I was accepted into the college. I’m currently weighing Georgetown with some other peer institutions. I hope to have a career in politics/public service, with law school a possibility. Georgetown is my most expensive option, but I’m not sure if the internship opportunities in DC would be worth the cost, considering other schools have DC semester programs. Do Georgetown underclassman have a good chance of interning at government agencies/think tanks during the school year? Do Georgetown students have an advantage in getting internships in government over students from peer institutions? Does Georgetown have superior government networking opportunities over schools not located in DC? Thanks in advance.
Yes, if you want to go into politics Georgetown will open up so many doors. I’ve known plenty of people who get internships as soon as the spring of their freshman year, and it’s not uncommon to see people do multiple internships during the semester before they graduate, let alone over the summer. Georgetown probably gives you an advantage in two ways in securing gov/politics internships compared to other top colleges:
-Location, obviously. Even if you would come from somewhere else to do a semester or summer in DC, many employers will have somewhat of a bias towards hiring people who are already in the area. It makes interviewing, etc easier. In addition, it can be much easier to get internships during the year as compared to over the summer, and Georgetown gives you more chances to do that as compared to one semester in DC. Even if you do a summer internship, there are advantages. There are part-time jobs on campus that will provide free summer housing and work around internship schedules, or you can sublease in an off-campus house, and a good number of Georgetown people stick around in DC for the summers.
-Network and opportunities. Georgetown has a strong alumni network in all areas of government and politics, as you’d expect, which can help get your foot in the door. Also, a number of professors at Georgetown might teach a night class and hold day jobs at a think tank or organization in DC (one of my current profs works at the IMF), and GU Politics is also another great resource with lots of career-oriented programming.
So, yeah, if you want to do politics Georgetown is a pretty great place to be. But also keep in mind that college is about more than just internships and the job you get afterwards, so keep academics and campus life in mind as you make your choice as well.
-(I’m a current student)
The Georgetown alumni network is incredibly helpful and is everywhere, especially in DC. While similar-tier schools will have similar levels of alumni, there’s a tangible difference between emailing an alumni/arranging a phone call and meeting them a block away from their office to do networking. I’m a current student in the SFS and previously interned in the federal government, where 4 out of 7 of the people in my office were Georgetown alums. All of them were more than happy to talk with me about future careers and were really useful in helping me decide whether that was a position I wanted to pursue full-time.
In recent years, Georgetown has also become known as somewhat of a refugee camp for ambassadors and career civil servants who were forced out due to the administration’s restructuring of career civil service positions. What that effectively means is a ton of mid-career people teaching classes and waiting to re-enter government. Given the amount of vacancies in most federal agencies right now, when they do re-enter government it’s likely that they’ll be hiring people to fill spots, and Georgetown students will likely have a first-shot at those jobs, since many of them will have taken classes with these professors. If you’re looking into public service, this is the place for you!