<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>I'm interning on the Hill (have been since June), and since several people have asked me as to how to obtain an internship in Congress, I think a mini-guide may be in order.</p>
<p>** Finding an Internship **
Finding an internship is fairly easy -- just go to the Member of Congress' website to find the internship application and fill it out. Often, applications will ask questions such as "Why do you want to work for ----" and "What do you expect to get out of this internship?" </p>
<p>Some Members of Congress won't have internships available, others won't have an application but will require applicants to submit a resume and a cover letter. In any case, follow the instructions on the Member's website and provide the information requested.</p>
<p>There are other places, such as the Washington Center and other summer programs which charge for placement in a political internship -- not worth your money, in my opinion, but it certainly makes things easier. Although they do provide housing at a cost, you can easily arrange your own credit, housing, and internship placement without shelling out too much money.</p>
<p>To find a particular member's internship page, just go to <a href="http://www.house.gov/(Member's">http://www.house.gov/(Member's</a> Last Name). If you want to work for a Member who has a fairly common last name, e.g. George Miller, just google their House of Representatives page. Senators are: http://(Member's Last Name).senate.gov. Again, if their webpage doesn't show up, look it up on Google.</p>
<p>You can also intern for a particular committee, such as the Committee on Rules. I would wait a bit before you start downloading applications for committees until after the first week of January, seeing as how the majority will... not be quite as major come Spring. Not all committees utilize interns, but check the Committee's website anyway just to make sure.</p>
<p>Housing
Living in D.C. for the summer, of course, is fairly expensive, but you may be able to get housing in Maryland or Virginia (inside the Beltway, preferably in Metro-accessible locations. Capitol South, which is the Metro stop for the U.S. House of Representatives, is located on the Blue and Orange lines. Union Station, which is the preferred (it's a bit of a walk from either Cap. South or Union Station) metro stop for interns working for the Senate, is located on the Red Line. You may want to keep this mind as you're looking for housing.</p>
<p>If you're looking for university housing, George Washington University, American University, and Georgetown University have summer housing programs. Again, it can be fairly costly, so check in advance to see whether it's in your price range or if it would be more effective to sublet/rent.</p>
<p>I'll post a few more things later, but feel free to add anything (if you're a past intern) or have any questions (for prospective interns). It would be great to have one centralized thread for Congress-related internship questions, seeing as how Capitol Hill hires so many (interns, that is).</p>