Dear Linda:

In may 05, I graduated from a small college in Boston with a B.A. in finance and economics. My GPA:3.98, my GMAT: 750, AWA: 4.0 . I have 6 years of part-time work experience running my B&B (I am still doing it), 2 years experience of part-time work with a financial advisor, a 6 month internships in financial research, lots of volunteer work experience, and 2 years of being a co-president of an investment club. I am planning to apply to HBS, Yale, and Wharton in in October 06 (1st round). My long term goal is to open my own financial research and analysis company.

In august 05, I took a job as a mutual fund accountant. I quit that job in Dec. 05, because I was really unhappy there. Since then I have been working with a small network telecommunications company doing financial analysis, researching potential client and working on developing a new business idea and business plan with the company’s CEO. I really like working there. However, this job is unpaid. I thought I can get a paid position there after a few months, but they are not able to offer it to me. I also began to do some volunteer work because I have a 3-hour window one day a week.
So, since the company cannot offer me a paid position, they proposed that I continue working there as an apprentice. They promise to give me a very good recommendation and a good title, but my work is going to be unpaid.
I talked to my husband, and he is ok being the only breadwinner for the household.
However, I am not sure what to do now. Should I look for a paid job or should I continue to work with this company? If I start a new paid job, I will probably need to give up my volunteer work and my actual work experience is not going to be as good. The new job is probably going to be an entry level mindless job, as the one I quit. My main concern is how the school will look at an unpaid job. Is an interesting unpaid job better than a paid one? What should I do????

Thanks, N