Polling Data by Day, Monuments by Night:
Life as an IIW Student
Subbu Chetty interned at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Subbu had a transformative experience in the Illinois in Washington program, where he gained hands-on political data experience at the DCCC, built lasting friendships, and discovered the personal and professional value of living and working in Washington, D.C.
My time in the Illinois in Washington program was arguably the best experience of my undergraduate career. Not only was I able to work for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during a crazy election cycle but I also made lots of new friends and explored this fun city with them.
Working at the D.C.C.C was a fantastic experience because I got to see a lot of inner workings of elections, especially from a data perspective. As an analytics intern. I was able to see lots of confidential polling data as well as how highly-funded committees delegate resources and make huge political decisions regarding candidates. My day-to-day involves a lot of checking polling data/write-ups on that data, doing administrative work for the data-operations team and attending career building seminars organized by the internship coordinating team. One cool part of this intern program is how I got to see lots of high profile political figures like Susan Delbene, George Whitesides and even Hakeem Jeffries. Another thing that I love about working at the D-Trip that I will miss is how everyone bonds over shared political values, long work hours and social events.
On the topic of internships, I think it is important for prospective students to apply to a LOT of internships, despite applying to probably around forty only five reached back in total (this includes both rejections and acceptances). Additionally, reach out to people that are already in the political space, after hearing stories at work I now know how important it is to have people flag your resume when applying to D.C. internships.
On-top of a great work experience, the IIW program introduced me to an incredibly talented and diverse pool of people. Their different backgrounds, life experiences and values brought a lot of reflection as well as knowledge into my life that truly is invaluable. Additionally, the friends I made through my intern cohort at the D.C.C.C also embodied this sentiment and led me to think that this city brings great people together.
While I have emphasized a lot of the great parts of what I did during my IIW program experience, I haven’t really shared any of the things I wish I did. Specifically I regret not going and exploring the city more! While the coursework does emphasize seeing a lot of the main attractions in D.C. (really big memorials and museums) there are a lot of niche things that are cool! In particular, there is a lot of different cuisine options that I found super fun to try with my friends from the program. There are so many more things to do and places to see, which is made easy through the convenient metro system. The main reason I didn’t end up exploring to my heart’s content is because of being tired and admittedly a bit lazy after work. Really pushing yourself through that initial state of fatigue can be hard but as someone who did that very slowly I think it’s worth the struggle.
Overall, I had a blast learning, working and hanging out in D.C. If you have even a bit of interest give the Illinois in Washington program a try and you won’t be disappointed