When I attended my orientation for the UCDC Program, one of the alums of the program mentioned that she had applied to 15 internships and only got two offers. I thought maybe she had applied to very competitive internships or maybe she was exaggerating to motivate us to apply to many internships. Since April, I have been submitting applications for internships in Washington, DC, I have submitted more or less ten applications. Two phone interviews, two rejections, many have not notified me. Even though I still have two months until I must find and secure an internship in DC, I felt the pressure of securing an internship in one of the most competitive places in my field.
I have submitted cover letters, writing samples, transcripts, resumes, security forms, and have bugged my professors for recommendation letters and references for non-profits, federal agencies, and law firms. Of course, I have been applying to internships that I know i will enjoy and will contribute to my future career and education, so I have not yet been desperate enough to apply to internships I would not find intellectually simulating.
I felt down after I had two interviews and got told that they were looking for someone with more experience in the political and legal field. I began thinking that no internship in Washington D.C, the capitol and political hub of our nation, would want me as an intern at their institution. Maybe D.C is too out of my league, maybe I should stay in my hometown and find another internship that will apparently be "not enough" for the real world. I am not only competing with UC undergrads for these positions during an election year, but also with local students and graduate and law students with much more knowledge and experience than me. Not to mention that each internship requires time consuming and extensive writing, contacting people for recommendation letters, and researching the institution. But, I kept telling myself that I need to be patient and keep turning in applications. After all, I still have an entire list of internships I am planning to submit my applications to.
On Friday, I was sitting in the library studying for my last final of summer school when I received an email. I opened it and read the first word: Congratulations! It was from the U.S Attorneys Office in the Department of Justice. I was so excited to know I got accepted to the internship program in the U.S Attorney’s Office in DC. I had mailed in my application back in April and had assumed that they rejected my application and due to their busy schedule did not notify me. This internship was one of my top choices, it being the largest U.S Attorney's office with 360 attorneys and 350 other non legal professionals. However, this also started a dilemma in my head. While I really want this internship and I know it will be a great way (maybe the best way) to earn experience and knowledge in the legal field, they only give me a week to accept the offer because the security clearance takes a couple of months. The fact that this internship program took almost three months to review and accept my application makes me wonder if the others I applied to will take more time to get back to me. Right now, I am excited to accept the offer, but plan to keep applying (just in case) while the U.S Department of Justice is conducting my extensive background check (yes, extensive, they even asked for fingerprints) even though my record is clean… I hope.
Well, now that I know about the struggle of getting an internship in what I consider to be the “real world” (I mean… how much more real can it get for a political science major), there is a light at the end of the tunnel! It just takes many tries, patience, and determination. But this makes me wonder, if it’s this hard to get an unpaid position, how hard is it to get a paid job in my field? My goal is only to be Olivia Pope, so it shouldn’t be too bad!
