提升大学申请的竞争力－到公司实习还是社区服务重要

John申请了John Hopkins University的生物学专业，却在几个月后遭到拒绝，而他的同班同学却被录取了。John为此感到很困惑：为什麽他的成绩与同学相当却没有被录取。

公司实习的经历，虽然不被经常提及，但却在大学录取中有重要的参考价值。很多人只注重参加社区服务或志愿者工作，却不知道实习经历可以为学生的大学申请加分增色。

但是实习和社区服务之间到底有怎样的区别呢？实习能够让学生体验到真实的工作环境并学会应对工作中的各种状况。除了感受到争取一个实习机会的不易，学生还能更深入地学习与了解他感兴趣的领域的专业知识和日常运作。

相比之下，社区服务和志愿者服务只能让学生大概地了解某个领域，让学生在参与活动中了解自己的兴趣所在， 但并不能让学生学到专业的知识。而且，学生相对容易找到社区服务和志愿者工作的机会，所以这样的经历比较普遍。

所以，哪一种经历才符合你孩子的需要呢？这主要在於你的孩子希望在哪个领域里发展。如果你的小孩想成为工程师，那麽他与建筑工程相关的实习经历就会为他大学专业的申请加分，让他在申请人中脱颖而出。但是，如果你的孩子还不确定他想在哪个领域发展，参加社区服务和志愿者工作能帮助他寻找自己的兴趣与专长。在之前提到的案例中，John的同学因为有在生物医学方面的实习经历所以被John Hopkins University录取了。

当然，实习和志愿者服务不单在申请大学中提供重要参考价值，在大学学习的过程中同样重要。这是孩子长期发展过程中的重要经历。

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!