Why The Washington Center?

Quality, Diversity, Support and Selection

The Washington Center has a 32-year track record in experiential education and is Washington, D.C. 's premier internship program. Each year over 1,500 college and university students from across the country and around the world participate in The Washington Center's programs during the spring, summer or fall. Students must be second semester sophomores, juniors, seniors or post-graduates to participate. Most of our students fall into these last three categories.

Why Invest In Internships?

Studies show that internships provide the best return on investment for recruiting new talent to an organization. Intern recruits tend to stay with their employers longer than other new employees, thereby minimizing the impact of turnover on the organization. The Washington Center can be your link to a diverse, high quality pool of candidates who may be interested in permanent employment upon graduation. Each year over 1000 nonprofit organizations, private sector firms and government agencies work with The Washington Center to access our pool of applicants to meet short-term workforce needs and/or to develop a long-term pipeline of potential full-time employees.

The Washington Center

Each year over 1,000 nonprofit organizations……
Is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization in Washington, D.C.
Since 1975 has helped over 1,000 colleges and universities provide students with opportunities to work and study in Washington, D.C.
Has provided its more than 36,000 alumni valuable professional experiences in fields of their choice.
Maintains ties with thousands of organizations including governmental, nonprofit and private sector firms that provide high-quality placements in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

Why do over 1,000 non-profit, private, and governmental agencies choose to work with The Washington Center interns each year?

Quality

As an academic internship program, TWC maintains a high standard of excellence through its programmatic structure, as well as with the quality of students recruited.

Students are required to submit a comprehensive application packet that provides a thorough picture of their knowledge, skill sets and interest areas.

Each semester, the average GPA of Washington Center interns is 3.3.

TWC upholds a rigorous screening process. Students are screened by their home institutions and by Washington Center staff.

Our interns work a minimum of 4 or 4.5 days a week and are able to contribute significantly to their places of work.

Diversity

Over 25% of the total Washington Center student population comes from culturally diverse backgrounds. TWC partners with dozens of minority-serving institutions including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions, tribal colleges, and schools with high populations of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. TWC also has a significant population of students with disabilities.

Each semester our students represent over 40 different academic disciplines.

More than 15 percent of our student population comes from countries outside of the United States. Their bilingual skills are a tremendous asset in the culturally diverse environment of Washington, D.C.

Support

The key to a successful internship experience lies in the close supervision and monitoring of students. TWC provides the infrastructure and support to ensure that both students and agencies have a rewarding experience.

As housing can pose a big challenge for student interns, many agency representatives value the fact that TWC guarantees attractive, conveniently located housing, accessible to a Metro station.

Selection

Organizations throughout the U.S. spend significant resources to select and attract talent to their workforce.

By partnering with TWC, the costly and time-consuming process of recruiting, screening and selecting applicants can be eliminated or considerably reduced.

TWC partners with hundreds of colleges and universities across the country and around the world.

With over 1,500 participants annually, organizations are able to identify applicants with very specific skill-sets.