Internships at Fed

[HuckleberryEven]

This is just something out of curiosity I guess. I'm in the process of being onboarded for a summer internship at a federal agency. The work is health/life-sciences related but it is a pretty unique application of it at least for the average premed. I'm not really doing it to strengthen my application but rather as something I'm interested in exploring before my gap year job starts. Nevertheless, I was just curious about how adcoms would view experiences like my internship.

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[LizzyM]

Something out of the ordinary always makes an application more memorable and more interesting. I've always found that it makes the reader more likely to write, "I'd like to meet this applicant!" which puts you well on the way to being invited to interview. No promises but it is, at worse, neutral and may be a positive.

 

[cj_cregg]

I mean, it depends what you're doing. This does sound fairly unique and potentially an asset to your application, but is unlikely to overcome other deficiencies in your app if you have any.

 

[jj22901]

A lot of topics discussed on my application were things outside of medicine. I was asked a ton of times about my hobbies and my internship at the White House. I would imagine your internship will also spark some interest and get people asking questions

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I would hope anyone would be interested in what you learned from your internship.

 

[HuckleberryEven]

A lot of topics discussed on my application were things outside of medicine. I was asked a ton of times about my hobbies and my internship at the White House. I would imagine your internship will also spark some interest and get people asking questions

Cool internship! Was it through the EOP or directly with the White House?

 

[jj22901]

Cool internship! Was it through the EOP or directly with the White House?

Directly, although I think the people in the EOP had a better experience. Plus those offices are really col like OSTP or set you up really well for other jobs i.e PPO/OMB (tons of their folk are returning for full-time jobs while many in WHIP are not).

 

[HuckleberryEven]

Directly, although I think the people in the EOP had a better experience. Plus those offices are really col like OSTP or set you up really well for other jobs i.e PPO/OMB (tons of their folk are returning for full-time jobs while many in WHIP are not).

Yeah I applied for the OSTP program, still waiting to hear back from though although its kinda moot now that I have accepted an offer. Do you mind if I DM to ask a specific question about this stuff?

 

[CaptNemo]

I did an internship with a prominent F500 company (focused on engineering) during the same summer I was applying, mentioned it in my app and it came up often in open book interviews. Interviewers were definitely interested by it in my experience.