Internship and Volunteering

Applying to College
1

<p>I am seriously considering a long term volunteer opportunity at the UW Medical Center. I'm also going to talk to my HS counselor about an internship. I have a few questions:
1. Will an internship or long term volunteer opportunity that isn't related to my choice of career look not as good on an application?
2. Is it generally better to volunteer or intern at a company?
3. would I be able to not only list the hours volunteered at the medical center but call it an internship? the description of the volunteer opportunity includes this:</p>

<p>Gain experience in an academic medical center.
Work with health-care professionals.
Assist in providing services to patients.
Gain experience working as part of a team.
Develop leadership skills.</p>

<p>I really would be enjoying this or whatever internship I do, I'm just wondering about putting it on a college application.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

2

<p>Personally, I think any kind of internship is good. That looks like a great internship, even if you don’t want to go into medicine. Many colleges ask how you spent your summers and generally speaking you want to be able to put things on there that show your deisre to learn and make a difference in the world. I think this would fit that category. Then you could write an essay or two on it and perhaps get a rec from someone you worked with there. I’d say go for it!</p>

3

<p>Any significant internship or volunteer activity (significant meaning not entirely clerical) is a great learning experience and it looks good when you apply to schools. You could get a good recommendation out of it, not to mention material for some essays. And who knows where it will lead you? You may not have an interest in medicine, but hospitals face interesting legal, social service, political and economic issues.</p>