- Joined
- Apr 4, 2007
- Messages
- 5,450
- Reaction score
- 11
Hey, as of spring 2006 (my last semester), our Intl Advisor sent out a mass e-mail updating us on the fact that Homeland Security is currently reviewing the idea of letting international students work for pay in the summer without having to apply for Economic Hardship or doing a for-credit internship. I don't know what happened with that. Another setback with internships (don't know about research, I never did paid research) is that oftentimes you have to pay for academic credit to be able to get the job, and at a school like Macalester that 1-2 credits will end up being equal to a month's pay at most summer jobs. I know Mac was also pondering waiving that requirement for Intls in 2006. I asked to be taken off the Intl student mailing list after grad, so I don't know how far either of those 2 things have progressed.
I hustled a lot summer of my first year. I had an on-campus job where the pay was a joke (8 an hour), but I managed to find a place to house-sit, so I didn't have to pay rent, and then I spent my weekends cleaning people's houses, so I ended up having a decent summer financially.
ETA: I guess I'm gonna mention the other summers....Summer after sophomore year I did an internship down South where I did nothing and got paid quite well (11/hour). It was a very different experience - I had never been to the Bible Belt before, and it was the smallest city I've ever lived in as well (I stayed in Gulfport/Biloxi, Mississippi). I thought it was just going to be a paid vacation, but in the end Katrina turned it into a very important life experience for me. I have since gone back there to do volunteer work and will be coming back again, probably this fall.
I didn't have a summer break after junior year because I went on study abroad and the spring semester there started in March and went till August. However, this meant a VERY long winter break, and unfortunately, I was not able to work then (either on campus or off). I volunteered at a hospital for 20 hours a week instead, as it was around that time that I decided to go into med and wanted to learn more about the reality of medicine.
