DC Summer Internship Decision

Career Opportunities & Internships
1

<p>OK, my options have been narrowed. I didn’t get the Department of Labor and chances are, I didn’t get the Institute for Women’s Policy Research either. So I am down to three choices: </p>

<li><p>DC Congressional Internship (John Conyers) </p></li>
<li><p>Leadership Conference for Civil Rights/LCCR Education Fund
<a href=“http://www.civilrights.org/career_center/job_detail.cfm?id=230[/url]”>http://www.civilrights.org/career_center/job_detail.cfm?id=230</a> </p></li>
<li><p>Smart Growth America Internship
<a href=“http://support.smartgrowthamerica.org/site/PageServer?pagename=sgaintern[/url]”>http://support.smartgrowthamerica.org/site/PageServer?pagename=sgaintern</a> </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Which one should I choose if a) I do not want to be a lawyer, b) want to do social policy work (particularly education, race/ethnicity and urban policy), and c) most prestigious?</p>

2

<p>Prestige of internship isn't that big of a deal. The fact that you have an internship is something to be commending in general. Capitol Hill internships (typically scoffed at by GW students) will provide you will valuable knowledge of our legislative system. That's useful in any public sector work. </p>

<p>Any internship you will learn how to conduct yourself professionally, how to function in an office setting, how to address people from varying backgrounds respectfully and tactfully, etc.</p>

<p>Where do you feel you will grow the most? Where do you feel you will prick up the most professional contacts to further your career? Where will you be doing actual work as opposed to filing/opening mail/getting coffee? </p>

<p>Good luck on your decision!</p>

3

<p>In terms of LCCR - I worked at the DC office of NAACP LDF last summer.</p>

<p>It was a great experience, mostly because of the work dealing with the change at SCOTUS. W/O O'Connor's resignation, it would have been legal mumbo jumbo that is over my head as a highschooler.</p>

<p>I'd go with Conyers.</p>

4

<p>tenisghs - do you know what is the best way to look anf find summer internships in DC - esp. in finance, economics or social policy?
You seem to know how to do it. Thanks.</p>

5

<p>Have you seen the news about Conyers lately? Apparently he treats his staff like "servants." I'm not sure if you'd be interacting directly with him, but either way thought you might want to know ;-). There's a CNN.com article on it here:
<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/12/griffin.conyers/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/12/griffin.conyers/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

6

<p>Songanddance, if you're looking for summer internships, they are pretty much all gone. The deadlines for 90% of DC summer internships were March 1 - April 1.</p>