<p>first off, congrats on the acceptance peebles. Out of curiosity what year are you and what kind of activities/internships have you already done? I agree with obsessed, could we perhaps get an idea of your source?</p>
<p>Also, I’m not sure how true the “no phone/contact, no acceptance” is. Because of the super super super short turnaround, I don’t know if they have the time to do all the interviews they’d like. </p>
<p>Also, I saw on another forum (on TLS (top law school)) from a former intern that all the interns that accept/go have to get a background check done that can take up to a month and a half? How do they plan on doing that in under a month…? Oh well.</p>
<p>Ok…so I have some info. I’ve been talking to a few of my friends about this whole White House Internship enigma and they’ve provided a little insight…they work on the hill, as well as have some close workings with a couple of the departments at the White House. </p>
<p>A. This class of interns is the guinea pig class…when I say guinea pig class I mean that nothing is concrete and protocol is being set up as we are applying. Take for example that the Fall 2009 application is already starting to take shape and samples have been provided to prospective applicants. Now information is being released that everyone didn’t even send in the same application because submission protocol was released in the MIDDLE of the application process. Some people submitted their applications as if it were any other internship (name on resume, no SSN, etc), while those who submitted later in the process submitted applications with no name on any documents other than the cover page, SSN & Bday on all documents as identifiers, and certain protocol for recommenders to submit contact information. </p>
<p>B. Seeing as how this is the first intern class of the Obama Administration some applications have special priority. We all know that President Obama has alot of notable supporters and backing on all levels of government and non-government entities…so do the math. My friend personally knows someone who has known they had the internship for approximately three weeks now…with no interview…no reference contact…and no relevant experience. <—***?!?</p>
<p>C. As time goes on the process will become more efficient and alot less driven by soft factors. Some applications were acted upon without ever having reached an individual department (BOTH acceptances AND rejections) and this will pretty much be discontinued in the future. </p>
<p>D.Yea you just pretty much get the picture from A-C…I’ll wait for tomorrow for the final outcome but I am going through a wide range of emotions right now…from feeling disrespected to feeling robbed…to feeling just ****ed off in general…BUT there is always re-applying for those who are sincerely interested in working with the White House in pushing forward President Obama’s agenda.</p>
<p>prophet:
thanks so much for your insight & your friends knowledge of the workings. It definitely helps to see why a lot of the process has been kind of messy/unorganized (which you can’t really blame the White House for…but still).</p>
<p>I agree with you on the whole ?! bit of people getting acceptances/denials already. Also, I didn’t realize people sent in normal internship application stuff, I found the application a few days into it being available and I <em>think</em> they already put up the protocol to follow so that’s really surprising!</p>
<p>I feel a little upset about the whole pseudo-cronyism bit, I don’t think the internship is an appropriate way to go about doing that, I know President Obama wants to have a diverse group of interns, but giving away positions to people he knows/has connections with somehow seems unfair to those of us who are trying because of what we have to bring to the table, not because of connections. Oh well, that’s life eh?</p>
<p>I don’t know how to feel right now. Surprisingly unfased (unfazed?) I suppose I knew something like this would happen, and I’d like to think I have a good shot at the internship but who knows.</p>
<p>Also-- rejections?! Really, people have already been rejected??? </p>
<p>gosh, I guess I feel a little better? Oh well, D-day tomorrow guys! Best of luck to us all, I hope we all get in because I really want to meet all of you in person :P</p>
<p>haha…thanks for the insight prophet. Although i did expect things to be different with this administration i did expect stuff like that to be going on, especially b/c this is the first group of interns. So yeah…im not too surprised.</p>
<p>For the record, I didn’t get accepted, just interviewed…</p>
<p>Just in case this is monitored (I know, paranoid), I am not going to say what department. But I will say this, I was interviewed for a position that fit with my essay on his policies that I wrote about, so that is likely how they selected which department as opposed to the ones you listed. Maybe it was just me, but I think it gave a little insight.</p>
<p>I know a Bush intern who got it solely because of connections, but the three people I know who got interviews are people who had intern experience on the campaign. That may also be kinda a key component.</p>
<p>Each of us also had a large commitment to service, volunteering or leadership. Some are student government, another started a non-profit, and the other had a lot of internships in government. Each of us was told that we didn’t have it, and that we were up against at least one other person. </p>
<p>They also said we would find out by Monday night via email.</p>
<p>ah ok sorry about that, I thought by “contacted for an internship” you were saying you got in. Oops!</p>
<p>ehhh via email always scares me o_O what if my internet DIES hahaha…</p>
<p>It seems kind of rough that they tell you that they’re comparing you against someone else… </p>
<p>Also I know I asked this before but does <em>anyone</em> have an estimate on the number of interns that they will accept for this term? I’ve heard terms of 100 and terms of 200 (maybe that was a lie?).</p>
<p>They are in fact accepting 100 interns for this summer. I also know that they will not be doing phone interviews to weed out candidates, I am almost positive.</p>
<p>In addition, they should be prioritizing the donors, friends, politicians sons and daughters etc, and probably some referred SFBO people…</p>
<p>has anyone heard anything of interest for referred SFBO people?</p>
<p>SFBO? What does that stand for? Also thanks for the info doctorjohndorian, although it is kind of a bummer I guess it’s expected (not having really paid attention the last time we had a president turn around being so young and all :P) </p>
<p>Also, I was just wondering how you know the information you told? Source?</p>
<p>I hope my strong references or letters of recommendation can get me in. I have a district court judge, my state senator from the House of Representatives and my State Congressman. That’s gotta get me in…I have strong work ethic in my community. Powerful essays and resume…what else do they want? lol</p>
<p>I think we came to the general agreement that we are being notified via email. Nothing here. I hope my strong recs/commitment to service get me in too (I was under 18 until a few months ago so I talked about my political frustration for one of my essays).</p>
<p>I think some of the big things for this one are Obama favoring people who helped him & trying to get the most diverse group of interns possible (he specifically targeteed LGBT population to apply for the position as an example). Keeping that in mind, who knows what the turn out will be.</p>
<p>Also, I think we wont start recieving news until later in the day, someone mentioned earlier that a lot of the complete emails didn’t come until after 5 o clock in the evening. Apparently we should hear by 6? I’ve gotten an email as late as 6:30 before so I dont know exactly how it will work.</p>
<p>Either way it’s been fun talking to you all these last few days good luck all, please post when you find out, department, and how you found out for those who get in! Thanks!</p>
<p>AHAHAHA! Wow, I can’t believe I’m even still keeping up with this. Since there are more people now, did anyone by chance NOT get an application confirmation? I still have about 10% hope that I’m still in the running.</p>
<p>Jeez, ya’ll have all these big shot government stuff, is that really what they are looking for? I tried to stay impartial in my experience. I have long term foreign exchange with Rotary, multiple other travel programs, and some other stuff. I guess I was hoping education and experience would get me something. My bro has Down Syndrome, so I wrote about advocacy issues and my work with Special Olympics and such, but I guess it’s not like I had letters from people everyone knows. </p>
<p>I’ll just try again next time. Although I still want to know if anyone DIDN’T get a confirmation email, now that I have the time to ask before decisions go out.</p>
<p>I have been following this thread for a while. I also applied. I havent gotten a call interview nor do i know of my references being contacted. </p>
<p>kfcomedy: what number did you call? i cant seem to find a number on the internship website.</p>
<p>I guess we are all on the same boat anxiously waiting for the good news. On the WH website it says that the accepted applicants will be notified by April 20 but today when I called I got an automated message which says that accepted applicants will be notified by April 24. It means couple more days to find out. Anyone received any news of acceptance? Did you try calling the number they have on the application?</p>
good luck all, please post when you find out, department, and how you found out for those who get in! Thanks!</p>