When most people think of government internships, they visualize interns working in a government representative’s office. This is certainly the case for interns interested in politics, public administration, and federal law. Most state and federal representatives offer summer and year-round internships to students majoring in government or political science. These internships are often the most competitive government internships, because they are so well publicized, and allow students to participate in a government office. As such, they limit internship openings to those who have high GPAs, excellent recommendations, and a leadership record in extracurricular activities.
Besides these office-based internships, the federal government offers an equivalent number of internships for law students. For instance, the U.S. Attorney’s offices offer internships nationwide to law students. These interns assist lawyers with cases ranging from traffic laws to theft of government property, and perform much research and writing on the side. Naturally, both state and the federal Department of Justice offices offer legal internships to both college students and law-school students, as do a great number of government programs such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Government internships are by no means limited to administrative work. Students pursuing degrees in the arts and sciences will find a trove of internships that can imbue their resumes with valuable experience and hands-on training. For example, a student majoring in museum studies may work at one of the Smithsonian museums spread throughout Washington D.C. The Smithsonian Associates Internships is a program that offers a multi-disciplinary curriculum to students interested in art-collecting, development and funding, performing arts, and catalogue design. Moreover, many state-funded museums and cultural institutions offer internships to students pursuing careers in museum work, such as curatorial work or museum administration.
Furthermore, students majoring in biology, chemistry, computer science, and engineering will find no lack of internships to bolster their studies. For biology students, many state- and federal-run zoos need interns to help tend to animals and perform laboratory work. A number of government internships are more specialized, such as entomological internships relating to butterfly care. Zoo or wildlife internships are often more competitive and require more screening, as recruiters have to entrust animal care to new interns. Moreover, a number of zoos offer administration and development internships to those interested in biology but unwilling or unqualified to perform the hands-on work.
As for chemistry, and physics students, many government labs need interns to apply their laboratory knowledge. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recruit interns to assist research in their sophisticated laboratory facilities. Another federal recruiter is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which has the Applied Physics Laboratory Internship Project. In this program, interns use their physics knowledge to brainstorm new space missions, and help transition plausible space missions to production.
Computer science, mathematics, and engineering majors will find work at the aforementioned federal institutions as well as other federal programs. The CDC and NASA offer numerous internships in programs centered on computer science and engineering. In addition, health-centered programs such as the National Institute of Health (NIH) and security-centered programs such as the National Security Agency (NSA) have well-structured internships, such as the NSA Computer Science Intern Program.
Besides searching for internships within these institutions, students can apply to programs that place them in relevant internships. The Washington Internship Program enables students to fill out an application declaring their field of study, and places qualified students in D.C.-based institutions. For example, the program may place a journalism student at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and place an ecology student at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). These programs are popular because they narrow down which program best fits an individual student’s profile and objectives.
Students unwilling to venture out to Washington D.C. can take comfort that there are abundant internship jobs in their state government. They need only do an Internet search on state internships to find that there are as many internship programs as there are fields of study. They should only concern themselves with the requirements of internship programs, such as the minimum education level, GPA, and letters of recommendation. They also need to bear in mind that many internships are unpaid, even if they require many work hours. Thankfully, students can apply for numerous financial-aid programs through their state governments that will support their internship careers.
