Anonymous wrote:Does the school you attend or the topics you focus on make it abundently clear what your political leanings are? I.e. you attend Liberty and you have a background in gun rights? Or you attend an Ivy with a background in policy-making to help immigrants? If so, you are likely not getting offered interviews because some of those organizations see something on your resume that is a red flag for them.

Anonymous wrote:I'm a current MPP (Master of Public Policy) student in my first year, and I haven't been able to secure any internships for the summer. I've applied to non-profits, The World Bank, fellowships, think tanks (Brookings, Atlantic Council, etc), consulting groups, senate committees, federal government agencies, and have been rejected or ghosted by all of them. I even had references and personal connections at some of these places! I'm currently interning with a non-profit in the city my grad school is in, and that internship will come to a close at the end of the semester. I've been looking to break into DC.

Prior to starting my MPP, I worked for a few years in the sector related to the area of policy I want to pursue. For privacy reasons, I don't want to give any more details as to what that is, because I don't want to run the risk of being identified. I tried applying to jobs at these organizations a couple of years ago, and was never successful. People told me I needed to go to graduate school to increase my chances of success, so I did. Yet, I still find myself in the same exact position I was in a few years ago: crying alone, feeling like a failure, feeling worthless and unwanted, and getting rejected or ghosted from everything. Nothing has changed for me at all. Many of my classmates and peers are securing roles at these places, even those with no prior work experience.

It's so frustrating and demotivating. I've exhausted hours upon hours writing personalized cover letters, ensuring my resume matches job descriptions--on top of a very demanding full-time course load, and managing a current internship I have with a non-profit. I've had multiple people--including some from the career office at my school, look over my cover letters and resume and say they don't understand why I'm not even getting interview requests at most places and that I seem like the perfect candidate. I don't know what more I could have done to stand out. Every door has been shut in my face. I made it to the second interview at a place I have connections with and still didn't get the position. I had another interview with a non-profit (not in DC, but remote) this past week, and I'm waiting to hear back.

With the semester closing out in two weeks, I'm panicking. I'm worried that not securing a good internship this summer will hurt my chances in finding a good job in DC after graduation. I've worked so hard to get good grades in my competitive classes, acquire heavy quant skills in statistics/program evaluation/econ/R/Python to do data analysis/data science, and I have sacrificed so much sleep, time at the gym, and even meals and I feel like it has all been for absolutely nothing. I feel defeated and regret trying to pursue this field and like I'll just never make it in DC or in this field, and that I'll never be able to put food on the table, have a family, and have a life. I expected much better than this from the elite MPP program I'm attending. My mental health is the absolute worst it has ever been. At this point, I just feel like I got my sign that I'll never make it in this field and this city, and that it's time to give up.

I don't even know what I'm ranting about. Just looking for some reassurance from anyone who has gone through this before.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you switch in to an MBA program? This would give you more options for postgraduate employment. Also, it doesn't hurt to start in an operational or customer service role in the government for a few years, and then move to DC for more policy-making work.

The MBA program is awful advice. Don’t listen to this, OP.

Anonymous wrote:Can you switch in to an MBA program? This would give you more options for postgraduate employment. Also, it doesn't hurt to start in an operational or customer service role in the government for a few years, and then move to DC for more policy-making work.

Anonymous wrote:One word: Networking.
Get involved in political campaigns. Many people in policy started their careers on political campaigns. Campaign work offers valuable experience and networking opportunities with both political insiders and other professionals. This is how DC works.