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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We always got terrible interns from there at the last agency I worked at. After a few years we quit accepting them. Occasionally you'd get a good one, but it was few and far between. [/quote]

Glad it wasn’t just me. I had THE WORST intern ever through them. Couldn’t come to work most days because he was too hungover…and actually was honest to tell us when we called for no shows…[/quote]

This doesn’t surprise me. I worked in student affairs at a mid-sized liberal arts university in Virginia. We used Washington Center for many years before switching to American University’s DC Internship Program after one incident that really left a sour taste in our mouth.

We switched because there was one year where we had two students with one public drunkenness citation each on their resumes apply to the program. One was a white male who lived in Northern Virginia, the other was a female International student from India. The NoVa student was a great candidate who had better grades, better recommendation letters, and stronger extracurricular than the other student. The other student wasn’t a bad candidate, but her resume was obviously weaker. They were both good kids who made a silly mistake their Freshman years. They both should have been accepted.

However, only the International student was accepted. Weaker candidates getting accepted over stronger ones isn’t necessarily a red flag - it happens all the time. However, the public drunkenness citation I mentioned earlier was only used as justification to turn away the white male’s application. I reached out to TWC for clarification about why it would be the dealbreaker for one and not the other, and they said something along the lines of the admissions director felt that a drunk male is stronger, scarier and could result in more destruction than a drunk female. Our department was absolutely appalled at that explanation, and switched our DC Internship contract the following semester.

Looking at TWC’s social media pages, they always highlight their diversity. This certainly isn’t a bad thing, I’m all for diversity but not at the expense of fairness to those who have also earned their spot. Deep down, I know the real reason he was turned away was because he wasn’t a diverse candidate. It’s a shame. I know he’s doing okay though! [/quote]

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