Hi all,
I’m a junior who is very interested in Wharton and its courses. I don’t have much going on this summer; do you think a Wharton professor would take me as an intern for some project of theirs? I’m experienced in business but obviously nowhere near the level of their research publications.
How could I approach a professor?
@doorrealthe as a high school junior I imagine that would be hard since there is no shortage of Penn students looking for summer research positions with professors here.I am not sure how you would go about achieving that. If you are interested in Wharton look at the LBW summer program. It doesn’t mean that if you do it your chances of acceptances are improved but you will get a feel for wharton and penn in general and also gain knowledge in the field.
Depend on how good you are, you would definitely have to be better than the avg Wharton undergraduate. Or else why would they take you in？ Just so you can put it on your resume？
Your only chance would be if you’ve done research before with a Professor at another university. If you want to send an abstract to a bunch of Professors in a department of interest and offer to unofficially volunteer (I say unofficially b/c I don’t think unpaid positions are allowed), you can see what happens (I doubt you’ll get offered anything, but worth a shot).
Thanks for responding guys!
Hmm. What do you guys think about just offering myself as some sort of data cruncher or number gatherer? Some sort of position that even the undergraduates are too busy/valuable for.
@doorrealthe There’s really no research position that undergraduates are too busy/valuable for. In fact, data analysis and gathering data are very critical roles. What experience do you have with data analysis in order to be a good “data cruncher?”
FWIW, my D who is a junior now had no trouble getting two research positions in science last summer (one was with a Boston College professor and the second was with a Harvard professor). She has been invited back this summer by the Harvard professor.
Yes, it’s a completely different field and different colleges, but to assume that high school students can’t get research positions with college professors is inaccurate.
@hebegebe Fair enough, and I know a lot of people who did a lot of science research in high school, but you don’t hear as much about high schoolers doing research at a business school. I maybe came off the wrong way with how I worded my responses. Sorry for that.
@doorrealthe Doesn’t hurt to try. All wharton profs should have their emails listed on their website, and you can cold email them. If you really want to do this, spend some time looking at each prof’s research interests and be able to explain what area appeals to you. You can always offer to work for free which can make you more attractive