Going to be applying to some top 20 schools next year, and I feel good about my grades and test scores, while my extracurriculars are OK. I’m wondering, however, whether my work experience is going to be a serious problem.
So far, I’ve got a week as an intern in local government (intended majors: political science/government/etc) and I expect to spend a fair part of the summer working at my local library. I’ve been a paid tutor for the last two years (primarily math and french). I’ve done some volunteering for a local NGO’s staff, but this isn’t exactly work experience. Apart from some odd jobs, that’s it.
My question is this: will this be a real weakness of my application? Or will it merely be lackluster-at this point, work experience isn’t likely to be an exceptional strength of my profile, but as long as it doesn’t hurt me I’m not too worried.
If the above is indeed far too little, can you offer some suggestions for improving this part of my application?
Note that finding paid work in the area I live is difficult-one needs to be at least 18 for the vast majority of jobs, including those typically held by teenagers in the US, or have a work permit (for jobs in the neighboring country). Any work experience will need to be of the unpaid variety.