<p>I may be premature in asking this but I’ll go ahead. You all seem to have the same sensibilities as I do, which makes it natural for me to ask this here.</p>
<p>D, a soph in college <strong>MAY</strong> have an opportunity for a shortened summer internship, at a national firm, in her field. It may come about due to an unexpected networking contact with an executive at that firm. She is participating in an intensive summer program at school and would only be available for the month or so after that program completes. The exec is aware of this and has still expressed interest. It seems like it would be a great opportunity for her. (IF, IF IF it panned out.)</p>
<p>Here’s the question. The firm has an office in our state, however that office is 60+ miles from home. Not a particularly difficult drive, but still, over an hour each way. There are other offices as well but not near home or school. </p>
<p>Would you encourage your child to actively pursue such an opportunity? H says it’s crazy to even consider. I’m not so sure I agree. (of course, the more I type, the more I waffle…)</p>
<p>If she’s showing the slightest amount of interest in this, don’t discourage her, assuming logistics wouldn’t be a huge issue – meaning she has a car/you have one she could use for the summer and gas money wouldn’t be an issue. As a soph, it’s hard enough to get an internship as it is, and if you stumble into one in a field that’s interesting, I don’t see a reason to turn it down. Also it sounds like it’ll only be half the summer anyway – even if it’s exhausting, that’s not such a long time. If she were showing some reluctance, it would be different.</p>
<p>I would speak to her though and let her know that she needs to have her mind made up one way or the other. If she pursues this through a contact, gets it and then says no for logistic reasons, it will burn bridges. Have her sort out any doubts about the logistics in advance so that she either decides to go for it whole heartedly or decides not to pursue it now. I think students hurt themselves when they have the attitude of ‘I’ll throw in an app and decide later’ esp. for a job that’s coming up through a network because their contact may have had to go to bat for them to get them the opportunity and then will have to go back to their boss and say the person changed their mind. It makes them less willing to help in the future.</p>
<p>I’m confused what is so crazy about it? Would it be a typical 40 hour per week drive? How well respected is the place? Being an engineering student myself I realize it is very important for internships and to get experience while in college. It is good to have different contacts within the field for maybe recommendations when applying for a job or even someday if your daughter wants to work there. Is this a paid internship? Could she find maybe a month-month apartment out there? I cant imagine it costing too much, have her get a job and pay off the months worth of rent or something. I personally say go for it because these kind of things can be tough to come by</p>
<p>The only thing remotely crazy here would be the amount of gas spent, I mean I spend almost 45 minutes driving to class and i live about 10 miles from school, gotta live Miami ;)</p>
<p>Gas cost would be about $25/day. Or $125 /week. About $500 for the month. Depending on the car of course … I used 15 mpg and $3 a gallon. Your mileage may vary …and probably will!</p>
<p>I would go for it. Internships are hard to find … she’s early in her college career and this could be a great opportunity.</p>