In a message dated 96-04-07 20:54:53 EDT, [log in to unmask] (Tim and Amy Marshall) writes: >I know this is long, but has anyone heard of low-paid or unpaid internships >leading to bigger and better things/ For example, a friend of mine suffered >low wages for a summer internship on a battleship, and now he's a curator at >a maritime museum in Maine. Aren't contacts part of the point of an >internship? > > Yes, it does happen, but I think you have to be a "go-getter." I worked for the American Indian Program at NMNH (SI) for free for a year, got a fellowship that paid very little and made myself invaluable in the meantime so that I got a one year term contract. Now, it was fortuitous that the position I got was vacated by a girl going back to grad school, but the long and the short of it is that I ended up with 2 1/2 years of valuable SI experience that has translated very well for me on the outside. Hired as an assistant curator at the National Firearms Museum over a year ago, I've since been promoted to the Project Manager for the building of a 10 million dollar museum. Like a sweepstakes, it can happen. PS: I am still paying off the federal and private loans I took out to afford being able to work for nothing to get that experience that allowed me to end up where I am (this is the house that Jack built...) and I don't think I'll ever get out of debt. But I'm "working in my field (sort of)" and currently getting paid for it (sort of) ;-). - Adrienne