Summary
The U.S. Department of State Paid Student Internship Program offers U.S. citizen students a chance to participate in the formulation and implementation of U.S. foreign policy.
This job is open to
Clarification from the agency
U.S. citizen undergrad and graduate students with a strong interest in the U.S. Department of State. You must have a valid Social Security Number (SSN) at time of submitting this application All applicants must be returning to an academic program upon conclusion of their internship to be eligible.
Duties
The U.S. Department of State provides student interns with insight into the work of U.S. foreign policy and the administration of the U.S. Department of State and its diplomatic facilities around the world and domestically. Specific duties and responsibilities vary according to the domestic office or overseas post. Generally, interns may: participate in meetings with senior-level U.S. Government or foreign government officials; draft, edit, and contribute to cables, reports, communications, talking points, and other materials used by policymakers in furthering U.S. foreign policy objectives; support events, including international and multilateral meetings and conferences; engage directly with U.S. audiences in helping to explain the work of the U.S. Department of State or foreign audiences in helping to promote U.S. foreign policy and improve understanding of U.S. culture and society.
Student interns may be required to do some routine administrative work.
Requirements
Conditions of Employment
To qualify you must:
- Be a United States citizen at the time of application.
- Be at least 18 years old at the time of application.
- Be in good academic standing with at least a 3.2 GPA or higher.
- Be pursuing an associate, bachelor, or graduate degree and returning to your academic program upon completion of your internship.
- Be an undergraduate student with at least 60 credit hours earned at the start of the internship or a graduate or post-doc student.
- Be participating in an accredited academic institution on at least a part-time basis at the time of application for the internship. The individual may qualify as a "student" even if the individual has a break in classes, provided the break is no longer than five months at the time the individual begins the internship.
- Have not previously participated in the U.S. Department of State’s Student Internship Program or the U.S. Foreign Service Internship Program (USFSIP).
Qualifications
Please see the "Requirements" section for a list of qualifications.
Education
Applicants should be pursuing an associate, bachelor, or graduate degree, on at least a part-time basis, with at least a 3.2 GPA or higher. Students with at least 60 credit hours earned by the time the internship begins are encouraged to apply for this opportunity. Applicants must also be a continuing student with the expectation and intention of returning to their course of study the semester/quarter immediately following the completion of the internship (i.e., returning to school in the Fall 2025). Proof may be requested.
If your academic plans change after your application and you are no longer a continuing student or have a break in classes longer than five months before your internship begins, you will no longer be eligible for the internship.
Benefits
Participants in the Paid Student Internship Program are considered temporary employees. As such, students are not eligible to accrue annual leave or sick leave, nor are students eligible for Federal Employee Health Benefits, Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance, or Thrift Savings Plan. The internship service is not creditable for retirement benefits unless the intern is subsequently appointed into a federal career position.
The program covers reasonable travel expenses to and from the internship and provides fully furnished housing.
Review our benefits
How You Will Be Evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
Students will be evaluated by the bureaus to which they have applied based upon a completed application denoting the applicant's education, experience, training, and background.
All interns selected for a position will be officially notified by the Student Internship Program Office by e-mail per the timeline provided via https://careers.state.gov/intern/student-internships/. You may preview questions for this vacancy.
Required Documents
Once you have completed the online questionnaire, you will be prompted to attach academic transcript(s) to your application for it to be considered complete. Applications submitted before the deadline without the required documents attached will not be considered.
Transcripts: Your current or most recent school transcript must be included in your online application via the instructions below. Both official and unofficial transcripts are acceptable. However, if you are selected for an internship, you may be required to provide an official transcript before starting your internship. Should your official transcript indicate that you are not an eligible student, your internship offer will be rescinded. Transcripts can be added to the job application by uploading them.
Resume: You must build a resume in USAJOBS to be considered. No other resumes will be reviewed. A carefully crafted resume should include clubs and organizations, research experience, work experience, volunteer experience and internships.
Technical questions about attaching the required document to your application should be addressed to the Help Desk at 1-866-656-6830 or mgshelp@monster.com.
How to Apply
Applications must be submitted electronically through the "Gateway to State" system. To begin the application process, please click on the "Apply Online" button to the right.
You have until 11:59 pm Eastern Time on the closing date of this announcement to complete the application process. This includes submitting your online application as well as any required documents as defined in the Required Documents section. Candidates are encouraged to complete their applications well before the application deadline to be assured of consideration.
Please read all instructions carefully.
There are three parts to the application process:
- Applicant Profile (for applicants new to USAJOBS)
- Internship Application (application questionnaire)
- Required Documents (both official and unofficial academic transcripts are acceptable)
Part I-Applicant Profile
Applicants new to USAJOBS must create an applicant profile by providing biographic and prior Federal government employment information, if any. You must answer all "required" fields to proceed through the application process. If you are not new to USAJOBS, you can proceed directly to the intern application. All applicants must also "build" a USAJOBS resume. You must complete these two steps to be able to move forward to the application in the Gateway to State.
Note: Attaching a personal resume to your USAJOBS profile is not sufficient. You must build a USAJOBS resume.
Part II-Internship Application
The second part of the online application process is specific to the internship program. In this section, you will be required to:
- Answer questions regarding your personal, academic, and employment credentials.
- Answers questions regarding your interest in public service, the impact of a paid internship on your career aspirations, and your background and qualifications in seeking a paid internship.
- Identify preference for a domestic and/or overseas assignment
Note: The selection process relies heavily on your written statements. Therefore, your statements should be concise, well written, and should tell your story. You may wish to explain how your academic courses and other personal experiences relate to the domestic assignment to which you are applying. You may discuss what you will bring to the work of the office or post, and what you hope to take away from the internship experience. You might highlight any disadvantages you may have overcome or relevant unique experiences. Also, you can expand on any of your answers to questions asked in the application, such as language ability or other special skills.
Next steps
After the close of the announcement, the application status in USAJOBS should say "Reviewing
Applications." This status on USAJOBS will not be updated further. You can click on "Track this application" for more information.
Note: Any prospective intern whose educational institution requires them to execute an agreement with the U.S. Department of State regarding terms of the internship should review their offer letter. We will not enter into any agreements, even if non-binding, with any educational institution.
Please note that it will take approximately two (2) months to review all applications and all selectees including non-selectees will be emailed by our office. All selected interns will receive an email from the Welcome to State platform (an email will come from an OKTA account), requesting the intern sign into the portal to accept the tentative job offer. The Student Internship Program team will email directly all non-selected candidates.
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