<p>My D is planning to apply to Wharton, and she was recently recommended for an internship during the school year where she would be employed as an actuarial at a large medical insurance company.</p>
<p>My question is if that job would be a good choice for an internship, or should she look at getting an internship in a more related field,-like at an investment firm. - if available</p>
<p>Does Wharton look favorably on internships??</p>
<p>It’s a good choice for an internship if she’s interested in actuarial science. And as to whether or not she should get an internship in a more related field: more related for who, wharton or your D? If for your D, i’m assuming shes interested in ibanking, then it doesn’t really matter as once she gets in she can still go into finance and the internship shows enough business . If she is getting paid for her internship it won’t have the same impact as if she were doing itinterest. If for Wharton, it doesn’t matter as Wharton is not only about investment banking. I’d say do what she likes best and/or woudl like to learn more about on her own, but it’s not a bad opportunity by any means. Instead of looking for what Wharton likes, maybe she should find what she likes as she would probably make a bigger impact at the job she enjoys. If she is interested in this current internship, then go for it, im sure shed learn a great deal.</p>
<p>Her math teacher recommended her for this internship. She’s gets 1 credit for it (same as 1 class). She wasn’t sure about this internship because she really doesn’t know what an actuarial does. However, it might be a wonderful opportunity for her(she knows that). She was concerned that it might look out of place on her resume and didn’t want it to negatively impact her Wharton admission.</p>
<p>Tell her to go for it, especially if its a choice between that internship or none at all. It’ll be a good way to see what an actuary does, while still in HS, so if she finds that she doesn’t like it, she’ll know what to steer clear of at Wharton. By no means is this ‘unrelated’ to Wharton; there are a handful of students every year who go into actuarial science–you can concentrate in Risk Management & Insurance at and become an actuary. There are many who don’t become actuaries but take a good number of Insurance/Risk Mgmt classes. Sure it isn’t the conventional ibanking internship, but the content involves econ and statistics, which are key classes at Wharton. Not to mention…she’s a HS student, she has the next 4 yrs to figure out what ibankers do [and believe me she will, as the vast majority of the class goes into the field or at least does 1 summer in ibanking before deciding against it]. If anything an adcom will appreciate that she did something besides the standard internship that applicants who have internships do–working for a stock broker/investment company. Why not try out something different that will stand out on an application. If she has absolutely no interest in this don’t make her do it, but tell her that the adcoms reaction is a non-issue because this is very much related to business. Feel free to PM with any other questions.</p>
<p>Oooops, I mean an intern as an actuary not an actuarial.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice- I think she will go for it!!</p>
<p>to aj725:</p>
<p>I disagree about making this stand out over an ibanking internship. How many students can claim to have done an internship at an ibank as a high school student? Not many.</p>
<p>But I doubt you can land an internship at an ibank unless you have connections. Really good ones, too.</p>
<p>I know more than 1 wharton applicant who has interned at i-banks in HS. As much as they’d like to make it sound like they were running M&A, working in IB in HS, even with huge connections, invariably doesn’t mean a banking internship; more often than not, its back office sales and trading, IT, HR, or any number of other support departments. The adcom isn’t going to fall over the prestige of Goldman when they realize that the work was just office work. Whereas an actuary internship where you actually do real work will stand out. We’re talking about adcoms who look for diversity of interest beyond the standard wharton applicant who says they want to go to wharton + enter IB. If you’ve explored something different, it’ll stand out. Will Morgan Stanley’s recruiters look at your resume 3 yrs later and fall over the fact that you shuffled papers at Goldman in HS, probably–that did happen with many people who had those jobs in HS–but that’s got nothing to do with the adcom.</p>
<p>savvymom - wharton does not necessarily look for business experience (either real-life internships or high school clubs)…of course, it could be a plus, but business experience is in no way mandatory…since business essentialy includes all fields, someone graduating from wharton may work in the medical field, goto law school, international relations, public service, etc. etc…because of the broad nature of business, i THINK that an admissions officer would appreciate “other” activities an applicant is interested in, since the applicant may end up using/applying his/her wharton degree to those “other” interests…so tell your daughter to do whatever it is that interests HER…if wharton/penn likes her for who she is (if she sells herself well too, of course), then good…if they don’t like HER (then it is their loss and she can move on)…she should not lose out on what SHE wants to pursue for the possibility of “pleasing” wharton (since such a thing probably does not exist)…good luck!
-leo</p>
<p>I’ve learned from CC that your ECs as a whole should not be all over the place. My D has a ton of quality leadership, comunity service and gov’t like ECs. When her Math teacher approached her about this internship, she was concerned that it might be for someone who was applying to an LAC rather than business schools. Taking the internship wasn’t so much for Wharton admissions but rather the possibility of reducing the impact of her resume. </p>
<p>It is clear, however, that this internship could be a great experience and that pleasing Wharton would only be an added benefit.</p>