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It seems like a number of you have completed internships in congressional offices or with think tanks, would anyone mind reading my cover letter for a congressional internship position? I understand that this post is primarily for statement of purposes, but I am trying to switch from psychology over into public policy work. I am somewhat flying by the seat of pants in this transition. It would be helpful if someone could give me feedback. And of course, I would be more than willing to read someone's statement of purpose to graduate school.

Thank you! I will check out both of those boards.

Thank you so much for replying. This has answered a lot of questions for me and help me better understand the field. Yes, the type of policy work that I am interested in is the policy/think-tank side. To clarify my health disparities research, it was more about the psychological disparities seen among ethnic groups, such as chronic stress having a larger impact on hypertension in African-Americans. When you said look into county and state social systems, can you provide concrete examples of such systems?I want to make sure I am understanding your reply.

I am new to the boards. I've been reading (a lot of) posts, and it has been really helpful so far. I want to inquire about how to transition into public policy. I'm a doctoral student in clinical psychology and will be defending my dissertation soon (next 2-3 months). However, I have developed a strong interest in public policy work, primarily healthcare and education policy. I have worked as a grad student in a variety of public institutions such as the court system, charter schools, and state and federal hospitals. Plus, I was involved with the American Psychological Association on the policy side as a grad student. Outside of grad school requirements, I worked on a political campaign. However, my grad school research was on health disparities, not on policy initiatives or implications. What I am wondering is how feasible is it to transition from psychology to public policy? Ideally, I would like to work on Capital Hill as a legislative assistant on education and/or healthcare policy, but I am open to other policy issues. I am also willing to do policy work at a non-profit or think tank. I am concerned that since my degree is in psychology and not public policy that I will not be able to transition as smoothly or quickly. What other experiences should I get? Internships in congressional offices or the White House? Other internships? I am not interested in going back to school for another degree. I want to market my current and past experiences, and if needed, do another internship to switch into policy work. I'm just not sure of how to craft a route to get into policy work. Any suggestions or advice would be helpful.