The Association of American Universities (AAU) has openings for undergraduate college-student interns in its Washington, D.C. office for the spring 2013 semester. These are unpaid positions, with a focus on science and higher education policy. Depending on their university, students may be able to receive college credit for their work at AAU. In recognition of several universities’ program deadlines, we’ve extended the application window for Spring 2013 positions to Friday, November 2nd.

Student interns at AAU engage in a wide variety of policy-related activities. They conduct research and analysis, as appropriate; track legislation; attend congressional and agency hearings; draft congressional correspondence and briefing papers; and participate in AAU meetings and related activities.

Our goal is to provide student interns with a solid understanding of the federal policymaking process and gain practical experience in how the higher education community works to help inform federal funding and policy decisions. We will work with students to ensure their Washington experience is valuable to them and to match their interests with our current projects.

Additional information about AAU internships is available in the following documents:


  * Description of the AAU intern program
  * Comments from previous interns
  * Intern program project list


Recent AAU interns have come from a variety of universities – not just AAU members –including American University, Vanderbilt University, Texas A&M, Penn State, Harvard University, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, University of Michigan, UCLA, and Brown University. Our experience with interns has been very positive, and we are looking forward to our upcoming session.

If students are interested in an internship at AAU, please have them submit a resume, a letter of interest, and a writing sample to Kris DeForrest at [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>. Applications must be received by November 2nd to be considered.