Undergraduates and Science Policy: How to get your foot in the door

For an undergraduate who has dual interests in policy and another specialty, what do you do after graduation?  It’s easy to see career government employees or think tank members doing a combination of science and policy, but how did they get there and have the opportunity to do both?  I’ve been asked these questions by a number of undergraduates, and when I asked the question of the Fellows network, I got a fair number of responses saying, “I don’t know the answer, but let me know when you find out!”  What follows is the advice I’ve collected through my network of resources.  It’s undoubtedly not exhaustive, but it should be a starting point of ideas.

Like many careers, there are a number of on ramps and off ramps to working in the policy space as suggested in the figure below.  There are two routes to get into policy-focused careers.  You can either acquire an advanced technical degree, which makes you a subject area expert, or you can work towards becoming a policy expert who gains a subject area focus.  The latter almost invariably requires starting from the bottom.

Route A: Technical Area Focus

If you are interested in being a subject area expert, that means getting the standard credential in your field.  In the sciences, that’s a PhD.  In Engineering, that’s often a master’s degree, but in either, it’s off to grad school in that field.  Your overall goal on this path is to gain the PhD or equivalent degree that will allow you to bring proven expertise into the policy area. It may be possible to pick up an extra certification involving policy as part of your technical studies and research (for example, the Science, Technology, and Public Policy graduate certificate program in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan), but not all advisers or programs are flexible or open-minded.

Route B: Policy Focus

If you aren’t interested in a technical field or in spending five years in graduate school, then your next question is whether you want to study about policy or do policy.  If you want to study about policy, there are masters programs in public policy or international policy, which may be the direction you want.  Because you aren’t gaining knowledge in a technical field (which would include science, education, psychology, engineering, etc.,), this path won’t necessarily be a short cut to get you into actually doing policy, and that needs to be clear up front.  These degrees are often used to enhance credentials to be eligible for the senior staff level, but they aren’t necessarily going to give you a foot in the door.

Doing Policy: Where to start

The advice that I’ve been given is that if you really want to do policy, then with few exceptions, you’ll start at the bottom.  That means either an internship or volunteering on a campaign, both of which can be invaluable options, but neither of which is likely to pay much if at all.  The unfairness of that situation is not the focus of this post, but yes, it’s ironic that someone who may aspire to work in the area of social justice may have to navigate a socially unjust system to get there.  Anyway-

Places to look for internships: 

• Washington DC office of your Congressperson or Senator
• District office of your Congressperson or Senator
• Federal or State agency (EPA, State Department of Environmental Protection, etc.)
• Government Accountability Office (GAO) in Washington specifically looks for students with Information technology expertise, but includes math, statistics, qualitative and quantitative analysis, and technical writing.
• Pathways Internships (Department of State)
• Explore USAJobs.gov website, which is the site for employment in the federal government. It posts internships as well as jobs designed specifically for students right out of college. For 2019, the EPA is launching a “Green Interns Program,” which focuses on recent graduates.
• County or local government. These options are often overlooked, but the local level is often a space where there is great room for policy progress.  Boston, for example, has many internships, and mayors of small towns are always looking for interns.
• City Council
• Local advocacy groups- non profits or issue-based organizations
• Professional Organizations (American Chemical Society)
• WISE program of summer Washington internships for engineers (http://www.wise-intern.org/
• Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC.
• Think tanks or Issue organizations (Environmental defense, Sierra Club, etc.)
• Consulting firms with government contracts.
• Institute for Defense Analyses (ida.org) hires a fair number of people out of undergrad. They do a lot of work for the Pentagon, but also for other parts of the government

A Fellowship!

STPI Policy Fellowship Program: for recent bachelor’s degree recipients

Work on a campaign

Federal, State, local level.

This is long hours and little to no pay, but it’s a unique perspective on our election system, and many times it does lead to employment if your candidate wins.  Sometimes it can lead to a job with someone else entirely since you’ve shown your dedication and you’ve gained experience.

Working your way up: An advanced degree

Although you can get into a policy career with only a bachelor’s degree, one of my fellow Fellows observed that the senior staff all have some kind of advanced degree, whether it is a law degree or a master’s degree in public policy, international policy, economics, or some related topic.  Most people seem to work in policy for a while and then go back and get the advanced degree in order to make the jump to the next career level.  Some people do that by going to school at night, and others take an off ramp for a while.

Graduate Programs in Public Policy

This list is by no means exhaustive.  A little googling helped me find a number of other lists, but these particular resources surfaced in my communications with other fellows.

• Clark University has a program in science policy
• May also check out “Beyond Sputnik: U.S. Science Policy in the 21^st Century” page on science policy degree programs. http://www.science-policy.net/science-policy-degree-programs.html

Programs for Graduate Students

• Government Accountability Office has a program specifically for graduate students
• Science and Technology Innovation Program (Woodrow Wilson International Center for scholars)
• John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship

Revising Route A, the Technical Expert Focus

As mentioned above, the other way to get your foot in the door of a policy career is to enter as a subject matter expert with an advanced degree and then you don’t have to enter the policy world at the bottom rung of the ladder.  There are a number of programs that focus on helping individuals with advanced degrees move into the policy arena.  Below are the ones with which I’m familiar:

Programs Requiring an Advanced Degree (Fellowships)

• Presidential Management Fellows Program (https://www.pmf.gov/)
• Congressional Science and Technology Policy Fellowships (See AAAS fellows below)
• AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science, https://www.aaas.org/fellowships) (They also have judicial, multimedia, and data science fellowships)
• Sea Grant Fellows (https://seagrant.noaa.gov/graduate-fellowships)
• Mirzayan Fellowship (National Academies, http://sites.nationalacademies.org/pga/policyfellows/)
• Gulf Research Program Science Policy Fellowships (National Academies, http://www.nationalacademies.org/gulf/fellowships/science-policy/index.htm
• Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellows (https://science.energy.gov/wdts/einstein/)
• California Science and Technology Fellowship (CCST https://ccst.us/ccst-science-fellows-program/) and other state-level fellowships

I’ll close with a comment on the power of networking.  A large number of the recommendations above were contributed by members of my own policy network.  If you are considering either route towards a career in policy, talk to as many people as you can and get as many opinions and suggestions as possible.

Good luck!