American Enterprise Institute

Experience. Go out and expose your skills and yourself to people, jobs, and volunteer opportunities to gain needed experience for later. By doing this, you will not only have new things to add to your resume, but you also are building connections with people from you perspective field or just sim...

You either work with the research assistants of a fellow, directly with a fellow, or both on fiscal policy proposals and research. With an organization as prestigious as AEI, conducted research often gets the attention of high profile political figures in Washington DC. Sure, its best knowing tha...

I loved my time interning at AEI. They did an amazing job in developing my networking, interviewing, and resume skills. They also provide several events for the summer interns to attend and bond over (e.g., baseball games, tour at The Pentagon, etc.). Most importantly, I felt I was doing meaningf...

While working in the social/cultural studies department you conduct research that helps communicate truths and fact checks common misconceptions related to pop culture. This relates to AEI’s mission, particularly with their desire for open debates and individual liberty/responsibility.

It really depends who you are interviewing to work with. For Dr. Sommers, I would definitely have an interest in issues relevant to her (e.g., feminism, free speech, etc.). Another important piece was being able to work independently. As noted above, Dr. Sommers is not around, so being able to ta...

Again, all internship positions differ. In the social/cultural studies department, I would say taking initiative, being confident with working independently, and being enthusiastic are key for succeeding. As for AEI as a whole, it is important to believe in their mission and love learning.

If you can land a permanent position at AEI in fiscal policy, then you won't be in a bad place! You're not going to become rich at lower levels of any think tank job, but it's rewarding if your political interests align. I accepted the internship outside of my political affiliation because of the...