This year marks the 5th anniversary of the POLS DC Internship Program; by the end of this fall semester, we will have sent 100 students to work in the nation’s capital!

POLS DC students, who spend a semester in our professional prep class (with the support of the Walter Center for Career Achievement) before they head east, have held some plum jobs.  They have worked for innumerable members of the House, including Speakers from both parties (Pelosi and McCarthy), for multiple senators (Young, Duckworth, Rubio, Brown, Klobuchar, Braun and more), for most of the Indiana delegation, for the White House, for think tanks (Brookings, AEI, Cato), for advocacy groups and other DC organizations from EMILY’s List to the Smithsonian to the American Bar Association.  Students take a full load of in-person IU classes and live together in town houses in the Capitol Hill neighborhood – bonding, networking with our alums, exploring the city and figuring out where the pathways of their future will take them.

The internship transforms them.  Here is what a few of them have said:

“Of all my courses and experiences at IU, none hold a candle to IU POLS DC.”
—Ana Ryskin

“IU POLS DC allowed me to connect to the sense of purpose in life I needed, it kickstarted my career and gave me options I didn't even know were in the realm of possibility.”
—Stef Sharpe

“POLS DC made me grow as a person…. I consider POLS DC a cornerstone of my college experience.”
—Clayton Rosman

“The time I spent in Washington, D.C. as a student in the POLS D.C. internship program is time I wouldn't trade for the world…. There is no better place to discover who you are and what you want to do than in a program like this one.”
—Allison Sigler