US House of Rep. Page Program

Pre-College Issues Summer Programs
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<p>As others have said, please ignore the intern with virtually no experience with pages. There are a million and 3 flaws with bpsbgs’s post. I will briefly explain a few.
Firstly, the original post was a link to the House Page Program, as a Senate Intern, you would have no contact with House Pages. Bpsbgs’s major problem, besides being a pompous, jealous intern, is that he worked for the Senate.
As both a House Page and a Washington, D.C. congressional intern, I can confidently state that being a Page is a once and a lifetime experience. If you are even remotely considering the oppurtunity to apply, do it, you will never regret it. If I were to ask every one of my fellow Pages, none would regret their decision to travel to Washington as a high school junior. As a year long page, I am extremely knowledgable about the program and I would be more than happy to answer any questions you have.
As you can see from the previous posters responses to bpsbgs’s post, Pages are better than interns. None of the other posters, besides the district office intern, are in a position to make such a claim. The House Page Program is so good that many of my friends would have done it for free, or even paid for the experience. Save yourself from bpsbgs’s jealousy and become a Page first.</p>

<p>As a side note, to those who were inquiring about age and schooling requirements: one of my fellow Pages was a college student who was 16. I don’t think a fifteen year-old would be allowed. It is more by age then by year, If you are between 16 and 18, you should be successful in meeting the criteria. However, every decision is made on a case by case basis for this highly competitive program, so I would call both your Congressman and the Clerk of the House (in charge of the Page Program).</p>

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<p>You sound a little conceited yourself, lol. I appreciate noting the difference between the Senate and House Pages, but "Bpsbgs’’ (is that correct spelling?) was simply saying that others scoffed at the pages. It was simply an account. I personally wouldn’t mind applying to both, because there’s no knowing if I’ll even get accepted to either. He noted some advantages and disadvantages. The Page Program, particularly the House pays a lot more money (compared to Senate Page and non for interning) as well as sleeping and schooling, which Intern may not offer.</p>

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<p>I found this thread quite interesting. As someone who has worked (paid staffer) on a US Senate campaign as well as managed two different, smaller, state legislature campaigns is this:</p>

<p>With interns, it genuinely depends on who you work for. Not just who the senator is (congressman), but who you directly report to. That’s going to determine the post internship opportunities you have as well as how engaged you are in the day to day business. You could have someone that wants you doing research on issues pertaining to appropriations committee decisions, or you could have someone who wants you to deal with the crazies that call constantly.<br>
As an intern, you are closer to the prospect of an actual job–you work directly for the senator/congressman. However, as a page, you’re granted interesting opportunities like getting to go to the state of the union. Personally, I’ve heard too many political speeches to actually bother to care. However, there are people who would find that interesting. Speaking from the campaign side, the majority of campaign staffers are young (the oldest person on the campaign staff, aside from the consultants, who generally aren’t considered “staff”, was 25). You need to start young. To be frank, if you want a job, the senator isn’t going to be the one to get it for you. Usually, you need to know the staff members. However, if you’re not necessarily interested in the prospect of having a paid job in college (for example, I’m planning to rack up enough AP credits so I can take up to two semesters off to work on campaigns/do some work in DC), then an internship is the best route. As an intern, you’re placed more on the level of staff–you might have to do grunt work, but so does everyone when the first start out. It’s called paying your dues. Phone calls, constituent mail, it’s miserable, but someone has to do it. You don’t get the opportunities afforded to pages (the unbridled access to the capital, etc.), but you do get a little closer to working in politics. You’re more likely to meet the people that can directly help you. For example, during the final days of the last campaign I worked on, they flew a few of the interns and staff assistants out to us–that is an opportunity that pages would not have. Being a page is an amazing opportunity, and if it’s something you’re at all interested in, I advise not turning it down. However, as a paid staff member on a campaign who regularly interacted with the staffers in DC in the office, I can tell you that interns are, while they are ranked the lowest on the totem pole in comparison to all of the staffers, they were treated more as peers—they might be lower, but they had the potential to move up. However, pages were just pages. They had some great opportunities, but, they were seen as high school kids. Just high school kids. Depending on your age, you may or may not be able to intern. If you live near DC, and intend to go to college in that area—try and get an internship. Honestly, most offices aren’t going to want high school interns. If you’ve worked with someone one of the staff members knows, and that person can vouch for you, you’re golden—free labor, they wouldn’t turn that down . However, without that, you probably won’t be able to intern until college. Most interns (if not all in some offices) are in college. Many are in graduate school or law school. That’s another thing to mention, if given the opportunity to intern, you’re peers will be in college or beyond, as a page, they’re you’re age. Also, usually being a page can lead to an internship, not the other way around. Depends on personal preference and what you see your future holding. Some may like one option, others may prefer the other. However, if neither opportunity presents itself, I would recommend searching out a political campaign. You want to be an intern, not a volunteer, and ideally, you want to work in the main office with the senior staff. It gives you the opportunity to make connections, and hopefully, they will tote you along on the next campaign they work on, and offer you a decent job. MOST campaigns could care less about high school vs. college. It’s much more casual, and as a high school student, you would be impressive if you could prove yourself to be at the level of the college students interning. It’s a lot of grunt work, but there are some neat opportunities. </p>

<p>Anyway, long, message aside: it really depends on what you want. They’re both fantastic opportunities, and honestly, I wouldn’t place one above the other. It honestly depends on who you are, what you want, and honestly, what you can get—take whatever is offered. Hopefully I managed to be relatively unbiased, though I did slip a little, but it’s less biased than someone who has done either. I can’t tell you what your exact duties are as a page, and NO ONE can tell you exactly what you’ll be doing as an intern–no one knows, you do completely different stuff every day, and anyone who tells you that they know exactly what you’ll be doing, is lying–but I can give a relatively honest perspective of how the positions are viewed from the outside. </p>

<p>Also, interns don’t write speeches. That’s ridiculous. That’s what communications consultants are for–highly paid ones at that. Well, at least the probability of an intern getting to do that is 0.0000000001%.</p>

<p>Also, shushugah, some interns do get paid. It depends on how the congressman or senator chooses to divvy up their budget for staff–they have no specific requirements for how much or how little they pay different people, though there are some caps, unless I’m mistaken. However, as a page, you will definitely be paid.</p>

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<p>Let it be known, once and for all, I have no jealousy of Pages. Frankly, I felt more pity. Pages always seemed so constrained, so rushed. Everything they did, they seemed to have this whole sense of utter importance which virtually every staffer, and every intern, simply dismissed as being the fallacy of youth. However, I cannot stress enough that this was from my own perspective, and I am sure that there are different ways that every office looks at Pages. As a younger office, I don’t believe that we had any nomination in the Pages anyways, so that might have also played into our dismissive attitude towards them.</p>

<p>About the aspect of the difficulty of becoming a page, the pool for interns is much, much larger than that for pages. When I was an intern, I checked in the InterTrac system to see how many applicants from my home state applied, and for one of the smallest states in the country, there were over 150 applicants for just 8 slots in DC and about 10 in our district office. That’s an awful lot of rejections to becoming an intern, so even though there are more interns, the two pools really are not comparable in size</p>

<p>Also, I feel a key difference is what you make of the experience as an intern. You need to work actively on making connections, like grabbing coffee and such with them, to build these valuable bridges. As a page, you’re stuffed into a crock pot with other kids, so there really isn’t much of a need to go out and explore the Capitol Hill social ladder as a whole. Thus, you have to be strongly self-motivated to be an intern and make the most of it.</p>

<p>In that vein, I also acknowledge that Pages get to do an awful lot of “cool” stuff. I know that I was never allowed onto the Floor, and frankly, not even most LA’s are… However, I also feel no desire to go on it either. I was perfectly content watching it from my cosy chair in the office on the television. If you really feel actually being there makes a difference, more power to you, but I was probably about half a mile away, and I really couldn’t have cared less…</p>

<p>Another issue is the salary/housing/schooling concern. Since I did it over the summer, and as such schooling was not an issue, I simply got housing in GW’s dorms and lived over there in a single for a relatively modest price. Yes, it was money out of my pocket, but I know that the experiences and the connections I made were invaluable. Every office, however, has its own policies, and I noticed that the contract I signed has a provision for paid internships, so I suspect highly that they do exist, but, frankly, I had no need for one, so I never asked for pay, laboring out of the bottom of my heart.</p>

<p>As an intern, you’ll be working with the smartest kids from all around the country. Besides me (who is still in High School), all of the other interns in our office were from Top 20 schools, and the majority of which were Ivies. I mean, I don’t know if you realized it as a page, but the interns who do that “grunt” work might be some of the nation’s next great geniuses. It is truly a pleasure to serve with people with whom you can spend an afternoon discussing the issues facing admiralty law in the new century and actually enjoy the discussion on both sides.</p>

<p>Also, there are many intern events which you can attend. I remember seeing quite a few important people (Supreme Court Justices, major Representatives, ambassadors), in those lectures, and I enjoyed them greatly. If you’d like to, you can make friends from other offices, and those sorts of bonds ten to develop as you deliver mail and whatnot, things that prior posters have dismissed as “grunt” work. Is it not the most pleasant in the world, sure. However, it has to be done, and you can meet some really cool people on the way (like I met Lindsey Graham while delivering something to one of the committees, and I met RFK Jr. in a similar manner). </p>

<p>However, the most valuable thing I did was to write on behalf of the Senator. This put me in direct contact with the people of my home state, which was an amazing experience. I loved every moment of it, even dealing with the inevitable “crazies”. Through this whole labor, I was able to become acutely aware of the issues that face the Real America, not the pomp and circumstance of the Senate Floor and the Cloakrooms, but those issues that confront us on Main Street. Beyond everything else, having that constituent bond was what I treasured most about my internship, and I am certain that as a Page, I would never have had the privilege and honor of forging that relationship. </p>

<p>@eb9811 - I actually did draft a few speeches for the Senator to say while back in the state, so it does happen. However, I suspect the media guys just didn’t want to deal with writing it, since they gave me essentially the template and told me to follow the other ones and change what was relevant.</p>

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<p>I loved the tight rules, constraints, rushed, always-busy aspect of the Page Program. Pages get to do so much more than most interns, and have nearly unrestricted access to the Capitol while at work. As a cloakroom page, I would answer the door to the cloakroom. I could only let members and senior staffers in, but interns would ring the bell to drop off co-sponsor sheets and bills. One time, an intern, who was probably about 5 years older than me, gave me a co-sponsor sheet, and I was about to close the door when he timidly asked me, “can I just peek around the corner to see what it looks like?” So I let him stand on the top step and look around the corner at the inside of the republican cloakroom. He thanked me profusely. That moment was when it really hit me how much more we get to do as pages! It is an honor to be selected for either of these jobs, and I still hope to be an intern, but pages get to do so much more and they have so many more perks!</p>

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<p>@bpsbgs: See, I wouldn’t consider that speechwriting, I would have said the media guys who wrote the template speeches “wrote” the speeches. But, depending on how you define it, you did write a speech. And hey, it’s nice to be exposed to the process, even if you didn’t write them–it gives you an understanding of them, and then, maybe you’ll eventually originate one :)</p>

<p>@kitten4: I definitely agree that pages have a lot of interesting privilages, but, to play devil’s advocate, I would purport that the “tight rules” and “always busy schedule” can be a hindrance. At least, from my experience, a lot of what will help you get ahead, aside from just being darn good at working absurd hours and doing anything and everything, is becoming closer to the people that could help you move up. It’s hard to really get to know the staffers with a “busy schedule”. Also, as a page, while nominated by an individual member, that member (and more importantly, his or her staff) is less invested in you personally, less likely to get to know you well, and less likely to help you out in the future. While grunt work is miserable, it’s quite the bonding experience. Nothing like 49 hours straight of work to get closer to your boss :). Not that being a page doesn’t expose you to a lot, but, really, is seeing the inside of the cloakroom actually going to get you anywhere in politics? It’s a great, unique opportunity, and take it if you are given the opportunity, but if presented with both opportunities, you really have to ask yourself what you want to get out of it…</p>

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<p>If I’m a democrat and the congressman from my district is republican should I still ask him for sponsorship or ask someone from another district that is a democrat?</p>

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<p>Aeropromaster,
I’m glad to hear you’re interested in the program despite the nonsense in this thread. Your dilemma is very common. You can either continue with applying through your district member or you can apply through another member close-by. To be honest, if you are looking at the program for next year, I would apply through your distric member because of the Republican majority. Pages of the majority party usually have it better because they get special responsibilities, and there are more of them, so you won’t have to work as hard. When I was a Page, I knew many that were of different political ideologies than their member. It doesn’t really matter. Having said that, the other option is still viable if you wish to do so. You will just have to call the different members offices and they will give you the information needed.</p>

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<p>A friend of mine (a democrat) worked for a republican. I agree with the comment about the republican majority. In the senate, if one of the senators from your state is a democrat, maybe give that a shot as well :).</p>

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<p>@Aero, generally speaking they try to stay away from asking about your ideology. Obviously don’t lie to them, but it shouldn’t be an issue. After all, they are still your representative regardless of their affiliation, and I believe paging and interning are classified as civil service opportunities, not a political ones, so it might even not be entirely legal for them to ask you about it. However, I would also avoid the issue if I were you, at all costs, or at least talk about your ideas without labeling them, should they ask you, that way you resist being packaged into the opposite party.</p>

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<p>Thank you for all the responses! I just sent him an email. Hopefully he sponsors me!</p>

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<p>@Aero,
I would reccomend calling instead and in the future. It’s faster, and it shows a little more initiative on your part. Just my 2 cents.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the advice Motocrosser21. If he doesn’t apply in the next week should I just go ahead and call her?</p>

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<p>…*him</p>

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<p>Yeah, I would. You don’t even have to give it a week. Once you call, you can figure out if they have a nomination and all the details. If they do have a space, ask for an application. Once you complete it (basic application with one or two 250 word essays and 2 letters of rec) you will probably have an interview. I’ll be honest, the program is a lot different from what you read on the websites. The website posted is very outdated and contains really no beneficial information. Even the wikipedia page is better. Feel free to pm me if you have any specific questions about the program.</p>

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<p>Give them some time, but generally constituent services, like paging, has a quicker turnaround, so if you don’t her back by next week definitely give their coordinator a ring.</p>

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<p>I was a page in 1971 and it was the single greatest experience I had while I was growing up. The secret is that pages are “invisible” for all intents and so Members would speak openly in front of you. If you are smart and listen closely you can learn the real way the legislative process works. In addition, it is a rare privilege to be able to go onto the House (or Senate) floor. The sense of history is tangible. I loved to get in early and just sit in the empty chamber–I’d sneak and sit in the Speaker’s chair and look out at the chamber. To this day when I watch C-SPAN I can recall the feeling of being there.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, as it is a “patronage” appointment, a good deal depends on the seniority of your member and if they are part of the Majority or Minority party. I started writing my Congressman for years until I finally got the call that I had been appointed. I figuratively floated on air for the rest of the day. </p>

<p>So if it is your dream to be involved in politics, go for it. When you get told, sorry–ignore it and keep writing. Persistence pays off!</p>

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<p>This program is really prestigious for anyone looking to get into social science, government, etc. majors but also for those seeking to make it into top univerisites. So far I know of 3 people who were accepted and attended this summer program, and they now go to Yale, Harvard, and Columbia.</p>

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<p>in case anyone’s wondering, applications for the summer programs won’t be available until early march. with that said, don’t hesitate to contact your member’s office now to get ahead of the process, as it is exhausting…</p>

<p>i’ve been accepted for the summer terms and hope to see some of you there!</p>

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<p>When would a current freshman begin the process to become a page for Summer 2012?</p>