Passion and the Workforce
I've been interning at a local newspaper - yes, this is my second internship in one summer, let's just say someone really wants to get into law school - and it's interesting to see how a local weekly functions in comparison with my college daily.
There are many, many differences, but mostly, the college students I work with are more passionate about journalism, more exacting about ethics (which is not to say the weekly is unethical), and more meticulous about copy.
Which is strange I think because the people who work on my college daily are not necessarily people who have chosen journalism as a career path, they are people who are exploring journalism as an extra-curricular activity. But then again, because it's not a job, because they don't get paid, because they are responsible only to themselves, maybe it's easier to love and easier to be dedicated to.
For college students working on a school paper, journalism is an obsession, a desire, not a career. We should all be so lucky to always have jobs that we love and are committed to, that we enjoy and view as productive.
posted by Eli7 @ 1:26 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Wow, two internships in one summer. You Barnard (oops, Columbia) girls work way too hard.
Do you really think that random internships will help you get in to law school? The mantra I've been indoctrinated with is (repeat after me), "GPA and LSAT's...GPA and LSAT's...".
Got a different take?
Yeah, and more emphasis on the LSAT.
But if you have identical grades and an identical LSAT score but have an outstanding letter from a distinguished internship that you did during college, that could help get you into the school of your choice.
But (Elisheva this is for you), congressional recommendations don't count for as much as people think. A friend of mine was on the waiting list to U of Chicago and had Senator Brownback call for him but was still rejected. They know you only read mail, answered phones etc, it's not worth as much as you think.
My resume is not full of random internships - it's full of a lot of really interesting internships that I did because I enjoyed them and because I was passionate about them. Will it get me into Harvard Law? I think not, but it's not a bad thing to have either.
And Michael thanks for the advice - as of yet, I haven't interned in a congressional office (though it's certainly on my wish list) but that's a good thing to know.
I thought your internship in DC was of the congressional variety, perhaps through the OU-IPA program; I guess I guessed wrong.
As a journalist, I could see how a journalism internship may help you with law. Journalism trains you to think objectively and logically and in other left-brain ways, something that I'm sure one needs to do in law.
Or I could be completely wrong. Still, I'd love to see a post sometime about what you think of journalism and what you see at/do at/think about your newspaper.
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