<p>Can anyone please provide a bit of information about this program? Im a rising sophmore looking into some good ecs, and i would like to know your opinions on the presitge of this program as well as selectivity. Btw, im looking at the summer program not the entire junior year one. </p>
<p>thanks a ton!</p>
<p>First, You're only a Senate Page for a semester, not a year. I would highly recommend you apply for the semester, instead of the summer, because the summer session is just too short and you won't get a real feel for DC and by the time you learn everyone's names it's over. The program is very prestigious, but the senate program is more for the "connected" if you will. So it might be hard to secure an appointment if daddy isn't a big donor or you don't know a friend of a friend. In that case I suggest the House program, although more people apply to it.</p>
<p>Neverthles, both programs are prestigious and very selective. You can't go wrong. Good luck.</p>
<p>Our D was a US Senate Page a few years ago. It was a wonderful program. You don't need to be "connected" as PRANKITY says - all you need to do (to start the process) is contact your US Senator's office in DC and get the information from them as to what you need to do - forms ect. When D was a Page - we would watch her everyday (when the Senate was in session) on C-Span. As for our D - there were 200+ students (from our State) who applied for the one (1) Page slot - usually there are 25-27 Pages each 6 months on the Senate side. Good Luck.</p>
<p>bumpppy bump</p>
<p>pnkityclankity- Im curious to know, because I am also from Illinois, have you done the program? If so, are you aware of how many people applied for the program from Illinois ---just ballpark figure would do. Did you have ur connections, i mean is that REQUIRED because the other poster is saying their d got in without any connections. Also, just a general question ---do SAT or PSAT scores mean anything for the program admission wise?</p>
<p>thanks for the responses!</p>
<p>the job has some hazards involved, look out for mark foley</p>
<p>
[quote]
the job has some hazards involved, look out for mark foley
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I'm gonna 2nd that</p>
<p>ha good point</p>
<p>Mark Foley was in the House.</p>
<p>Also, if you are lucky enough to have a Democrat as your senator, especially a senior one, that will help, as they get first stab at pages.</p>
<p>I was a HOUSE PAGE this summer. It was a life changing experience and you will regret it if you don't pursue it. I met the Senate Pages and I thought that the House Pages were more down-to-earth while the Senate Pages had a pretentious attitude..</p>
<p>If you have ANY questions, PM me. I know a lot about both programs.</p>
<p>Would doing this be a large admissions boost? Do you get paid/community service hours for it?</p>
<p>Riot- You don't get community service hours (cause it's not) you do get paid though. You won't fit in well either if you do this program to only pad your resume.</p>
<p>Channelswimmer- I never said you HAD to be connected, but it certianly helps more so than it does in the house program. A lot of the senate pages I talked to had the opportunity handed to them, for example one girl's grandfather was the chief of staff of the senator, so the kids who did apply got shafted. There were many examples of things such as this I heard. Even the leaders of the House program know. And there were WAY more then 25-27 Senate pages.</p>
<p>hardworker- No, a lot of pages on the house side had NO connections whatsoever, including me. I know a couple of people did, but not many. So if you don't know anyone -- or your parents don't, then don't fret.:) I was a House page from '06-'07. There were three other kids from Illinois, so our state was pretty well represented. Also, I didn't take the SAT or PSAT and I got in. It's not a factor, you do need good grades however. PM me if you have anymore questions, because when I was applying to be a page there was hardly any info. on the net, so I'll be glad to help you.</p>
<p>In my opinion, I think SkyHawkk is absolutely correct. During the state of the union the house pages were crammed in the back of the chamber. After about 15 minutes, the Senate pages arrived (it was a joint session). They started pushing through cause they thought they were entitled to a good spot and then a couple of the Senate boys jumped over the railing where the house members were sitting so they could get to the other side (I guess they weren't familiar with the floor plan of the chamber because you couldn't get to the other side because of the center aisle the president uses) The secret service got ****ed and then more Senate pages got kicked out for bringing cameras. How rude.</p>
<p>lol pwnttt</p>
<p>Ok, I have been getting several PM's about applying to the page program, so I thought it'd be more useful if I paste a message I sent to someone here so more people can see it, including the OP... </p>
<p>First of all, I'm only familiar with the House's application process, but I'd imagine the Senate application process is similiar so it shouldn't make much a difference.</p>
<p>When I first became a page, there was very little information on the program and now the only site with information are network news sites about the Foley scandal, which is VERY inaccurate. A good website (which I'm also a member of) is pagealumni.us. It covers a lot of information such as applying, page life, etc..</p>
<p>First what you need to do is find out your member of Congress. Once you do that, go to his or her website and go to "constituent services" and then go to "page nominations". Do what they direct you to do when you click the link. Some members don't have this feature on thier website which is common. If you're lucky your member might even have the application on his website. I called the Washington DC office for my member and I spoke to the intern who had no idea what I was talking about so she put me through to the intern coordinator, who wasn't in the office at the time, so I left a voicemail. She never got back to me. Don't let this discourage you because it will happen often. You will have to really pound the pavement. I went on my member's website and filled out a contact form and expressed interest in becoming a page. I also got the e-mail address to the chief-of-staff and I emailed him for more information. I contacted them in mid-Febuary of '06 mind you. Summer applications are useally released in January and semester applications are released in March. I recieved my application in late April, after bugging my member's office like crazy. </p>
<p>Page applications include the application, high school transcript, essay, resume, parent consent form, and 3 letters of recommendation. When it comes time to mail in your application, mail to the district office or fax it to the Washington office but do NOT mail it to the Washington office because FBI scans EVERYTHING, so it'll take weeks before they recieve it. Only do so if you are explicitly told. </p>
<p>Depending on the district you live in will determine the competitivness. Some districts have no applicants, others have 70. Members have different processes of selecting applications to nominate. Some members sponor the only person that applied, some require interviews and supplamental material, and other will nominate thier biggest donor's son or even a kid of thier own. Keep in mind due to the Foley scandal the program is more well known about so applications have increased. Once your member decides to nominate you, you go to a second pool of applicants. These applicants consist of everyone who has secured a nomination. It is to your advantage if you have a Democratic sponsor because Democrats get 2/3rds of the pages while Republicans only get 1/3, so the odds would be in your favor. It'd be even more helpful if your sponsor was a ranking member. </p>
<p>If you are having trouble getting an application, you can always try contacting the speakers office/seargent at arms/office of the clerk (they oversee the program) too because they release the applications. Some kids applied to not only thier home district member, but to several across the state (regulations prohibit sponsoring a page from outside the state, but leadership can). Most members only sponsor pages from thier home district, but one kid i know applied to eleven congressman, and several kids were sponsored by members of congress who werent thier constituents. Also after you apply and you don't hear anything from the office, dont let that get you down. I didnt hear anything from my member's office until I got a call to get an interview from the page board. I called the members office in late July to find out if I was selected to be a page. </p>
<p>Also there are some exceptions to when applications come out. I was in DC during the election and when I found out the Republicans lost the house, I was upset because I could be going home (I was a Republican page, and I did go home. I look back now on it as a blessing though) The Republican advisors figured out a way so that all pages could stay second semester and still accept new pages, but speaker Pelosi didnt want conservatives or people with Republican sympathies on her side, so we got sent hom. She re-released applications and appointed her donor's sons and daughters. Atleast Speaker Hastert was open-minded enough to allow liberals as Republican pages (we had quite a few). But hey -- it's politics. Pelosi is a mean woman, stay out of her way. She even prohibited Pages from the Speakers Balcony, can you believe that? Psh.</p>
<p>Regarding Foley, I know some parents are hesitant to allow thier kids to go to DC. But be assured that the program is very strict on safety and what happened wasn't because those safety precautions failed. I was in DC when the scandal broke, and it was fun at first getting all this attention from the media, but got obnoxious after a while. I saw myself on CNN and MSNBC but they were interfering with our work. We were followed by cameras on the job. Not fun. </p>
<p>I know It's a loooong post, but hopefully useful. There is little infomration about the program, so PM me if you have any questions.</p>
<p>prankity--lots of good info there. I was a Senate page this summer and am happy to provide anything I can.</p>
<p>Just thought I'd throw my two cents in here:</p>
<p>As I just said, I was a Senate page this summer and honestly, it was one of the best experiences of my life. I noticed some people suggesting to go for a semester if you want to, but you should be warned that going for that is a ton of work. (The summer in itself is a lot of work, but for the semester, add on getting up at 4 AM for school every morning, possibly working past 10 PM, and then still having to do homework. I could NEVER have done that.) Basically, regardless of when you want to do it, you'll still have an awesome experience. I was there for about a month and certainly got a feel for everything. But it does come down to a certain feeling of "I just learned where everything is and now I'm leaving!"</p>
<p>As for connections, a lot of kids there do have them. Senator's relatives/friends and staff relatives were all there. I personally had no connection, got in touch with my senator (Sen. Specter) through his website, and things took off from there. I was in touch with this amazing lady from his office who from what I assumed, pushed my application through for some reason. Honestly, no idea how it happened, but I'm incredibly thankful. There were a good deal of people like me, too--those who just applied and got accepted.</p>
<p>If you need any info on the Senate page program, I'd be glad to give you some firsthand if you need it.</p>
<p>wow, thanks for all the great replies, but one quick question and although this may sound kinda silly, i really am confused. a lot of applications ask for a "resume" according to their site. so, what exactly should i put on my resume? i mean i have done a lot of volunteering and am a part of a lot of clubs in my school, but because i am only a rising sophomore i dont think i have much that pulls me a part of others, especially in terms of job experience.</p>
<p>I think you should just put what you think your most significant achievements have been.</p>
<p>For Sen. Specter, all they wanted was a letter of interest for me that basically detailed why I wanted to be a page and included all my necessary stats. I also had to include a transcript of my grades. </p>
<p>But as far as I know, each Senator's office does things differently, so that's why you have to write a list of your activities. As another tip, you don't necessarily have to be sponsored by a senator from your own state. So if they tell you that Durbin/Obama don't have pages (Obama may/may not since he's junior...but it's odd, because Casey had a page this summer), you can ask their respective offices to ask other senators for you. One person in my group got this done for them and was sponsored by a senator outside their state. Basically, if you can use any possible connections/tips, take advantage of them. I'm still at a loss as to how I got in with NO connections of any kind, but I'm enormously grateful.</p>
<p>I will be a house page this fall and am also from Illinois. I applied for the Senate page program through Durbin but I didn't make it. Obama doesn't get a page because he's a junior senator and he's also busy with his presidential campaign. The Senate page program seems much more competitive, so I would try the House program first, which is less competitive.</p>
<p>I would also recommend that you get involved with your member's office prior to application. This is so that when the application/selection process begins, your district office will be supporting you. Types of involvement would include volunteering for the campaign or unpaid internships throught the congressional office. I did both and I think that helped my chances of selection.</p>
<p>interject, I sent you a reply to your PM you sent me, but it was too long so I had to cut it down a lot, and after looking it over it just focused on the bad and weak parts of the program. Regardless it is a great experience and I'll send you the second half of the PM.</p>
<p>As for the resume, I just had my extracurriculars, job experience, community service, all the typical stuff that goes on a Resume. I was only a sophomore when I made it so it wasn't too long and it was kind of sloppy because I had to hurry and make it before the mailman came, lol.</p>
<p>sorry to bump this so late...but are we allowed to apply to more than one senate at a time because I know competition in my state is pretty tough...or is that like illegal or something? What about applying to house and senate at the same time?</p>
<p>It isn't prohibited to apply to senators from a different state, but don't count on being appointed by one, because most prefer constituents. You can apply to the House and Senate at the same time if you wish.</p>