<p>Hey I'm going into my senior year and am not sure what things I should be doing. I'm working at a hospital doing work not necessarily with the doctors but with the administration. Does this count as Internship or not? If not which looks better to colleges internship or volunteer hours? What is the difference between internship and volunteer work?
On another note, I'm taking four AP classes this coming year but also have only taken SAT once junior year in which I didn't do so well. Would it be better for me to prepare for the SAT or study ahead for the APs?</p>
<p>Focus on your SATs. There is no place on the Common Application to provide AP scores (although you can submit them as additional info if you like). Schools don’t use AP scores in their formula’s to determine if you are are a viable candidate. If you do poorly on the SAT even after studying, you might want to try the ACT.</p>
<p>Volunteering vs. Interning: One isn’t ‘better’ than the other. It depends on what you learn and what kind of impact you have. Internships are supposed to include some component of training, education, mentoring and shadowing as a component of the work you do. If you are doing work that the organization doesn’t have to pay someone to do - or couldn’t afford to pay someone to do - then you are volunteering. There can be overlap - some volunteer positions include some training. Some internships require you to do work that doesn’t really require any training or education. The title isn’t what matters here.</p>
<p>Thanks! That was really helpful.</p>
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<p>I think you’re mistaken here, under the test scores section of the application you can provide your AP scores (or list tests that you plan to take that year). Of course, none of this requires official verification, but some may argue that it does help provide perspective on the actual rigor of the AP courses you’ve taken.</p>
<p>Your transcript already shows the degree of rigor, including any AP courses you took and the grades you got. I don’t remember a place in the test section of the Common App to put in AP scores, but maybe I’ve forgotten, or it’s changed since my kids applied. As of 3 years ago, there was no place to put AP scores - you had to write them in under the ‘additional info’. In any case, the point remains, that it’s not part of the formula schools use to determine whether your program was sufficiently rigorous. That’s because many schools offer few or no APs and colleges don’t want to penalize those who attend those schools.</p>
<p>Does the hospital consider your work to be an internship? You can’t just call something an internship just because you want to - an internship is usually a specific program, involving a mentor, training, and often a fixed schedule. Listing an internship on your application is impressive, but only if it really is an internship. Otherwise if they follow up and learn you were “only” a volunteer, you will look like a liar, not someone they want to admit.</p>
<p>I think an internship is *usually more impressive than volunteer work, since there are some restrictions, while virtually anything can be volunteer work. For example, in my state internships must provide college credit or a salary/stipend.</p>
<p>*disclaimer</p>