<p>My parents have recently asked me to come up with a plan for the rest of my college career (which is reasonable because they expect me to graduate at the end of my third year, which is next year), and I'm wondering if it might be more valuable to intern or study abroad this summer. The study abroad thing is an EXTREMELY competitive and I think prestigious language immersion program (~600 out of more than 5,000 applicants) in Russia paid for by the DoS and it isn't at all a sure thing that I'll get accepted, but if I did get accepted I would be passing up the chance to do this internship (so basically I'm wondering if I should even apply). The internship is a 4-week digital media internship at my university, which I think would look great on my resume since I'm a liberal arts major. Edit: also, the internship is paid and apparently if they like you you can continue to work for them during the semester. </p>
<p>Anyway, I know this post is extremely disorganized, but if you can make sense of it, any advice is greatly appreciated. What would you do if your son/daughter came to you with these options? (Again, this is making the grand assumption that I do actually apply for get accepted to this State Department program)</p>
<p>My daughter applied for a critical language scholarship in Russia a few years ago. (didn’t get it) Are your numbers for the whole program, because I think they only take about 80 for Russia. She realized that chances were slim for acceptance, and continued to apply for other internships while she waited to hear. They expect a certain level of knowledge of Russian beforehand.</p>
<p>Do you have any idea what you’re interested in doing for a career? The experience with the Russian language would be desirable by some employers/job functions but others really wouldn’t care at all about it if your position with them doesn’t require the language capability. If you have an interest in working for the DoS, CIA, NSA, etc. it seems that it’d be a big plus which is probably why the DoS is funding it in the first place.</p>
<p>Likewise, the internship is relevant to that particular job area but if you don’t plan to be employed in that area it’s of less relevance. Since it’s not an internship at an actual company it may have even less relevance. But if that’s the area you want to be in then this is probably the better choice.</p>
<p>Are you actually on track to graduate after 3 years, i.e. next year? If not then you have another summer to do both of these. You can also check the details but is it possible for you to do the language program even after you graduate with your UG degree - perhaps between UG and grad if you plan to go directly to grad school? Maybe you could do the internship this summer and the language thing next summer.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies so far. At this point I’ve pretty much decided to go for the internship this summer, make some money and pick up some marketable skills (graphic design, animation, film editing etc), POSSIBLY study abroad in Spain during the fall contingent on me getting this ridiculous $15,000 dollar language scholarship from my uni, and possibly apply for the Russia thing for next summer.</p>
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Right, I was talking about the entire program. I’ve actually been to Russia on an immersive language program before, so I thought that might give me a leg up. I realize chances are extremely slim for everyone who applies.</p>