提升大學申請的競爭力－到公司實習還是社區服務重要

John申請了John Hopkins University的生物學專業，卻在幾個月後遭到拒絕，而他的同班同學卻被錄取了。John為此感到很困惑：為什麼他的成績與同學相當卻沒有被錄取。

公司實習的經歷，雖然不被經常提及，但卻在大學錄取中有重要的參考價值。很多人只注重參加社區服務或志願者工作，卻不知道實習經歷可以為學生的大學申請加分增色。

但是實習和社區服務之間到底有怎樣的區別呢？實習能夠讓學生體驗到真實的工作環境並學會應對工作中的各種狀況。除了感受到爭取一個實習機會的不易，學生還能更深入地學習與了解他感興趣的領域的專業知識和日常運作。

相比之下，社區服務和志願者服務只能讓學生大概地了解某個領域，讓學生在參與活動中了解自己的興趣所在， 但並不能讓學生學到專業的知識。而且，學生相對容易找到社區服務和志願者工作的機會，所以這樣的經歷比較普遍。

所以，哪一種經歷才符合你孩子的需要呢？這主要在於你的孩子希望在哪個領域裡發展。如果你的小孩想成為工程師，那麼他與建築工程相關的實習經歷就會為他大學專業的申請加分，讓他在申請人中脫穎而出。但是，如果你的孩子還不確定他想在哪個領域發展，參加社區服務和志願者工作能幫助他尋找自己的興趣與專長。在之前提到的案例中，John的同學因為有在生物醫學方面的實習經歷所以被John Hopkins University錄取了。

當然，實習和志願者服務不單在申請大學中提供重要參考價值，在大學學習的過程中同樣重要。這是孩子長期發展過程中的重要經歷。

John applied for John Hopkins University as a biological science major only to receive a rejection letter a few months later. He later found his high school classmate had also applied as a biological science major and was accepted. Confused, John searched for answers to why his classmate- who had similar grades and scores- was accepted over him.

Searching for an internship is often left unmentioned in bidding for college admissions. Most people focus largely on community service and volunteerism, not knowing internships are a powerful tool in the college application arsenal.

But what is the difference between an internship and community service? An internship focuses on giving the student a true workforce experience. Despite the difficulty in landing an internship, it applies on the job learning to ensure the student grasps in-depth knowledge about the business and the industry.

In contrast, community service and volunteerism offers a general view of a specific industry, allowing the student to experience many different points of view in his or her chosen business. While it does not provide a strong grasp of a specific profession, volunteer is relatively easy to do and can be very commonly found in the workforce.

So which one is a better option for your child? It highly depends on what field of study he or she would like to pursue in the future. If your child is adamant about studying as an engineer, an internship in engineering would largely benefit his application, setting it apart from other students that apply to the same major. On the other hand, if your child is unsure of his future college path, he would benefit more from a volunteer position that would offer him many different perspectives into future careers. In the prior situation, his classmate likely won over the John Hopkins admissions committee by having an internship in the biomedical field.

Of course, internships and volunteerism is useful not only in applying for college but in college as well. It is a long and comprehensive process!