Hi all -
Really curious about this subject as it pertains to myself and many of my friends. If you were a college admissions officer, which is better: an internship (paid or unpaid), a summer program at a university (prestigious or not as prestigious), or a paid summer job (i.e. working at a restaurant, camp)? Personally, I have secured a paid internship at a start up in Chicago. I’m looking to apply to some mid-upper level undergrad business schools (reach = NYU, safety = UIUC in-state) - will they look upon this favorably? Do I have to write about this in my essay or supplements, or is there room to list it other places in the application? Any thoughts on this subject would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
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A paid internship/job that relates to your academic and/or professional goals is generally the most desirable, since you both earn money and gain work experience.
Unpaid internships can be dodgy with respect to labor laws. If you can only find unpaid internships, take that as a sign that the entry level job market for that type of job is weak, so consider alternate career directions.
@ucbalumnus So do you think a paid internship looks more favorable to an admissions person than a summer program related to one’s major?
Most universities’ summer sessions are not very selective, so merely being admitted to them does not signal a high level of achievement. It may be more notable if you choose relatively advanced (i.e. more advanced than frosh level or what AP courses try to emulate) college courses and do well in them, though it would make more of a difference if you also took relatively advanced college courses during the regular school year while you are in high school.
Taking college courses during the summer or while in high school can help you get a taste of how college courses are run and how they differ from high school (including AP) courses, so that you can be better prepared for when you actually enter college as a college frosh.
I would be careful about taking overly advanced courses on summer programs. Anyone know if these courses are part of your permanent college record even if you do not attend that school? Possible these course will be with you forever. If you screw them up that will be with you forever as well. It is summer unless everyone around you is very motivated you are not going to be staying up nights with Chemistry when everyone else who took media studies is going out.
There are more selective summer programs that are low cost such as the Garcia Program at Stonybrook. You only pay for housing and do research
From what I heard from admissions officers any of the alternatives you noted would be equally fine. They basically want people doing something positive over the summer regardless of what it is.
@happy1 Thanks for the help. That’s what I figured. I’m sure either a job/internship or program is equally valuable. One offers work experience and the other offers increased academic rigor.
How many paid internships are available to high school students? I know all of the ones I was looking at were almost exclusively targeted towards those who had completed their freshman, but usually sophomore year of college.
Yes, college courses taken before high school graduation will be part of your record when you apply to colleges or graduate/professional schools later.
A prestigious summer program can do wonders though, from what I’ve heard. I’m thinking along the lines of Research Science Institute and Telluride Association Summer Programs.
For top schools, I think the best choice is the option that supports a demonstrated interest in the subject you are interested in majoring in.
I got a $10,000 scholarship to study Statistical Reasoning and the Physics of Global Affaris (mostly Climate Change and Terrorism) at Carnegie Mellon. I plan on studying Environmental Science/ Policy and International Development in college. Does this look as good as say an internship at the EPA (I could not find any for highschoolers haha)?
And if this is worthy, how should I put it down on my common app? I’n the EC section or Summer Activity section? How should I present it?
@Much2learn This seems like the maybe the most reasonable answer. I guess this is what I concluded earlier; both an internship or summer program related to one’s future major are equally optimal for admissions.
Internship by far. Don’t take a paid summer job like working at a restaurant for college apps- it simply doesn’t work. And most summer programs are very expensive and are not selective. The exceptions to this rule (e.g. RSI) are very good though.
@chifan23 We have expected our kids to stay academically focused in the summer and only work if the can find something career related. If they can’t find that then we have asked them to participate in a program or class that will allow the to explore an area of potential academic interest (DD2 is going to engineering camp at a Notre Dame for 2 weeks this summer.)
While I think this is the best approach, we took a lot of flack from SOs family when DD1 did not work in high school. We got multiple comments about how their kids were working at tasty twirl or chicken shack by 16, and how DD1 is 18 and should be working too. Not being cc posters, they did not see the value in summer classes at Northwestern and MIT. They were more confused when DD1 announced she was going to attend Penn (never heard of it). Now at 19 she has her first paying job as a research assistant for a Wharton Prof. (They never heard of that either). So far, most of the fam seems to see our approach as an epic failure. I think it is paying off, but I had not anticipated the criticism.
Would an admission officer prefer a person attending RSI or a person doing an internship at a renown university?
@NParker I think it is more important to do one of these activities that is related to what you think you think you want to study. If that happens to be RSI or an internship at a renown university, so be it.
Any of the three look fine on college applications. Once you are in college, of course, internships related to your field of study are very important. I’m always a little leery of high school students saying they have paid internships - what skills/experience do you actually have that enticed this employer to hire you? Are you actually doing hands on work or just making copies, etc?
My D is a rising sophomore and landed a f/t pharmacy tech. position for the summer…and she’s not even pursuing pharmacy. I feel kind of bad since a co-workers son is in 5th year pharmacy school and was only able to land a 3/week unpaid volunteer position at a hospital. I told my D her job will look good on her resume since she’s pursing a science related major. She’s also working as a lifeguard at a local country club so her summer is full.