly not the customers).</li>
<li>The last summer commitment will chain you to a low-paying job after you've graduated. In that same timeframe, you could possibly earn enough to negate several summers worth, if not all, of their matching funds. This will be more exacerbated if you graduate early (I don't know what your major is). Many people can graduate from the UCs in less than 4 years if they want to depending on their major.</li>
</ul>
<p>This doesn't sound like a very good deal at all to me.</p>
<p>agree with the above poster. It seems dubious that a company would try to tie you to a 5 year contract this early on in your life, I don't even know if something like that is enforceable. Either way, I would play it safe. You'll have far better opportunities once you get to UCLA anyway.</p>
<p>I would still say don't worry about. business economics majors (we have no "business" major) can get better opportunities than PR jobs with comcast.</p>
<p>The answer to what people do in the summer varies considerably. My UCSD daughter (3rd year) has spent her summers taking additional classes at UCSD and also did a study-abroad class in Europe so her summers were quite filled even though she lived at home in the summer. Some other people just go home and chill or work during the summer. Yet others go home and take classes at a local college in the summer to help get rid of some GEs. Once one moves off campus, they frequently keep the apartment in the summer and stick around.</p>
<p>If you're fairly certain that you want to spend every summer at home, not study abroad, and not take any summer classes, and the work being offered sounds pretty good to you (but then, you haven't done it yet and it's not much fun not being able to quit), then maybe you should take it. It just doesn't sound like you're certain at all.</p>
<p>I think this is the wrong time in your life to make such a committment. There are too many changes about to take place and you have no idea how your ideas and interests will change over the coming year. I would wait till next summer and if you are still interested I would consider the offer then, if it's still available and you're still interested.</p>
<p>Hmm, are the dorms even open during the summer if i wanted to take summer classes? I dont quite know if I should/will take summer classes because I don't know what it would help me do.</p>
<p>Don't do it. I mean come on, no summer for 4 years. I'm sure there are internships that do not require you to be their slave for 4 summers. If its just the money than get a job. You are young and will have many opportunities, it is not worth 4 summers.</p>