Hey guys, is it true that internships / job experience is really important to get admission into top colleges? I mean it would obviously look good on your resumè, but do colleges place as much emphasis on it as I’ve been told?
(P.S. I’ve been told that colleges want to see that you research things you’re interested in, which is a reason why internships are important for admissions).
ECs (such as job experience or internships) are really only a tip factor amongst very selective colleges. And even for them, an internship is no greater or less than say someone else who works at Dairy Queen over a summer or is involved in off-season conditioning or camps for her sport.
Someone else recently posted is it important to be a great athlete to get into Ivies. The answer to that is the same as this. While nice, there is no formula – beyond EXCELLENCE.
How the applicant displays this is open to interpretation and kids get in with from a variety of backgrounds and achievements
@T26E4 Well surely there could be must be some internships that are more impressive than others, right? Wouldn’t a securing a competitive internship at NASA or a competitive internship on the Hill for a US Congressman that is typically reserved for undergrads outweigh a job at Dairy Queen? I can understand how a job at Dairy Queen can demonstrate many positive attributes of an applicant, but wouldn’t the other two examples be potentially viewed as more impressive? Just curious!
Sure some internships are more impressive than others but I think there is some skepticism too unless it’s an established competitive program that many of these internships are not based only on a student’s credentials but nepotism. There is no 1 magic ticket to get into these schools, it’s the whole package and a story that makes sense.
^ I agree with this. Your citing of a NASA internship is like someone saying a state golfing champion. Both are attractive, both are very rare. But doesn’t apply to 99.99% of people
@T26E4 @acdchai
What’s the line then between a “significant” internship/work experience to a “non-significant” internship/work experience in terms of resume? Also, most of the questions about internships seem to be research/science-based? What about business-oriented internships?
The reason I’m asking is that I’m currently interning at a small digital media marketing/production company that I gained an intern position at without nepotism (just good old-fashioned proactive outreach). How does this compare to something like “a NASA” internship per se? And how would I show to admissions officers that I obtained an intern position without any help (as opposed to nepotism?) It’s not as if I could just write “I obtained an internship without nepotism” on the Common App.
(Sorry if this is hi-jacking the original post, but I feel as though my questions are relevant enough to the OP)
Committees look at the overall picture rather than one individual activity or internship. The person with the digital media internship obtained without family connections probably has other positive traits that are going to be communicated through the application, whether it is through the letters of rec, the other types of activities, etc.
No one thing such as an internship will make or break any college application. The idea is to use your time constructively. For some that may be working a job, for others that can be volunteering etc. An internship is another good use of one’s time but is not close to being an essential element of an application.
Colleges don’t expect HS students to have internships, because meaningful professional internships are typically only open to college students.Therefore, AdComms are aware that often times HS students get internships via nepotism, just to pad a college application.
@PrimeMeridian Thanks for the assistance; how would I let “AdComms” know that I didn’t get my internship through nepotism? I feel there’s a general consensus that internships are looked down upon because they rely so much on these connections: How do I explain that I didn’t get my internship this way?
My internship is both “meaningful” and “professional” in that I perform hands-on and critical tasks (not the usual coffee fetching) and professional in that the company I intern for is I guess a real company? (I don’t know whats meant by professional here). So it’s not as if I got some low-level, sketchy intern position at a wacky company.
I respectfully disagree with post #8 above. I don’t think it is assumed that all internships are a result of nepotism. Briefly describe what you did in the internship and you should be fine.
Your choices simply are to list it or not list it.
And if you list it, then your next choice is whether you want to discuss it or some other topic in your essay. But consider whether an essay about the internship will actually be interesting for a AdComm to read or just put them to sleep.
As other posters have already pointed out, an internship during HS isn’t going to make or break a college application.
^^^One can expand on an internship (or anything) in an essay (but you would need to discuss how the internship impacted/changed you and not just talk about the work you did), in the additional comments section, or by attaching a resume which expands on the work done. You can discuss with your guidance counselor how best to present the internship if you feel it needs more explanation.
Yeah, my GC said that internships provide a good topic for essays, plus it shows colleges that you make use of free time.
Problem is that she’s still trying to get me to intern somewhere, but I’m pretty busy now with exams and subject tests, so I wanted to weigh how important they’d really be to my application and if I should compromise.
@samc24 @happy1 @PrimeMeridian Thank you all so for much your input! I’ll definitely consider your advice when deciding how to integrate this internship into my college application!
Whatever topic you pick for an essay, keep the larger goal in mind: make sure it’s something that gives the admissions reader a reason to say YES, and it’s not just a rambling explanation of how the internship wasn’t obtained via nepotism.
" Wouldn’t a securing a competitive internship at NASA or a competitive internship on the Hill for a US Congressman that is typically reserved for undergrads outweigh a job at Dairy Queen? I can understand how a job at Dairy Queen can demonstrate many positive attributes of an applicant, but wouldn’t the other two examples be potentially viewed as more impressive? Just curious!"
It might not have occurred to you that not everyone is upper middle class such that they could go live in DC over the summer. Some kids need to work at DQ because they need to help their families or because that’s how they are going to be able to afford colleges. You’re trying to put these things in descending order, like the Dc internship is worth 100 points and the DQ summer job is worth 80. It doesn’t work that way. Both have a shot.