danlsa15

Hey All-

I've been reading this for a week now and decided it was time to join the conversation. I am finishing my junior year in college, have worked on the hill, on a senate campaign, and at CNN so I feel like I have some solid experience. Like many of you, I have been checking my email about 4 times an hour for the past week, especially yesterday and have heard nothing. I also did not get any call or email about a phone interview. My top choices were the communications office, political affairs and leg. affairs.

I was wondering if anyone has heard from the references they put down that THEY have gotten a call. It may be a good indicator of what your chances might be if your references have been checked out. I don't know if mine have I am going to look into it...the thought just popped in my mind and I figured I'd throw it out there.

Good luck to all!

JPB

BAHHHH!!! I am going to lose my mind.

Tomorrow is going to be extremely anxiety ridden. Has anyone heard either way yet?

AwesomeOpossum

no, they're definitely doing email acceptances tomorrow. during the Bush Era you got a snail mail no, dunno if they will do that this time too. Either way if you dont hear a yes or no by the end of the day tomorrow (around 7pm my guess?) it probably means no.
I'm a bit anxious too but I've kindof forced myself to forget about it due to my finals starting tomorrow. joy.

to answer danlsa: I'm really close to all 3 of my recs and I'm pretty sure they would have told me if they recieved any news, since they haven't I will assume so and not look into it so much (especially with only around 24 hours to go).

peebles87

I've been following this topic pretty closely. I was just contacted Friday for an internship with them. They interviewed me and told me that everyone would hear by Monday at 6 p.m. They then contacted my references.

At this point, if you haven't been contacted or your references, at least according to my friend there, you have less than a good shot...

obsessed

Thanks for that info Peebles. So everyone who is being considered seriously was given a call? Your source is someone at the White House? Also, which department were you contacted by? Thanks and good luck everyone.

AwesomeOpossum

first off, congrats on the acceptance peebles. Out of curiosity what year are you and what kind of activities/internships have you already done? I agree with obsessed, could we perhaps get an idea of your source?

Also, I'm not sure how true the "no phone/contact, no acceptance" is. Because of the super super super short turnaround, I don't know if they have the time to do all the interviews they'd like.

Also, I saw on another forum (on TLS (top law school)) from a former intern that all the interns that accept/go have to get a background check done that can take up to a month and a half? How do they plan on doing that in under a month...? Oh well.

sigh. only 21 more hours.

cayugaprophet09

Ok...so I have some info. I've been talking to a few of my friends about this whole White House Internship enigma and they've provided a little insight...they work on the hill, as well as have some close workings with a couple of the departments at the White House.

A. This class of interns is the guinea pig class...when I say guinea pig class I mean that nothing is concrete and protocol is being set up as we are applying. Take for example that the Fall 2009 application is already starting to take shape and samples have been provided to prospective applicants. Now information is being released that everyone didn't even send in the same application because submission protocol was released in the MIDDLE of the application process. Some people submitted their applications as if it were any other internship (name on resume, no SSN, etc), while those who submitted later in the process submitted applications with no name on any documents other than the cover page, SSN & Bday on all documents as identifiers, and certain protocol for recommenders to submit contact information.

B. Seeing as how this is the first intern class of the Obama Administration some applications have special priority. We all know that President Obama has alot of notable supporters and backing on all levels of government and non-government entities...so do the math. My friend personally knows someone who has known they had the internship for approximately three weeks now...with no interview...no reference contact...and no relevant experience. <---***?!?

C. As time goes on the process will become more efficient and alot less driven by soft factors. Some applications were acted upon without ever having reached an individual department (BOTH acceptances AND rejections) and this will pretty much be discontinued in the future.

D.Yea you just pretty much get the picture from A-C....I'll wait for tomorrow for the final outcome but I am going through a wide range of emotions right now...from feeling disrespected to feeling robbed...to feeling just ****ed off in general....BUT there is always re-applying for those who are sincerely interested in working with the White House in pushing forward President Obama's agenda.

AwesomeOpossum

prophet:
thanks so much for your insight & your friends knowledge of the workings. It definitely helps to see why a lot of the process has been kind of messy/unorganized (which you can't really blame the White House for...but still).

I agree with you on the whole ?! bit of people getting acceptances/denials already. Also, I didn't realize people sent in normal internship application stuff, I found the application a few days into it being available and I *think* they already put up the protocol to follow so that's really surprising!

I feel a little upset about the whole pseudo-cronyism bit, I don't think the internship is an appropriate way to go about doing that, I know President Obama wants to have a diverse group of interns, but giving away positions to people he knows/has connections with somehow seems unfair to those of us who are trying because of what we have to bring to the table, not because of connections. Oh well, that's life eh?

I don't know how to feel right now. Surprisingly unfased (unfazed?) I suppose I knew something like this would happen, and I'd like to think I have a good shot at the internship but who knows.

Also-- rejections?! Really, people have already been rejected???

gosh, I guess I feel a little better? Oh well, D-day tomorrow guys! Best of luck to us all, I hope we all get in because I really want to meet all of you in person :P

dee22

haha...thanks for the insight prophet. Although i did expect things to be different with this administration i did expect stuff like that to be going on, especially b/c this is the first group of interns. So yeah...im not too surprised.

peebles87

For the record, I didn't get accepted, just interviewed...

Just in case this is monitored (I know, paranoid), I am not going to say what department. But I will say this, I was interviewed for a position that fit with my essay on his policies that I wrote about, so that is likely how they selected which department as opposed to the ones you listed. Maybe it was just me, but I think it gave a little insight.

I know a Bush intern who got it solely because of connections, but the three people I know who got interviews are people who had intern experience on the campaign. That may also be kinda a key component.

Each of us also had a large commitment to service, volunteering or leadership. Some are student government, another started a non-profit, and the other had a lot of internships in government. Each of us was told that we didn't have it, and that we were up against at least one other person.

They also said we would find out by Monday night via email.

AwesomeOpossum

ah ok sorry about that, I thought by "contacted for an internship" you were saying you got in. Oops!

ehhh via email always scares me o_O what if my internet DIES hahaha...

It seems kind of rough that they tell you that they're comparing you against someone else...

Also I know I asked this before but does *anyone* have an estimate on the number of interns that they will accept for this term? I've heard terms of 100 and terms of 200 (maybe that was a lie?).

Thanks, gack. 18 hours! :/

doctorjohndorian

They are in fact accepting 100 interns for this summer. I also know that they will not be doing phone interviews to weed out candidates, I am almost positive.

In addition, they should be prioritizing the donors, friends, politicians sons and daughters etc, and probably some referred SFBO people...

has anyone heard anything of interest for referred SFBO people?

AwesomeOpossum

SFBO? What does that stand for? Also thanks for the info doctorjohndorian, although it is kind of a bummer I guess it's expected (not having really paid attention the last time we had a president turn around being so young and all :P)

Also, I was just wondering how you know the information you told? Source?

eagles123

I am still waiting too Awesome. so if we dont receive a phone call or if our references arent notified does dat mean NO?

braun223

Any news today?