Would a non-clinical summer internship hurt me for MSWs?

[stilllooking]

Hi,
I'm a college sophomore. I recently got offered a government internship in a big NW city. The position is a lot of writing, editing, presentation-making, outreach, etc. The internship is paid, but with the COL in the area, I doubt I would come out much "ahead," if at all. My other option is to stay in HomeCity and take the second semester of intensive Spanish and volunteer at relevent agencies/possibly work (menial, summer job, not psych/SW-related).

I want to do clinical work after grad. school and was wondering if a non-clinical internship would hurt/help less on apps than perhaps more volunteering that might be slightly more clinical. I have relevant volunteer experience at SW agencies involving various degrees of client contact and plan to continue that (also have research exp.) and have my senoir year practicum left.

I think this internship could be great experience (I'm a good writer and my skills seem fairly well-suited for the job--it's stuff I like to do, and I'm intrigued), but I was wondering if programs might look down on experience that isn't strictly clinical.

Thanks!

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[pingouin]

You'll have plenty of time to do clinical work, so now may be a good opportunity to learn some more administrative skills which could be valuable to you down the line. A lot of clinicians wind up doing some grant-writing and proposals if they're interested in receiving government funding for their clinical work. Agencies especially value this skill in their clinicians since most people don't know where to start. (n=1: A friend in private practice wrote a proposal and is now the recipient of state funding for drug and alcohol group treatment services.)

If you're a BSW student, your senior year practicum should give you plenty of relevant SW experience. "Clinical" won't come until you have a MSW since "clinical" typically refers to being licensed to practice independently.

 

[stilllooking]

Thanks for the input!