Unpaid Sophomore Summer Internship, Yes or No
Should I 1 - take an unpaid business development internship in NYC my sophomore year summer (a little debt, but good experience) or 2 - stay home and do a paid retail gig (a lot easier on me and family, but not my interest area)?
Questions that would impact my answer?
You mentioned that it would be better for you and your family to do the retail opportunity. Do you help support your family? Or is it just that you would have more spending money / pay down college loans quicker
In general, I would probably lean toward the unpaid internship. It sucks to work all summer, I know, because I had to make the same decision you did. But it opened up a lot of doors down the road and helped me learn a lot of valuable lessons as I got my initial reps working in a professional setting. Dont underestimate the value of this.
With that said, your family always comes first. If they need your help, or you position your family a bit better by contributing financially, how could I possibly in good faith advise taking the unpaid internship?
Hope this helps OP, happy to answer more questions if you provide more color.
Thank you for responding!
1. Yes, it's a boutique management consulting firm. They work a lot in healthcare, so my role would pretty much be a lot of market research in that area. Write reports and collect data for the projects they're currently starting. Not too client-facing, but would be a good experience in that general environment because I want to enter consulting post undergrad.
2. I don't support my family, but my parents are low-income (40k per year) in another state. I would only be able to pay for housing and food by asking my grandfather (who pays for college now) to cover this. I would feel bad because he's also going through medical treatment, etc. I'm thinking I could also work a part-time weekend gig or something in the city. Something like that so that I'm not too much of a burden.
Hmmm, the context is helpful but it makes the answer more complicated. My recommendation would be one of two things:
Normally I wouldn't recommend either of these options as option1 cuts back on your number of hours (and therefore reps gained), and option 2 impacts your ability to get real world experience, but I dont like the idea of asking family for additional money. If the firm cannot be somewhat accommodating or sympathetic to your financial situation, I am not sure they are someone you really want to work for long-term. For what its worth, I know people who have requested both of these things from unpaid internships.
Hope this helps, let me know if I can provide any additional insight.
you can accept the internship offer for now and continue to apply for other internships this summer (either paid, or unpaid but near your home/remote). you should continue to apply for the summer, there's many places still recruiting, including business development/strategy/internal consulting internships at many startups which would likely have remote positions also. consulting likes variety, so you can apply for other internships also.
Will do. Where can I find opportunities at startups specifically?
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