Application Details

It is highly recommended that you carefully read every step below:

1. Complete the online application
   1. This may take longer than anticipated. Please give yourself plenty of time to read over, understand, and reflect on each part of the application
   2. Your application should draw upon the interests demonstrated in your resume and transcript
      1. For example: if you’re interested in education policy and you’ve taken a class about education in America and you’ve been working at East Palo Alto Tennis and Tutoring for the past year, you should incorporate all of these experiences into your essays
2. Request two letters of recommendation by following the instructions in Part 5 of the online application
   1. You will need to register each recommender on the online application.
   2. At least one must be from a faculty member that can speak to your academic abilities
   3. The other recommendation may be from a faculty member as well, but it may also be from anyone of your choice. For example:
      1. An internship supervisor
      2. A job supervisor
      3. Your resident fellow
   4. Letters of recommendation play a large role in your evaluation and if you’re accepted, they will also play a role in your placement. Thus, they should be thoughtful and truly representative of your abilities. Please carefully consider whom you ask to write your recommendations.
   5. Letters of recommendation should be submitted online. Once you have registered your recommenders, they will receive an email with instructions for submitting your letter of recommendation. No printed material needs to be submitted with your recommendations.
3. Request an official transcript
   1. Official transcripts may take a day or so to process, so please request them ahead of time
   2. To request an official transcript, sign on to Axess
      1. Click on the “Student Center” tab
      2. Under “Academics,” select “Request Official Transcript” from the drop down menu and then click on the arrow button to the right of the drop down menu
      3. Check the “Undergraduate” button
      4. In the “Select Option” drop down menu select “Electronic Delivery Request”
      5. Leave the quantity as “1”
      6. In the “Enter Recipient Address Information” field, click the “Send to Email Address” button
      7. In the “Send To” field type: Bing Stanford in Washington
      8. In the “Email Address” box select “Other Email”
      9. In the "Email Address" field, type: [email protected] and then type it in again below to confirm the email address
      10. Click “Submit
4. Create a 1 page resume
   1. Your resume is extremely important in communicating your experiences to us, as comprehensively and concisely as possible
      1. Your resume will be used in evaluating your application and in your internship placement, should you be accepted
   2. It is required that your resume be only 1 page – you should easily be able to fit your education, work, volunteer, and leadership experience in that space
   3. Candidates should have strong resumes that highlight experience pertinent to a Washington internship – such as past internship, work, and leadership experience, along with pertinent coursework
      1. If you have questions about what you should or should not include, please contact a peer advisor
   4. It is strongly recommended, though not required, that you bring your resume to the Stanford Career Development Center and make an appointment to have one of their counselors examine it before submission.
   5. Once you have completed your resume, please submit it in Part 3 of the online application

A committee including the Director of Stanford in Washington will interview qualified applicants. You will be contacted regarding an interview shortly after the application deadline.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are interested in pursuing an internship at the Department of State or the White House please keep in mind that their internship application deadlines may be before the BSIW application deadline. We encourage you to sign up to receive email updates from the Department of State internship program and to consult the application deadlines on the White House Internships Selection Calendar.

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