Congressional Campaign or Internship, best experience?

[Green Star]

Hey everybody,

I've been looking through this forum for several days and have been quite impressed with the material so I decided to make my first posting.

I'll be applying to some top IR programs for fall 2010 and wanted to get some outside opinion about what experience would be best for my application; working as a staffer on a congressional campaign or doing an internship at a think tank in DC. I've been out of undergrad for 2 years, of which 1.5 were spent working in int'l law research and .5 spent doing language study overseas. Below I've listed some of the pros/cons of each.

Campaign Pros: I believe in the candidate, would get some valuable campaign experience, would get to meet many important people in my area, would be paid position and would probably have a job in waiting should the candidate be elected.

Campaign Cons: Not directly related to my field of interest (IR/security studies), won't be in DC (I'm one of the few who likes the city) and isn't necessarily that unique of an experience in regards to applications.

Internship Pros: Related to security studies, lots of interaction with foreign policy professionals and scholars, highly respected institution and located in DC.

Cons: Internship and not a "professional" position, unpaid and will be one of many interns.

I'd really love to hear everyone's opinions and/or advice on the matter, or if anyone has experience working on campaign or DC internship that they'd like to share. At the moment I'm leaning towards the campaign position because of how involved in the process I'd be as opposed to the internship where I'd be one of many people in the same position. With that said, the internship is much more focused upon subjects that I truly enjoy and think I would learn a great deal there.

Thanks for the help!!

[Cornell07]

I worked on the Obama campaign and I got into a ton of grad schools for IR (see below). If you are really interested in the campaign work, DO IT.

[zourah]

Hey everybody,

I've been looking through this forum for several days and have been quite impressed with the material so I decided to make my first posting.

I'll be applying to some top IR programs for fall 2010 and wanted to get some outside opinion about what experience would be best for my application; working as a staffer on a congressional campaign or doing an internship at a think tank in DC. I've been out of undergrad for 2 years, of which 1.5 were spent working in int'l law research and .5 spent doing language study overseas. Below I've listed some of the pros/cons of each.

Campaign Pros: I believe in the candidate, would get some valuable campaign experience, would get to meet many important people in my area, would be paid position and would probably have a job in waiting should the candidate be elected.

Campaign Cons: Not directly related to my field of interest (IR/security studies), won't be in DC (I'm one of the few who likes the city) and isn't necessarily that unique of an experience in regards to applications.

Internship Pros: Related to security studies, lots of interaction with foreign policy professionals and scholars, highly respected institution and located in DC.

Cons: Internship and not a "professional" position, unpaid and will be one of many interns.

I'd really love to hear everyone's opinions and/or advice on the matter, or if anyone has experience working on campaign or DC internship that they'd like to share. At the moment I'm leaning towards the campaign position because of how involved in the process I'd be as opposed to the internship where I'd be one of many people in the same position. With that said, the internship is much more focused upon subjects that I truly enjoy and think I would learn a great deal there.

Thanks for the help!!

Another campaign vet chiming in - really, either is good experience depending on how you're rounding it out. I worked a midterm race in MO but then moved to Morocco for a while, so if you have international experience elsewhere, the campaign is good work experience. If you don't have other experience in this vein, the internship might help more.

[stilesg57]

Since you want to do IR (and you actually like DC), an IR-related think tank in DC might be a better/safer call since it's more applicable.

However, as someone who's worked on two campaigns (Obama part-time and Senator Jim Webb [D-VA] full-time), I will say this: if you really believe in the candidate it will be the honor and experience of a lifetime working to get them elected to public office. Being on a campaign and working with the American people will CHANGE you, and in a good way. I've always felt guilty that I didn't serve in the military, but I feel a little better that I've done some form of service to my country by getting people like Jim Webb and Barack Obama to high office. So a great life experience coupled with pretty good IR resume experience would win out in my book. It's also the kind of experience that you can mine for statement-of-purpose essay insights because trust me, something amazing will happen to you in the course of working on a campaign.

[Green Star]

I appreciate the advice everyone has offered. I know alot of times with decisions such as this I get stuck in my own head debating the same issues back and forth so it's nice to hear some other opinions.

I'm going to have a chance to meet the candidate on Monday andexplain my situation to him to see what he feels is the best route to go; I'm hoping that will help me in making the decision easier.