Interning During The School Year: Resume Strengthener Or GPA Annihilator?
Interning during the school year is a great way to build up your resume. In theory, if you interned every semester during your undergraduate or graduate program, you’d have double to quadruple the amount of internship experience as some of your peers. This would make you more knowledgeable about the industry or career you wish to follow and a more competitive candidate in the job market. You would even make some spare cash to get ahead of your student loans payments or living expenses!
MPOWER Pro-tip 1
In many cases, landing a competitive internship during the school year might be easier than during a school break –- fewer people apply!
However, while it may seem appealing to spend some of your academic year interning (after all, going to class isn’t the only way to learn), be careful of letting your academic success suffer as a result. Having excessive outside commitments might mean you won’t have enough time to study, participate in group projects, or join in other extracurricular activities. One of the worst situations to be in is to be overly ambitious and then have your grades suffer as a result (you might even be at risk of losing scholarships if your GPA gets too low).
MPOWER Pro-tip 2
If you’re dead set on taking on an internship, make sure you know how much time you’re committing to it. If it seems like too much, you may be able to negotiate your hours down or have flexible hours during the busy periods at school (around exams, for example). It never hurts to ask!
MPOWER Pro-tip 3
Need some guidance on how to manage your time? MPOWER borrowers have exclusive access to USA Funds sessions on how to optimize your time while in school.
Make sure you have a good sense of how much time your coursework will take every semester before you commit to an internship. Your grades are important. Trust us, the team at MPOWER knows through experience – it’s better to do a couple of things exceptionally well than to do many things in a mediocre way.
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