1L Summer - balancing internship plus RA Forum

[p00persc00per]

How feasible is it to balance a 20 hr/wk flexible, remote RA position with a 40 hr/wk internship over the summer? Seems to me to be the equivalent of the law school workload, just more interesting. The past RAs of the same professor I've spoken to have done similar balancing acts.

[BigZuck]

You don't actually work 60 hours a week in law school. Not even close to that. What you're talking about would be way more of a time commitment.

I'm skeptical you'd be doing 60 actual hours of work a week during the summer either. But, if you physically have to be at a place for 40 hours a week interning and then have to do research on top of that that could be quite the slog. I guess it depends on how much you want to do the research/work with that professor/need the RA money. I'm sure it's doable if you really want to do it, just not something I personally would voluntarily do if I could help it.

[totesTheGoat]

You don't actually work 60 hours a week in law school. Not even close to that. What you're talking about would be way more of a time commitment.

I'm skeptical you'd be doing 60 actual hours of work a week during the summer either. But, if you physically have to be at a place for 40 hours a week interning and then have to do research on top of that that could be quite the slog.

This!

Also, internships have a bunch of non-work expectations. What that specifically entails depends on the firm, but some firms expect you to be available for social activities after work 2-3 times per week. You can obviously skip a few, but they may get offended if you skip too many.

I'll also add some personal experience (the caveat is that I'm a part-time student with a full-time job who is graduating from the 4 year part-time program in 3.5 years... my experiences may be wildly different from your average law student's). I took two classes over the summer while doing two internships. While I enjoyed each thing in its own right, the combination of work, school, and catching up on other things that had been piling up for two semesters was rough. I had more going on than during a semester of classes. In some senses, I regret working so hard over the summer. It was very helpful for my resume at the cost of getting any time to relax between the school years. This year, I'm just doing one SA and taking the rest of the summer off from my full-time job. This summer will be a well-deserved vacation before my last semester.

I'd recommend that you think about whether you really need to do the RA work before committing to it. It sounds like a good opportunity, but it is going to be at the sacrifice of your evenings and weekends. If you understand and accept that, then do it. If you would prefer to "take it easy" this summer, just do the internship.

[Slytherpuff]

I had a couple of friends who did this (and I did it for the beginning of the summer but with a 10 hr/wk RA position). It's feasible, but expect to spend the majority of your nights and weekends working. You'll have to balance how much you need the money or professor recommendation against how much you want to relax this summer!