Would you ever have your child do an internship that they need to pay for?

[Anonymous]

No. My kids’ college office is very black and white on this issue. If you have to pay it’s a negative on the application and not helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My professor wife worked at one of these summer programs at a top 10 private university. She was pressured to write LORs, so she would literally write, "This kid took my class. /s/ Professor."

The programs are scams, but if money really isn't an issue, the kids seem to like it, they are safe, and the programs beat working at a golf club.

Your wife is an ass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My friend's DD was invited to do an internship at a well known college but it is a handful of zoom meetings, 2 weeks in a lab and $3500.

I suggested no. What do you think?

Labs usually have grants so they may give some but won't take any. Money is probably room, food and campus fee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's not an internship, OP. It's just a way for the college to siphon money from parents' wallets.

Ding ding ding! Caveat emptor.
The colleges usually don't even run these summer programs. They are outsourcing their empty rooms to a company that pays them. The company will also hire the school's professors as 'consultants' on the payroll. This arrangement bamboozles families into thinking their child might actually have a shot at that college when the kid applies.

My kid is doing a summer abroad language program, won a scholarship to cover most of it and her high school alumni foundation is kicking in some money to help. I just have to pay for the plane ticket.
The previous summer she held a teenager retail job and got some interesting life experience from it. The kid spent enough of her life in a classroom, I don't intend to stick her in one of those pay to play summer academic enrichment/internships/pre-college bubbles where she continues to be in a classroom.

I wish American Councils/NSLI-Y would diversify socioeconomically and actually accept more public school students. Private school students already have an edge when it comes to enrichment opportunities.

Yeah, it’s BS. LGBTQ+ really have a great shot coming from private. I have yet to see one limited-income public school kid get past the initial interview. It’s funny b/c they say that they want students who have never been abroad before

My public schooled child participated in NSLI-Y in Tajikistan. It didn't seem like it was just private school kids? She hasn't been abroad unless you consider a week at an All Inclusive in Puerto Vallarta when she was 12 to be "abroad". LOL!

NSLI-Y is awesome!!

Yeah, it’s a lot of private school kids and wealthy kids at low-FARMS publics. It’s easy to see who they choose.
And sounds like your family had enough money to go to an all-inclusive resort in Mexico, so more than the students I’m referring to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's not an internship, OP. It's just a way for the college to siphon money from parents' wallets.

Ding ding ding! Caveat emptor.
The colleges usually don't even run these summer programs. They are outsourcing their empty rooms to a company that pays them. The company will also hire the school's professors as 'consultants' on the payroll. This arrangement bamboozles families into thinking their child might actually have a shot at that college when the kid applies.

My kid is doing a summer abroad language program, won a scholarship to cover most of it and her high school alumni foundation is kicking in some money to help. I just have to pay for the plane ticket.
The previous summer she held a teenager retail job and got some interesting life experience from it. The kid spent enough of her life in a classroom, I don't intend to stick her in one of those pay to play summer academic enrichment/internships/pre-college bubbles where she continues to be in a classroom.

I wish American Councils/NSLI-Y would diversify socioeconomically and actually accept more public school students. Private school students already have an edge when it comes to enrichment opportunities.

Yeah, it’s BS. LGBTQ+ really have a great shot coming from private. I have yet to see one limited-income public school kid get past the initial interview. It’s funny b/c they say that they want students who have never been abroad before

My public schooled child participated in NSLI-Y in Tajikistan. It didn't seem like it was just private school kids? She hasn't been abroad unless you consider a week at an All Inclusive in Puerto Vallarta when she was 12 to be "abroad". LOL!

NSLI-Y is awesome!!

Isn’t Puerto Vallarta in Mexico? How could that not be considered abroad?

[Anonymous]

My first reaction:no. In reflection: maybe if it is valuable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends on the situation but that's not an internship - that's a school program or camp. It sounds weird.

+1 it's fine if you think it's valuable, but that is not an internship.

[Anonymous]

If that's the only way for her to get lab experience then go for it. But if she can get an entry level lab technician job, then that's just as good. It'll likely be a very repeatative job testing samples or easy job like inventorying reagents but at least she'll be paid and honestly it looks the same on a resume as an internship you have to pay for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My friend's DD was invited to do an internship at a well known college but it is a handful of zoom meetings, 2 weeks in a lab and $3500.

I suggested no. What do you think?

That is not an internship.

Don’t go along with the scam.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My professor wife worked at one of these summer programs at a top 10 private university. She was pressured to write LORs, so she would literally write, "This kid took my class. /s/ Professor."

The programs are scams, but if money really isn't an issue, the kids seem to like it, they are safe, and the programs beat working at a golf club.

Your wife is an ass.

Be mad at the program’s organizers, not a scientist who was hired to teach research but later pressured to write a glowing letter about some Larlo she barely knew.

If I had no personal impression of a student, I would not lie either.

[Anonymous]

This sounds like another DMV area scam: PAY to have your kid be a CIT at a summer camp? Baffling.

[Anonymous]

It totally depends where this internship is, and if the college that it is being held at has a reputation for selling internships to the highest bidder. If so, college admissions officers will know about it and completely disregard it. But an internship at the prestigious college for a high school kid can be a big deal, if admissions offices, do not see it as a “pay to play”

[Anonymous]

OP just tell us the name of the program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My friend's DD was invited to do an internship at a well known college but it is a handful of zoom meetings, 2 weeks in a lab and $3500.

I suggested no. What do you think?

That's summer camp, not an internship. Sleepaway camp is usually about $1500-$2000/week, same as boarding school or college.

[Anonymous]

Even unpaid internships are exploitation, let alone charging for the privilege.