Intern in small town or larger city?
From Cyburbian kanben: I'm a Master's student in Massachusetts and was just offered a summer internship with the planning department of a small town (pop ~13,000) about and hour from Boston. It seems like a good opportunity for me because it's a small department and even as a summer intern I'd have a lot of responsibility, working on issues ranging from growth management, historic preservation, affordable housing, etc.
The issue I'm struggling with, however, is that I will probably be moving to Chicago after I graduate next year. In obvious ways, Chicago is different than this small New England town. While I will certainly gain practical experience that is marketable in any city I work in, I wonder whether it would be a better idea to try for a position in a larger city. I have applied for an internship in one city that, although certainly not the size of Chicago, is bigger and more socio-economically diverse than the one I've been offered the position in.
And yes, I realize that in a perfect world I would go to Chicago for the summer, but that was not possible for a number of reasons that don't need to be explained here.
I'm wondering what advice Cyburbians have for me.
If you don't have an opportunity that is already open for you to take in a bigger city, take the opportunity you have. Some experience is better than no experience. If you pass up this and don't get the bigger city you might end up with nothing. Don't pass up a great opportunity for the possibility of a better one.
13,000 is small? There are a ton of suburbs around Chicago, both land-locked and expanding, that have populations ranging from 5,000 to 100,000. Communities with smaller populations (Hampshire, Burlington, Minooka, Manhattan, New Lenox) have seen an increase in residential development over the past few years. There is a current demand for commercial and public/insitutional uses and little demand for residential.
Keep in mind if you want to work for the City of Chicago you will have to live within the corporate limits when applying. I would recommend setting up informational interviews with Chicago and other communities now, so that the job hunt might be less stressful when you graduate.
I realize that there are a lot of suburbs that are smaller than 13,000. I suppose the point I was trying to make is, population aside, this is arguably not even a Boston suburb more of an exurb or rural community. (Of course, "suburb" doesn't necessarily apply to a lot of towns around here that may be within suburban proximity to the city, but are as old or older than some Boston neighborhoods).
That is good to know about working in Chicago. I still have a year of school left so next semester may be the time to start to informational interviews.
Yes....
I thought you might have a choice between large city and small town. I would pick large city for my first internship.
More opportunity to learn from a variety of professionals. I have many many more reasons, but don't want to troll for terrific trouble today. ;-)
Since you don't appear to have the choice, take the small town internship for the reasons already pointed out.
take the internship. imo, in a smaller town you will have the opportunity to develop stronger relationships with people who may someday be a reference for a job.
Depends. What would you be doing in the larger city's internship? Would you be the intern in charge of coloring with blue pencils on the right hand pages? Would you be doing something that is really interesting to you? Would it be related to what you want to do in Chicago?
In the smaller city, what would you be doing? Would it be some grunt job that they never had the time to do themselves? Would it be interesting to you?
It's all in the details of what work you would be doing in the internship and what you want to do elsewhere. If you don't know, proably go with the small town. You're likely to have greater responsibility there, and braoder experience.
Also, consider which would be more fun. A few years from now the internship details aren't going to matter much, but your life experiences will matter to you.
I think you will get more experience in the small town...most likely the planner does everything. You may get pidgeon-holed in a big city
I think you should take the offer you have, unless you're hearing from the bigger city people quite soon.
There is such wide variety between planning jobs - not just small town vs. city - but your experience with County/State level planning is going to be vastly different from your city planning. And even then - you could be a community planner, or a land use planner. Or an open space planner. The very most important thing is to get some time in with a department, build your resume, and try really hard to get something professionally constructive out of it.
Good luck.
Take the offer in hand. Experience is experience. You will be exposed to more facets of planning in a small town, that can be used to your advantage when seeking employment in a large city.