<p>Hello, I'm a junior student in Southern California hoping to get some internship done.
I've just recently got into a conversation with my friends about internships and I found that many of them are already doing some. I got in a panic and tried to look for some myself. I hope it's not too late. I know it's too late to do some formal 8 week program.
My dad has a friend who owns a computer repair store. He said he can get me to work there for free, but I'd just be carrying boxes and be doing some heavy lifting. It's not really an internship, but I figured writing that I intern'ed there for my college apps would look nice.</p>
<p>Is this a good idea?
Should I shift my focus into volunteering instead? I only have 50 hours of volunteering currently and I fear I'm behind that as well.</p>
<p>When I saw that you were a junior student, I presumed that you meant a junior in college… if that were the case, not having an internship would make job applications harder. But you’re a junior in high school… having an internship does nearly nothing and certainly no more than having a regular summer job.</p>
<p>Why can’t you apply for a job at Best Buy (or a similar store)? When I was in high school, they hired plenty of 16- and 17-year-olds, and not only do you get decent experience in a support role (it is notably different than what you’d do at a tech company, but support is quite vital to any tech organization) and it’s a well-paying job.</p>
<p>Internships for high school students are RARELY actually internships. Most of the time, they are jobs that business owners and companies don’t want to pay for, so they call them “internships” in order to get out of the legal requirement to pay for labor. I wouldn’t waste my time, if I were you.</p>
<p>Volunteer work is not internship work. There is a significant difference. When you volunteer, you are doing something good for your community, and you do it so that you try to become a better person (or you do it because you are ambitious and want something on a college application). When you take an internship, it is all about YOU; you are trying to earn experience that will help you in the future, and if you’re not getting paid for it, you should at least be getting some college credits. There is no reason for anyone to give a legitimate internship to high school students because, honestly, high school students are too far away from post-graduate, full time work to be of very much value to any company.</p>
<p>It IS important that you are involved. If volunteering is your passion, explore it. Much of my college applications had to do with my work experience… it wasn’t some glorious story of serving my community; it was a real story about how working long hours for low pay with hard-to-deal-with people all around really shaped me and gave me a level-headed perspective on life.</p>
<p>Colleges care about passions, whether they are jobs, service, sports or anything else. But internships? It’s pretty easy to see when something is valueless…</p>
<p>The work I do is basically putting stickers on boxes and then taping them shut.
It’s very tedius work and other people are being paid to do the same thing.
Would it look better for colleges if I were to be paid to do it?
Honestly I only want to do what’s best for college.</p>