Beware the Marquee

Beware - the following post involves me bragging about my internship and how great it is. I promise I will try to remain modest in the future, but please understand that I have to drop my humility for this post in order to correct a huge mistake in the message of the Cornell in Washington program.

Upon application and acceptance to the Cornell in Washington program, all the capital-goers were briefed in a meeting at Cornell about the application process for internships. One of the major points, if not the major point, was that all internship seekers should "beware the marquee" when searching for a job.

In case you're not up to speed/confused about the program I am in: I am currently enrolled in the Cornell in Washington program. We are a group of about 40-50 Cornell students that work 3-4 days a week at an internship and do a research project throughout the duration of the semester that culminates into a mini-thesis in the end.

Anyway, we were all told when thinking about what jobs to apply to that we should "beware the marquee." In short, this was the program's way of saying "You might want to apply to a big name internship, but you should be forewarned that if you work at a place with a fancy name, you won't be doing substantial work - you'll be filing and entering data into the computer."

This is the worse advice that anyone could ever give to anyone doing anything ever. Never beware the marquee.

I did not beware the marquee. I saw the opportunity to apply for a job I thought would be cool no matter what I was doing, and I was right. All I do all day is run around and deliver things, file papers, answer phones, and other clerical tasks.

But today I shook hands with Justice Sotomayor and had a short, but 1 on 1, conversation with her (she is ridiculously nice). On March 10, I am going on a private tour of the White House. On March 23, I will be watching the oral arguments for the case Kiyemba v. Obama, which has to do with the whether or not it is constitutional for the president to move prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to the continental United States. I am surrounded by some of the most important people in the country every single day. I have daily chats about history, comedians, and movies with the 10th most important person in the federal judicial system. AND I got a free brownie today.

So, beware the marquee? I think not. If anything, flock to the marquee. Love the marquee. Bow down to the marquee. Do anything you can to join the marquee. It will pay dividends.

At least it did for me.