<p>I am choosing between an internship for an assemblymember and a law firm..if i can only do one, which is more prestigious to colleges?</p>
<p>I can’t really answer this but how old are you and how did you find those internships as a high schooler? That’s really awesome, 2 great opportunities. If either of them is paid, go with the paid one.</p>
<p>Wow, I’m in the exact same position, and I chose the law firm. Political internships with assemblymen are very common and easier to get, unless your offered a high position(then choose that) But a law firm is much more prestigious especially if your considering pre-law. For me, my internship is at the nyc law department, which looks much better than interning for Jeffrey Dinowitz lol.</p>
<p>Anyways, maybe you can even try doing both. But chose which ever is more legit and prestigious. Good luck!</p>
<p>It all depends on what you want to do. If your end goal is to get into law school, both could be of equal benefit. As a high school student you will most likely be filing in the law firm and have minimum networking opportunities. Depending on the type of internship with the Assemblyman you may be likely to have opportunities to meet and network with various important people.
As someone who got involved in politics in High School I would say the assemblyman internship offers a lot of possibilities, but only if you are genuinely interested. If your only goal is to use your internship as a stepping stone for college, a genuine letter of recommendation from a politician can’t hurt.
My advice is to pick what you would be more passionate about. The more motivated you are, the greater the chance of getting real and meaningful assignments.</p>
<p>I think the words “prestige” and “prestigious” should be eradicated from the vocabulary of high school and college students. Asking about “prestige” is an indicator of asking the wrong kind of question about potential experiences and rewards and people are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too concerned with it.</p>
<p>Couldn’t agree more. One of my mentors told me its not where you have worked its what you have done. Yes to a degree it matters what level of organization you have worked for. But chances are everyone else applying for prestigious schools or jobs have just as many connections as you do. So it doesn’t matter if you worked at the top law firm in the area if all you were doing was filing papers.
If you approach an internship as a chance to learn more about your interests and expand your skills it will pay off. Especially if you are starting as a high schooler being able to excel in a lower level internship now will allow you to grow to get a truly competitive and meaningful internship and job in the long run.</p>
<p>Following up on that, Apolitico, I’m aware of people who got internships in very prestigious offices based on various kinds of personal connections and then did nothing with the opportunity. As you say, it’s what you do with it. </p>
<p>Funny how people with a strong work ethic and demonstrated reliability are given some of the better assignments as time goes by. And if they do a good job when given an opportunity to use, say, writing skills then they get more of the same. If you’re off taking inappropriate breaks, are in to the office late or leave early, or gossip with other interns about which supervisors don’t like you or whom you don’t like, you’re kicking it into the weeds. (About the last…it never occurs to some of these people who the anonymous person they pass in the hallway or who is seated at the next table in the cafeteria might know and have a chat with later in the day.)</p>