I need to bitch... I didn't get an internship I applied for

[Thremp]

lippy,

No, I said BSP was lame-o for bragging about getting junk grades and talking about effed up he was constantly.

Note: I just finished senior seminar and went on 6 day bender. Today I gave the worst presentation ever for senior honors seminar, thankfully its pass/fail.

[SBR]

So your a B+ student with 3.5 years at a fast food restaurant and 2 pieces of volunteer experience. No offense but this isn't a beat, this is standard.

[viciouspenguin]

[ QUOTE ]
3.5 GPA (3.75 counting CC)
3.66 GPA in Polisci
Officer for Habitat for Humanity (one of the largest groups here)
3.5 years of work experience at Subway
1 summer as an intern with a baseball league
1 good letter of rec, 1 bad (non-academic though)

26 applicants, 8 positions. I really don't know how there were 8 people better than me. I guess I should be a minority.

This is academic BBV right?

[/ QUOTE ]

no offense, but probably standard

[dtan05]

lol subway

[DKay]

your 3.5 years at subway didn't help although i'm sure you make a mean meatball sub.

Would have been better for you to sight the political campaigns or action committees that you worked on along with some high level references from those.

[ChipStorm]

OP, I sympathize, but you're underestimating the amount of randomness that goes into the selection process.

The world is not homogenous, neither are interviewers, screeners, applicants or positions. For any position where less than 1/3 of applicants are selected, no matter what your background looks like, there are an infinite number of rational, reasonable lines of thinking on the part of screeners that will put some other 1/3 of the pool in the internship and leave you in the cold.

Another way of saying it is, if someone replayed this particular application process a million times, you might actually get accepted 70% of the time. But unfortunately each one only happens once, and this time you missed.

Applying for a choice internship, top school, or great job is a low hit-rate, highly random, numbers game. You win this game by seeking out and applying for as many opportunities as you can possibly find, and not taking the failures personally.

Sorry if this sounds like cold water, but I really think it's important for motivating one to get back in the game and find the next opportunity.

[lippy]

DKay,

I think it is salient. I was promoted twice at 17 and 19.

ChipStorm,

Interesting thought process. I'd never thought of it, but I'm sure there is a lot of academic writing backing up what you say. I really like your post, thanks.

[DcifrThs]

[ QUOTE ]
3.5 GPA (3.75 counting CC)
3.66 GPA in Polisci
Officer for Habitat for Humanity (one of the largest groups here)
3.5 years of work experience at Subway
1 summer as an intern with a baseball league
1 good letter of rec, 1 bad (non-academic though)

26 applicants, 8 positions. I really don't know how there were 8 people better than me. I guess I should be a minority.

This is academic BBV right?

[/ QUOTE ]

i would be far more surprised if you got the job.

congressional HR folks know what they're looking for in an intern and you are not it. they want politically minded people who choose their jobs & hobbies based on their interests. their interests should be things like "college democrats" or republicans or whatever. and spending free time helping out during campeigning etc. those things are more likely to get you hired than GPA etc...which isn't even that great in your case.

for reference, i interned w/ the house judiciary committee in 2000, majority side. i got the job b/c a guy i worked for on the USS Intrepid in NYC was good friends with henry hyde. that is the other thing you're not counting on. 1 phone call = 1 job for many applicants.

Barron

[reno expat]

Bah, I'm in Washington with enough friends on the hill to be vaguely in the know. You were done in because 6 of the 26 had parents who had maxed out campaign donations and/or regular tee times with the Member or chief of staff. In reality 20 of you were applying for 2 spots and of those 20 there were a combination of 4.0 poliwankers and people who spent last summer doing bitch work on campaigns who were ahead of you.

[Jdanz]

I'm 3.65 3.85 in pol
internships:
frosh summer NYPD legal
soph spring NYC council (speaker's office)
soph summer County prosecutor's office
junior spring legal and business consulting in Prague
junior summer Volunteer coordinator for a county campaign.

I don't think I'd be a shoe in at all for a ton of congressional internships.

Seriously there are a million people with good GPAs in politics and nothing to do other than go to law school, competition for the extremely limited true political jobs/internships available is fierce.