<p>I have searched the White House internship thread and a couple of other ones, but couldn't find a definitive answer. How unlikely is it for a kid who worked for the other side to land an internship in a gov position held by the opposing side?
I.e. could a student who worked for the RNC or their state Republican Party get a (current) White House internship?
Likewise if the occupant of the White House were a Republican, could a kid who had been involved in a Democrat's campaign or on a clearly liberal issue land the position?</p>
<p>Please reply to the above OP by giving factual, evidence-based career information or guidance.</p>
<p>For example, does anyone know anyone who ever got a White House internship across party lines? And if so, how, when and so forth. How would you advise someone attempting to do this today?</p>
<p>Stay helpful to the OP. Comments that blast or snark about either political party will not remain.</p>
<p>I hope to see helpful answers as well. </p>
<p>Ds2 is interning with our current Democratic congressman, but the opposing, controlling party has redrawn his district in hopes of having him lose re-election. Under redistricting, whether he wins or not, we’d get a new Republican congressman. Ds thinks that even if we are no longer in his district, the Democrat would allow him to still work for him next summer. Maybe, but I also wonder what chances he’d have to work for the Republican whose district we’d now be in.</p>
<p>In Washington, DC, my d., who just graduated from American U., found there are thousands of government internships that are not with Congresspeople, Senators, President, etc., but with government agencies. You apply through the agency. The who-you-know might help you get your foot in the door, but then you’d be on your own. </p>
<p>As for the political ones, I imagine they’d be political. (But I have no first- or second-hand knowledge.)</p>
<p>My family members have been involved in politics for years, and my kids have done many political internships. Our experience has been that you pick your “team” and stick to it. I’d say the chances of getting hired for a political internship if it were known that you worked for the other party would be about zero. There are too many party purists competing for those internships and paid positions. You’d be viewed as either a turncoat or an opportunist if you tried to go over to the other side. I’m talking about internships with elected officials, or consulting firms, fundraisers, ad agencies, political action committees, think tanks, or anything else that is partisan. I think what mini said about interning with a government agency would be the way to go for someone who isn’t really political.</p>
<p>White House internships are ridiculously hard to get. D1, who has a 3.96 GPA as a rising senior Political Science major, extensive campaign experience, and some other great political internship experience in DC (with security clearance) did not make the 2nd cut this year. And it is her party… It is such a crapshoot (sort of like top Ivy admissions, but with less clear cut criteria). Go ahead and put in the application, but apply for lots of other internships also if you want to be in DC. Also, a lot of people try several times before getting an internship – there are a lot of graduate students in the pool compared to other internships, I think.</p>
<p>Another problem with the WH internships is that they notify quite late. So if you wait for their notification, and it is a no, you are without an internship late in the game. There are thousands of other great opportunities with great political connections available in DC; regardless of party, don’t get hung up on the WH. Apply and forget about it while pursuing other opportunities :)</p>
<p>Ds is a pretty committed Democrat, but if our congressman is a Republican, what can he do? He’s hoping to have this Democratic connection, go to college in DC in two years and work in his DC office while there …</p>
<p>When my D interned on capitol hill she had to intern in the office of a congresswoman from a different state because our congressman was from the “wrong” party. Your S doesn’t have to intern with his own congressman. If the congressman is in a different district after the redistricting, that doesn’t matter as long as he’ll hire your S. Also, he could put in a good word for your S with another congressperson. My D interned with many different types of political groups and businesses in addition to interning on capitol hill to get as much varied experience as possible, and it really paid off. She got hired into a job in politics immediately after college, and they told her they were really impressed by her internships.</p>
<p>This is all very good info. Thanks so much. Expanding on my original post, I would love to hear about any experiences with political internships and how they were viewed/how the student “marketed” them in future jobs.</p>
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<p>this is interesting and not surprising. Is this the consensus view?</p>
<p>This is our experience. D1 interned for Democratic Congressman freshman year, member of UK parliament sophomore year and Republican Senator junior year. She is currently working in DC at the Dept of Energy. She has stated you can “cross” between parties as an intern but you must “declare” after graduation. D2 interned for Democratic Congressman freshman year and decided DC was not for her (but still loved the experience). BTW, all internship with the exception one were outside our district and state. And yes, there are numerous internship opportunities in DC both on the hill and off. PM me if you would like more info.</p>
<p>I know dozens of people who have done white house internships in the current administration who are republicans. In my experience, people do tend to pick their side and stick to it-- but if we’re talking about the white house all bets are off, if you can get an internship there you take it no matter what it is. I know people who have crossed party lines to work for the mayor and the governor, too.</p>
<p>As someone with a BA in political science, personally I’d like the experience of working for the opposite party for a while. It’d be an amazing educational opportunity. I’ve worked for the Obama campaign and it would be great to compare and contrast the different parties. But my personal philosophy has always been that though I am studying politics, I should try my best to avoid letting my education “get political” – if you get my meaning. At least in my program, I know I was certainly not alone in that.</p>
<p>“Expanding on my original post, I would love to hear about any experiences with political internships and how they were viewed/how the student “marketed” them in future jobs.”</p>
<p>I have a child who was a federal senate intern as an undergraduate, who is currently in law school. He does not use his senate internship when an undergrad on his resume currently. Congressional internships - state or federal - are common. Perhaps White House internships aren’t.</p>
<p>My Obama campaign experience is on my resume, it was the only internship I did while I was in college so I was reluctant to remove it. I’ve been able to market it toward a bunch of different industries, and people have been impressed-- there’s a very wide array of skills used in that kind of work that can be applied to other things. It’s also been useful for me since I ultimately decided not to go into politics or government right now, and I am able to say that I tried it and that work environment wasn’t for me-- the biggest thing has been convincing people that I am actually interested in their position and not secretly waiting to run off to law school at the first opportunity. </p>
<p>My dad is furious with me for leaving anything democrat related on my resume, but if it’s hurt me at all I certainly haven’t noticed and I am /sure/ I’ve interviewed with some staunch republicans. I can see why he would worry, but I’ve just chosen not to concern myself with it for now. The only indication I’ve gotten at all that a significant number of people have noticed is that I’ve gotten compliments on working so hard to be involved and get real world experience in my field of study.</p>
<p>I also left on all my /extensive/ disability advocacy work at the risk of employers making assumptions about me, so really, admitting I’m a democrat doesn’t seem so bad.</p>
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<p>Not to inject anything political into this thread, but the most famous WH intern, Monica Lewinsky, did not seem to have those stats. So I guess (she asks naively) there are also slots for big donor kids? Or perhaps I am just unaware of what Ms. Lewinsky’s qualifications were and am just plain wrong in my assumptions.</p>
<p>My school’s political science department has a washington dc internship program which includes internships at the white house, and you don’t need those kinds of stats to get into it. I would guess it would depend on what avenue you took to get the internship? I only had a 3.0 at the time that I applied and no political experience other than three years of college in the poli sci dept, and I not only got into the program but when I had to back out for personal reasons the director in DC personally contacted me to see if we could work something out for another term. I doubt that every white house intern is some kind of tippy top student-- maybe only the ones that they hire directly?</p>
<p>Just conjecture.</p>