<p>I hope to attend Stanford in two years (i'm currently a Sophomore in high school) and I'm wondering how a certain internship will look to Stanford. I will be doing a business internship at an IT company as well as learning about corporate networking in Jakarta, Indonesia for around 6 weeks this summer. I think this will look impressive to Stanford, but it really doesn't show how i'm helping others in my community. Any thoughts on how Stanford will view my sophomore summer internship?</p>
<p>There is no requirement that everyone has to ‘help others’ in order to get into HYPMS or similarly selective schools. Nor do you have to do it on the other side of the world, although it certainly makes it sound exotic.</p>
<p>A ‘one off’ internship doesn’t mean a lot to anyone - but if this is part of your lifelong passion for Indonesia, or one example of your burgeoning entrepreneurial spirit, or a really cool way to pay for your wanderlust or the way your family is grooming you to take over their multinational - then yes, it sounds like a great idea. And while you are there, immerse yourself in the culture (because if the job is a dud, you can still get something valuable out of the experience). And someone in admissions might find it compelling too.</p>
<p>I have talked with my host in Jakarta, and if all goes well, then it would be likely that I would go back to Indonesia my Junior year as well. So, I don’t think this will be a ‘one off’ internship and I will be doing things there that I am genuinely interested in pursuing as a future career.</p>