Why Internships Matter
In recent months, our world has been disrupted and upended. This upheaval is especially dramatic for college students like you: you have had to transition from in-person to online learning with no preparation and had to leave friends, support systems, and activities.
You also face a historically volatile and uncertain job market. More than ever, you need to do everything you can to be competitive job applicants, and it is indisputable that internships can make you more competitive. Moreover, students who intern in the field they're majoring in find jobs more closely related to that major.
With our program, we work with you one on one to help you find an internship that matches your interests and experience. In that way, we can help you find the relevant internship that will set you up to be competitive in today's job market.
From the employer perspective, they are more likely to hire you—above a lot of other things you do in college—if you have interned.
So, it's important to intern—but why in DC?
DC is home to organizations and institutions found nowhere else in the country or the world.
Those places are doing work that affect the nation and the world, so your work will have an impact.
DC runs on interns, so those places have the experience to help you make the most out of your internship.
DC is all about networking, so you'll be able to make connections that you couldn't make anywhere else and that will create opportunities for the rest of your career.
We know things are up the air for you, but we are accepting students for fall 2020 and spring 2021, and we are working with potential internship hosts on how they will support interns: in person, online, or a combination. You can keep up with the latest information here, but we highly suggest you start the placement process now, so you can take advantage of the opportunities that are out there and set yourself up for success after graduation.
Apply now and start the application process!
“Recent graduates who had a relevant job or internship while in school were more than twice as likely to acquire a good job immediately after graduation. More than four in 10 of these graduates (42%) who strongly agree they had a relevant job or internship as an undergraduate had a good job waiting for them upon graduation, compared with just 20% of those who did not strongly agree.
Across all majors, students who strongly agreed that they had a job or internship where they could apply what they were learning in the classroom are significantly more likely to be in jobs that are completely related to their undergraduate studies.”
“Both hiring managers and business executives reported that they would be much more likely to hire candidates who had experience through an internship or apprenticeship with a company or organization.”
Sources: Gallup-Purdue Index and AAC&U
