<p>I am currently a junior and am looking to apply to Wharton next year during my senior year for admissions the following year. I know it is early but at the moment Wharton would be my top choice school.</p>
<p>I am wondering how much value doing a research-based internship could have in my application. For example, if I did one in economics or finance or another related field with a professor or ph.d. student, working for/with them to assist on his/her research. </p>
<p>Wharton will be a little bit of a long-shot for me given my coursework, grades, SAT scores, and extracirrucluars, but let's be real, who isn't it a long-shot for. I guess I'm just wondering how worthwhile this sort of internship/assistantship experience would be, particularly in the lens of admissions.</p>
<p>Of course it would help your chances, but let’s be real, even an incredible internship could not make up for lacking grades and test scores at Wharton. </p>
<p>If you are a classic CCer worrying your 3.83 and 2290 isn’t good enough, then forget what I am about to say, but if not, I would recommend spending time on getting your scores up, rather than devoting hours to a laborious research internship that probably wouldn’t even affect your chances. Good luck</p>
<p>Thank you for your quick response. I wouldn’t say that I’m a classic CCer because I’m only getting on the ball now. While I have good grades and am doing well on the practice SATs I’m taking, I haven’t taken the most advanced coursework or pursued many extracurriculars–in other words, my application as it stands would not particularly stand out. I definitely wouldn’t do this at the detriment of school work or SAT studying ; if I felt that I’m struggling with either, it’d be out of the question. I guess I’m just thinking at this stage of the game, what would be a better use of time – joining a few activities like debate team or pursuing an opportunity like this in which maybe I could even participate in a research publication.</p>