Internship vs. Job vs. Summer Program

Enjoy your summer! You're in HS.

 

Internship @ a law firm will benefit all of ur future, college app, and learning experience. Although i will suggest u to chill out and enjoy your summer unless u want to apply to top schools like harvard, MIT...

 

Quick pros of each. Doing any one of these is better than doing nothing, so listing cons is pointless.

Summer programs at universities: (1) acclimate to college environment (2) prepare for future classes (3) visit region of country you may not otherwise visit (for instance, spending the summer in New York or Philadelphia would be really fun, plus short weekend road trip or cheap flight to DC and other cities) (4) on your own, away from family obligations for a little bit

Job in energy company: (1) money (2) resume material (3) ability to project experience to evaluate whether or not you'd like a career in the field (4) money

Internship law firm: same as energy company, slightly more impressive on resume

If you're thinking of going to college in the NE in two years, then I'd take either the internship or job (based on where your interests lie), then use that money for a euro-trip or something else-trip.

If you're going to stay in-state or west coast, then the university camps would be a good experience (if it's in a major city) and travel opportunity. If you're going somewhere like Syracuse or Penn State (my alma mater), don't waste your summer, unless the activities you like are 99% outdoors (hiking, biking, other-ings). They're in the middle of nowhere (don't get me wrong, I love the school, but no one's there during the summer).

If you're already planning all this and have internships and whatnot, then I don't think what you'll "learn" at a summer program will add THAT much value, so I wouldn't place too much value on the academics aspect. You'll learn more in real college. I did a summer program at Rice, should've done something else.

 

jesus, how do you have job offers at a law firm and an energy company? i'm a junior in college and i've been scouring the internet for summer internship opportunities. so frustrating.

 

just gotta know the right people really... i worked at an architecture firm for 2 summers during high school. would have served me a whole helluva lot better had i decided to stick w/ architecture through college

 

can you be more specific as to what you'd be doing at the energy company if you worked there and what you'd be doing at the law firm if you interned there?

 

Yeah, give us more information. What schools are you looking at? What kind of student are you? What are your interests? WHere do you go to school now?

If you have any questions about colleges in general, I can probably answer anything about them outside of Texas.

I actually did all 3 of what you're talking about. I went to a summer program at Princeton, and I had one hell of a time. I felt like I grew up in those 4 weeks I was there. However, looking at your other options, spending a summer at a university isn't worth the financial investment. You will have at least 4 years of doing that later on. Now, if this summer program is free, then go for it. I also went to NYU and Westchester for 2 separate, albeit much shorter, programs, and they were free of charge. Airfare, food, housing: all was free. One even paid me to go to their seminars. That's the type of program that is worth it because they want the students to learn a lot and have as good a time doing something they might end up doing later.

Now to your internship vs. job. I have friends who interned at law firms. Friends currently in law school do this, and they hate it. I know high school and college students who have interned at law firms, and I have yet to meet anyone who liked it. I hear law firms are some of the worst places to intern. One of my friends said they asked him to punch holes in papers and get lunch for the staff, and that made his day. Another one of my friends, who graduated from an Ivy League school and is now at UT Law, interned at Fulbright in downtown Houston and quit after 3 weeks because he was going crazy. He ended up leaving the country for a month to get his mind reconfigured. Wow. So, if you do intern at this law firm, is it paid? If it's not, I wouldn't waste my time.

The energy company is a huge plus here in Houston. You say it's a job, so I'm assuming they pay pretty well. For someone who is entering senior year in high school, I'd say this is the best option. I worked at a marketing and sales company for 2 summers my last 2 years in high school. It was paid, and it was a small company, and I loved every moment of it. The staff was young for the most part, and I had great contact with my boss. They had me doing real stuff. They only asked me to get bagels for them once in my 2 summers there.

Hope that helps.

 

Meh. You're a HS junior. You are so far away from actually working that i wouldn't let any career decisions influence what you do this summer. As far as your career, what matters is: 1)where you go to college 2)where you go post-graduate. What i would say is do what you can to get into the college you want to go to.

The summer before my senior year of high school i did the Harvard Secondary School program. It was a really cool experience and i'm sure it didn't hurt when i did my college applications. If you want a legal career at a big firm it's almost 100% about where you go to law school and how you do there. Doing a hs internship won't help. I don't about energy companies, but i would expect it be heavily influence by where you go you school. Where you go to school > where you work hs summer, so if anything influences you it should be about what will help you get into your first choice.

Basically your 16 or 17. Screw work, have as much fun as you can. You have the next 50+ plus of your life to work, but don't worry about it now. You didn't go into specifics but out of the choices you gave doing the college program seems the most "fun". Plus i don't think either of working options will help you more in college applications. Being a kid from South Texas going to Boston when i 16 and being around peers and taking college classes was tremendous fun. Have experiences, you'll have plenty of time later to work and prepare your resume for jobs.

 

drumbum -

I started interning with a lawyer during high school, right after freshman year.

It was a great experience - I didn't get paid, but this lawyer always hooked me up with like $500 at the end of the summer.

Sure I did a lot of menial things like organize files, answer the phones / take messages, make faxes and copies, but other days i would get to sit in on depositions, file things at the county courthouse and sit inside the court room during hearings.

With any internship you have to put in your dues, I still talk regularly with the lawyer that let me intern with her and she always has written me immaculate recommendation letters for my college applications and jobs.

Just my point of view for what its worth.

 

Do no, do not, do not, take one of these jobs to help you get a post-graduate job. It won't help you at any big firm/white collar job. You'll earn over $500 a summer being a clerk at HEB. You're a kid. Enjoy being one while you still can.

 

Wrong. I work at a Fortune 50 company, and the number one thing they look at for college hires is work experience. Internships override GPA ANY day now. Heck, its even getting harder for college kids to find internships without PREVIOUS internships. My cousin at UT was having a hard time finding a good internship this summer. He got interviews with his 4.0, but was being told his lack of work experience was hurting him. He lost a very nice internship to a large company by being beat out by a classmate from UT with a 2.8, but had a previous summer internship.

Having a hard time with internships because he had NO internships! Heck!

I totally support summer work programs and internships.

1. You often make more money.
2. You network.
3. You get quality experience.
4. Its the best thing to put on a resume.
5. They are often pretty fun if run correctly with internship programs/activities/trips, etc.

Think about it. This high school internship may very well put you above someone with a similar GPA in once you get into college for a college summer internship. That college summer internship will lead to additional internships, which will make you a top candidate for post graduate work. Heck, when I went back for my senior year at A&M, I already had an awesome job offer lined up for post graduate work from my previous internship. I still interviewed and looked around, but there is nothing so good as going to your last senior year with a job offer in hand and having the stress be totally washed away.

 

Cool about your experience. I've had different. My college roommate never had a job outside of his college, never took an high level economics course, and never interviewed at a investment firm, but still as a senior got a cold call from Goldman Sachs offering him as job because he had a 3.9 at Princeton.

And no offense, but i what i know is that where you go/who you know means a lot more than work experience coming out of college. Certainly more than HS work experience. No offense but HS summer work doesn't really mean anything. By the time you graduate college you shouldn't even be referencing it in your resume.

As per big (mid firm) firm legal work. It means nothing. It's all about where you go to law school and how you do there. Do everything you can to get into the best places. Do your best there. In the meantime, have fun while you still can.

 

Truth. I have friends that worked as paralegals at big firms before law school, and they couldn't even get interviews because they didn't meet the GPA requirements set by their firm's hiring people.

 

I went to Clear Lake HS and I now go to Emory, if you got any questions about Emory, feel free to send me a PM.

 

i went to clear lake high school as well but emory wait listed mean and turned me down later.

 

wait listed me*