<p>Are capitol hill internships competitive and are they a strong addition to a resume? I was accepted to work for a congresswoman and I was just wondering. I am only a freshman and this will be my first internship experience, so I think it will be worth it regardless.</p>
<p>In general, yes. If you want to work on the Hill after you graduate, a congressional internship is almost a necessity. Even if you have something else in mind, the prestige associated with Hill internships is nice to have on your resume. You should keep in mind, though, that your work will be almost entirely administrative, perhaps moreso than in other internships. Also, should you decide to work in DC in the future, you will automatically be associated with the positions held by whoever you worked for. So, if you worked for a liberal congresswoman from New England, you might have trouble getting hired by, say, the Heritage Foundation.</p>
<p>How did you get the internship? Did you contact the congresswoman directly or is there a site where you apply? Thanks.</p>
<p>Most Congressional websites have a separate section on interns. Offices generally hire anywhere in between 1 to 10 interns, depending on the size of their office, their current staffing, etc. Some internships can be administrative; others, not so much. But samonite's comments are pretty spot-on, once you work for a Member of Congress, you have a job history, but the internship can be prestigious in other fields as well.</p>
<p>Your best shot is to apply for an internship in your congressional district -- or in Washington D.C. with your Member of Congress. Go to United</a> States House of Representatives, 110th Congress, 1st Session, and on the upper left hand corner there should be a place where you can enter your ZIP+4 to see who your local MoC is. Look at their website and see if they have an internship section. If you can't find it, or if you have a particular question about a Member, feel free to ask on this thread or shoot a PM to me.</p>
<p>It is important to take initiative in most Hill offices, though. I worked in a senior leadership office for about a year, so feel free to ask any questions.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot, tlaktan. In terms of how hard it is to get an internship, do they look for experience/ polisci majors, etc? I'm a freshman and I might major in polisci (double major with something else) and I'm mostly looking to go into business but I'm trying to find something worthwhile to do this summer. I basically have nothing to put on my resume politically related. Should I still give it a shot?</p>
<p>If you're a freshman, getting a spot during the summer will be more difficult because there is a lot more competition. I go to school in DC and got a newsletter from the college democrats saying several congress members needed interns so I applied and got accepted to work during the spring. There is a lot less competition during the school year, so it is easier for freshmen to get in. I didn't even have a college GPA yet and I was accepted, so it is worth a shot I would say.</p>
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Thanks a lot, tlaktan. In terms of how hard it is to get an internship, do they look for experience/ polisci majors, etc? I'm a freshman and I might major in polisci (double major with something else) and I'm mostly looking to go into business but I'm trying to find something worthwhile to do this summer. I basically have nothing to put on my resume politically related. Should I still give it a shot?
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<p>I think they run the gamut in terms of majors... Business majors, philosophy majors, your run-of-the-mill Political Science majors have all done a stint on Capitol Hill.</p>
<p>I agree with natedawg in that term (fall or spring) internships are easier to acquire, especially if you have a connection through UCDC (the UC system's DC program) or something like that. However, summer internships tend to be more substantive, on average, though your experience with vary depending on who you work for, and how extensive the internship program is.</p>
<p>Some interns walk away with doing the most fantastic thing they've done in their lives, others leave the office having gained tons of experience in answering constituent mail. Most do things in between, such as attending committee hearings, doing a small bit of policy work, etc, in conjunction with the administrative stuff (e.g. answering phones, collecting the mail, etc.) If you're assigned to an LA (Legislative Assistant for a particular policy area) by chance, try to engage him/her and ask for substantive assignments. If the LA is willing (and by no means is this the norm for ALL offices), who knows, you might end up doing the background analysis + draft writing for a bill proposed in committee?</p>
<p>I think I was the only person that actually applied for the fall semester in my DC office. There was another part time intern but she knew our chief of staff or something. I know we only had one applicant for the spring semester internship after that as well, and they were so unorganized I don't think they even got around to hiring her unless it was last minute. I think the competition depends on the district/state and how high profile the congressperson is. If you are actually from the district/state you are applying to it pretty much trumps anyone else that's not. The statements about your tasks are pretty much true. Although, I don't think anybody has noted that you will give tours of the capitol. Depending how busy your office is with tours this could be a huge amount of your time. I liked meeting the people on the tours, but I hated giving a history lesson on something I really wasn't qualified to give a history lesson on. </p>
<p>I actually recommend an internship on the Hill because you will get a true understanding of what it is like to work in bureaucratic office hell. One thing that astonished me was the insane amount of time and work that went into things that were utterly unnecessary. For instance: Our office did not reply to any constituent emails by email, instead they sent them a regular letter, even if they specifically said they wanted an email. Also, I spent about an hour every day printing certain articles off the internet for the office to read - the same articles they were reading online and on CNN.</p>
<p>agreed. we forgot to mention tours. i did my first tour today and it was pretty fun actually. it is cool to meet people and tell them all the kind of secret knowledge. if you do it right, it can be a lot of work but also a lot of fun.</p>
<p>natedawg_cfB-You have now described what I have tried to explain to posters in the past, but they haven't been able to understand the concept. Attending a school like GWU or NYU, which are right in the heart of a major city, gives students a tremendous advantage in getting internships. It is much easier to get an internship during the school year than it is in the summer when you are competing against students from across the country and the world. At a place like GWU, where you are minutes away from many major employers it is easy to fit in an internship before or after classes. This makes a city school such as GWU extremely attractive to many, although some people can't seem to get past the "there isn't much grass" on the campus phase.</p>