U.S. Department of Education Volunteer Internship Opportunity

Internship Application

The Department has internships available for interested students throughout the school year. Internships provide students with an experience in government through real work responsibilities in a range of departments within the Department of Education (ED). General information on the internship and the application process is found below. Please read all of this before completing an application (also found below).

Internship Information:

Purpose of the Internship:

The Department of Education Intern Program seeks to provide students with an experience that exposes them to government and federal education policy while providing students with meaningful responsibilities.

Prospective interns can request specific areas of work as well as specific departments. Some examples of types of work that have been done in the past include:

■Policy Analysis
■Evaluation and Research
■Project and program management
■Finance
■Public Affairs and communications
■External Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations
■Legislative Affairs
■New media
■Legal work

Some offices that have hosted interns before are:
■Elementary and Secondary Education
■Student Financial Aid
■Higher Education
■Special Education
■Vocational and Adult Education
■Civil Rights
■Safe and Drug Free schools
■International education
■General Counsel

All ED interns are invited to participate in intern specific events. Alongside weekly brownbag lunches with top ED officials, past interns have also had the opportunity to attend events including: White House tours, Let's Read! Let's Move!, Staff vs Intern Softball games, and a trip to a DC public school.

Criteria for Participation

The Student Volunteer/Intern:

■Must have permission of the institution at which he/she is enrolled to participate in the program.
■Must be enrolled not less than half time in a course of study related to the work to be performed.
■Must be currently attending a high school, trade school, technical or vocational institute, junior college, college, university or other accredited educational institution.
■Recognizes that the services performed will not be compensated by the agency.
■Must be willing to sign a written document of agreement between ED and the student and his/her educational institution outlining the responsibilities of each.
■Students must be at least 16 years of age.
Application Process:

Applicants for the ED Intern program will be accepted throughout the year on a rolling application schedule. Applications need to be received at a minimum of a month before the proposed start date to be considered, however, it is highly recommended that applications are submitted much further in advance due to high demand for spots in the program (especially during the summer season).

Once an application is received, the applicant may receive a request for an interview and then may be offered a second round of interviews with relevant intern supervisors. Once notified of ED's decision, accepted applicants will have a week to either accept or decline the position offer. The whole process from application submission to receiving an offer may take several weeks, depending on the demand for intern positions at ED and the timing of the submission.

While there are four terms that the bulk of intern programming occurs in, ED welcomes interns at any point throughout the year and it is up to intern candidates and their prospective supervisors to negotiate the exact dates of internships. The four primary terms take place during*:

■Summer: June-July has most of the programming while there will be limited programming during May and August.
■Fall: September – early December
■Winter: late December – mid February
■Spring: mid February - April
*students are invited to apply to any set of dates that most convenience them. However, introductory trainings and most events will occur during the outlined seasons.

Application Instructions:

No application will be considered complete until three items are received by ED: a cover letter; an up to date resume; and a copy of the intern application, found below.

Intern Application Instructions: click on the gray areas to insert information into the neighboring field. If unclear as to what to put, leave the field blank and include the question with an explanation of the confusion in the body of the email submitting the completed application.

Cover Letter Instructions: Your cover letter should outline why you would like to work at ED, briefly summarize past experiences in the field of education, if applicable, and list specific offices that you would be interested in working in. Because of the high interest in working for ED it may not be possible to place you in your first choice office.

When all three documents are completed the complete package should be sent in one email to StudentInterns@ed.gov with the subject heading "[Last Name], [First Name]: [Term] Intern Application". For example, if your name was John Smith and you were applying for the fall term the email containing your completed application would have the following heading: "Smith, John: Fall Term Intern Application." If you are applying for multiple seasons or late in one term pick the earlier term that you are applying for. If you have any questions on submitting an application please email StudentInterns@ed.gov or call our Central Employment Line at 202-401-4100.

Visit http://www2.ed.gov/students/prep/job/intern/index.html for more info.