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AddRan College of Liberal Arts

Department of Political Science

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Washington Internship Program

Get hands-on experience in our nation’s capital.

The Supreme Court building

About the Program

Recent internship placements include Congress, the White House, executive agencies such as the departments of State, Justice and Commerce, advocacy groups, think tanks, non-government organizations, news media outlets, lobbying firms and U.S. attorneys.

As a TCU Washington intern, you’ll work four days a week at your internship site, from mid-August through December. You’ll also take an evening class and attend programming on Fridays. You earn 15 upper-division credits for the semester, nine of which fulfill requirements for a political science major or minor. The other six count as elective credit toward TCU’s graduation requirements.

 

 

Program FAQs

The TCU Washington Internship Program for political science credit is open to full-time juniors or seniors of any major. Applicants must have at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA and usually must return to TCU for at least one semester after their internship. Admission may be competitive, though nearly all qualified applicants are accepted in most years.

Applications are due in mid-October the year before the fall internship, and are typically posted to this website in September.

For more than 35 years, TCU has partnered with The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars (TWC) to place interns in a wide variety of DC internships. In the spring and summer before your fall internship, you will work together with The Washington Center and the TCU Washington internship director to assist you in finding an internship that fits your area of interest.

TWC houses its interns in its own building, a new, secure facility with furnished apartments and 24-hour residence staff assistance, only two blocks from a Metro subway station and within walking distance of downtown Washington.
You pay regular TCU tuition, and all of your financial aid applies, so the academic cost is exactly the same as a semester on campus. The housing fee is a few hundred dollars more than a TCU dorm, but additional financial aid is available to offset the cost. The cost of living in Washington, D.C., is higher than Fort Worth, with the main additional expense being Metro fares. While fashionable restaurants, clubs, etc., are very expensive, nearly all monuments and museums are free, enabling world-class leisure opportunities for cost-conscious students.