I did a college program once that had had an internship component, but we also took courses. The program had distinct start and end dates, students were all relocated to the city. Part of the program was courses and part was working at legit (and well known) organizations. The program had college credits involved. That program cost money but it was more like a "summer program" or "semester abroad" - not just an internship that cost money.

I saw one of these "internship programs" online saying it was a virtual internship with a variety of foreign organizations and cost the same. Seemed like a money making exercise to me.

Is the cost for academic credit? At Ds schools, I saw that if we wanted an internship to count for credit, we would need to pay tuition or a fee.

No credit is awarded.

It is not room and board (just Zoom meetings and then a few weeks in a lab).

If internships are required for their academic program it's usually a 3 credit course and has some faculty support. Which you pay for like a course. Is this what you mean?

Is the $$ to cover room & board? Expensive, but then could make sense. The fact of the matter is that the overpriced college-based programs do sometimes give you a chance to make a good impression on a prof, which can be especially helpful if you're interested in the school.

That is not an internship. It’s one thing to do an unpaid internship that is competitively awarded if that is standard in the industry. This sounds like a scam.

Anonymous wrote:The only instance where this would be above board is if she's getting college credit

I was going to say this. The first semester my kid did science research for a prof at his college he got departmental credit. After that, she was able to get him paid under a grant for the summer and the next year. I suppose we technically paid for the first semester, although not above what we would have paid anyway for tuition. That makes sense to me for a kid looking at grad school in science. He was named on the paper, etc.

Then again, I’m sure your friend can make decisions for her DD.

When my kid was in college there was an international program called "Dream internship" or something like that for foreign countries. WE paid because they handled all of the living, visas, hassles, whatever...so we paid for that. What you are describing does not sound like an internship.

Op here: that’s what I thought. I told her it is just like those camps at Harvard or MIT and parents think it’s impressive because of the time. It’s overpriced and meaningless. I’ll add that apparently it also guarantees a LOR with it, at the end. I asked my friend how can they guarantee a LOR before they even met your kid?!

Anonymous wrote:

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?

You can call the creation of rose, but it’s still a carnation. (you’re paying for an academic camp – that’s fine if you want to.)

^ “ You can call a carnation a rose, but it’s still a carnation...”

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?

You can call the creation of rose, but it’s still a carnation. (you’re paying for an academic camp – that’s fine if you want to.)

Anonymous wrote:The only instance where this would be above board is if she's getting college credit

+1 if your DC gets college credits, then it will cost money.

You do not pay for an internship. I would call something like this a training program and no, I would probably not encourage it unless it was required for the career path like PP's vet experience situation. I don't even like the idea of unpaid internships, even though I know they're standard in some fields.

The only instance where this would be above board is if she's getting college credit