summer school to raise GPA or non-paying gov't internship? Forum

[philly93]

hey guys, I have a tough decision to make and would like some input. I have 2 options over summer and they are: summer classes or government internship. I could DEFINITELY benefit from the summer classes because i could take a couple light courses and raise my GPA into the t-14 range. OR i could do a congressional internship unpaid and try to get a rec and maybe a soft for admissions. I am a rising junior at a t-25 university and am studying history (not sure if this helps!) and intending to apply to t-14 schools. what would be the best option?

[star fox]

Raise your GPA. Schools aren't going to be reporting that you worked an unpaid internship. Look for some easy part-time unpaid internship to take in addition to summer classes if possible.

[dr123]

why cant you do both?

[philly93]

the reason i cannot do both is because the internship is in DC and the summer school is at my home institution which is couple hours from DC

[dr123]

you could take a couple classes at a community college in DC.

[philly93]

thanks for the reply but i have a question. you say "Look for some easy part-time unpaid internship ". does this have to deal with my major, pre law, govern't or can it be ANYTHING? i could work at local stores and make money but i am not sure what looks favorable to the eyes of admission officers.

[philly93]

wouldn't taking classes at a community college look bad though?

[dr123]

wouldn't taking classes at a community college look bad though?

no

[philly93]

ok i will look into that option to see if the timings don't interfere with my internship schedule. but i was hoping if you could comment your thoughts about my previous post about the KIND of internships i should be looking for.

[philly93]

bump

[star fox]

thanks for the reply but i have a question. you say "Look for some easy part-time unpaid internship ". does this have to deal with my major, pre law, govern't or can it be ANYTHING? i could work at local stores and make money but i am not sure what looks favorable to the eyes of admission officers.

Anything. Internships are just a soft as far as Law School Admissions go. I don't think the type of internship would have any real effect on your admissions. More useful for finding a job out of college.

[hopingtogetin]

the reason i cannot do both is because the internship is in DC and the summer school is at my home institution which is couple hours from DC

Law school is incredibly expensive. Living in DC is also incredibly expensive, especially in the summer when interns flood the city.

Stay at your home school, boost your GPA, and use that higher GPA to get some scholarship $$ for law school. Trust me, as someone who went to undergrad in DC, unpaid internships are a dime a dozen and unless its a legit white house internship, probably not worth the "prestige" or whatever. In fact, Congressional internships are regarded as mostly bitch work, and frequently, kind of a joke. We've all had them and they're really not particularly exciting for the most part. Usually you're just paid nothing and going broke in metro fares to listen to people yell at you on the phone.

You would be way better just boosting your GPA, taking some extra time to study for the LSAT, and if you want to work in DC, use your now-high GPA to get some scholarship $$ at Georgetown when you go to law school.

[dowu]

Get that GPA up as high as possible. Do a ton of scholarly reading so that you can prepare for RC on the LSAT.

[Lagunitan]

.

[philly93]

the difference would be about from a 3.5 to a 3.55-3.56. this would mean i can enter junior year having 2 semesters to raise that to a 3.7. i think the summer school option is looking more viable so it makes sense to have a higher gpa. do you think that difference in GPA warrants letting go of summer internships?

[philly93]

bumpp