<p>2 questions for CC members: How important is work experience for college applications and is summer internship or year round internship considered as work experience? My son is a junior and he just turned 16 in December so could not work anywhere before this year. Also, he wants to go for law later on. Does he need to do "law related" work or any work anywhere, for eg. working in a grocery store or teaching in a "Kumon math and reading" facility count the same? Thanks in advance for the replies.</p>
<p>Work experience is not important for college applications, except for schools like Hotel management. Many students do not decide they want to go into law until they are in college,and often they change their mind about their majors or career while they are in college. I think adcoms just want to know how an applicant is spending his time. It could be at a job, volunteer work, research, sports, dance, music. Hopefully it is something he enjoys. What they don’t want to see is to have someone playing xbox all day. I think teaching in a Kumon facility is great if that’s what he likes to do.</p>
<p>Thanks Oldfort. My son’s major interest this summer is TASP, if he gets in that is. But TASP being so highly selective and competitive, we are thinking of alternatives, during summer and during the school year as well, maybe on the week-ends. Yes, he loves math, but until he starts teaching kids at Kumon, he will not know if he likes the job. The other alternative might be to work in a law firm, which may be just volunteering or if he is lucky, may be a paid internship. Looking at the present day economy, latter seems difficult.</p>
<p>I know that at least one prominent admissions consultant (Hernandez) suggests that work experience - even non-academic work like bussing tables or bagging groceries - is potentially helpful to an application. Here’s an excerpt from one of the newsletters she sent out last week:</p>
<p>"As you probably know by now, the Common Application has added a
new category called WORK EXPERIENCE with five or so lines of
description. Getting a job is as important today to admissions
officers as community service was ten years ago. </p>
<p>Many well-heeled and well-intentioned parents are convinced that
it would benefit their children to talk to someone who could
arrange an unusual or prestigious internship for summer. Their
goal is to pull in a favor or two to acquire fancy internships
for their kids. Colleges are not stupid and can usually figure
out that someone pulled a string — otherwise, how could a normal
16-year-old with virtually no qualifications end up working in a
high-profile law firm or an investment bank? In fact, having this
kind of internship often backfires because colleges then hold it
against the student because he/she obviously couldn’t find
his/her own job or meaningful experience without adult help. </p>
<p>Colleges look for students who create opportunities for
themselves, not simply those who have things handed to them on a
silver platter."</p>
<p>Wow, thanks Fauxnom, I didn’t think of it this way. You are absolutely right, in that I would have had to ask my immigration lawyer or other lawyer friends to arrange for an internship for my son. May be bagging groceries in our local store would serve 3 purposes-earn some money, learn to manage that money and spend time judiciously and safely.</p>
<p>I think our kids should spend their summers and free time pursuing those activities of personal interest which could be work experience (camp counselor, life guard, tutoring, helping in a nursing home, library aide, etc.), and could be other things (travel, community college course, visiting grandparents, etc.) Keep in mind that many students change their career goals. Just explore different options and let your kid decide what is best for his/her personal development. You should not feel stressed to plan blocks of free time to meet the needs of college applications.</p>