Reply to Rant: Tell Kids to Stop Bugging Professors for Internships

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think this thread makes it clear that among higher SES parents college is now often seen as a service and when my! own! babies! have skin in the game all reason goes out the window and there is no desire to see or understand how academia really works because the most important thing is to SERVE! MY! SPECIAL! CHILD!

But here's the thing: academics are not service providers. They are educators and scholars and experts. We set our own agenda for research, service, and teaching. The outcome is to advance their field and part of that is shaping minds, but providing 16 yo Dylan or Sophia from Chevy Chase a summer internship is not that.

I also think a lot of people are misunderstanding the difference between shadowing and interning or being a research assistant. The first being theoretically possible and a fair ask, the second being a long shot and not really appropriate for a high schooler unless the program is specifically designed for them, and the later being totally implausible for a number of reasons that no one here wants to hear.

[/quote]

So only the kids with rich dad and fancy connections get it?
 [/quote]

Huh? How did you get that from my post? I don't know of anyone who gets this where I work. It is not appropriate for ANY high schoolers to write professors seeking internships. Sometimes there are high school programs set up by professors, almost always through grant money aimed at helping high schoolers. There are NOT the same as college level internships. It would be appropriate to ask specifically about that, but these are often highly publicized, and also often marked for certain demographics (at HSIs or HBCUs or for lower income students, etc...).

If someone "fancy" emailed me to ask for a special opportunity that I have existing students trampling over each other for I would politely say no, even if they were a Prince or Princess. Ridiculous. [/quote]

"and not really appropriate for a high schooler unless the program is specifically designed for them" I.e in dad's lab [/quote]

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