Getting a Foot in the Door With Strategic and International Studies
I spent three years coordinating internship placements at a small research institute in Brussels before moving to policy work. The short version: these programs exist, they are competitive, and most people approach them completely wrong. Here is how it actually works. The For Strategic And International Studies Internship isn't one single program. It's a category. You have university-affiliated tracks, EU institution direct placements, think tank summer fellowships, and NGO field programs. Each has different application windows, different requirements, and different likelihoods of accepting people without a master's degree already completed. The big mistake people make is applying everywhere at once. I see applications where candidates list twelve institutions on the same CV. It reads like desperation. Pick two or three and tailor each submission. A tailored application for one place has more than double the response rate of a generic blast.
What Actually Gets You Selected
Admissions committees for these programs read hundreds of personal statements. The ones that stand out are the ones that reference specific ongoing work at the host organization. If you are applying to an institute that published a report on Indo-Pacific security last month, mention that report by title. Not vaguely. Actually name it. Show you read it and think critically about it. Language skills matter more than people expect. For any placement involving the Global South or Eastern Europe, local language ability even at B1 level will put you ahead of eighty percent of applicants. This isn't about fluency. It is about showing you can operate in a non-English environment.
A Specific Problem I Encountered
Last year a candidate came to me with a strong academic record and zero relevant experience. She had written her undergraduate thesis on ASEAN economic cooperation but had never done anything practical. She was stuck because every posting asked for "demonstrated experience in multilateral processes." The workaround was straightforward. I had her take the open-source simulation exercises that the Pacific Community runs for their youth program and complete them before applying. She documented her process and results in a one-page appendix to her application. Within three weeks she had two interview requests. The exercise itself was free and took about six hours to complete. This kind of initiative beats another generic certificate every time.
Get the Full Details
Applications That Get Rejected Immediately
Watch out for these four mistakes that waste everyone's time: Cover letters that repeat your CV. Your cover letter should answer one question: why this organization specifically and not the ten other places you could have applied. If you cannot name a project they are working on right now, you need to do more research before submitting. Ignoring the actual duration requirements. Many EU-facing programs require a minimum commitment of three months. Students often apply expecting six weeks of light work. These applications go into a different pile, literally, at most offices.
Listing unrelated internships as relevant experience. If you worked at a local café during high school, it does not count. If you did a summer research assistant position that had nothing to do with international relations, do not inflate it. Instead, frame whatever research or analytical work you did honestly and connect it to the skills the posting asks for. Submitting PDFs named "CV_final_v3_updated.pdf." This sounds trivial but I have seen it happen in roughly fifteen percent of all applications. Use clean file names like "FirstName_LastName_CV.pdf" and follow the naming convention the posting specifies.
Timing Matters More Than You Think
Most competitive programs open their windows between September and January for summer start dates. Some smaller think tanks and regional organizations operate on rolling admission. If you miss the major cycle, do not wait a full year. Target the rolling options and use that time to build the kind of portfolio piece that makes the next application stronger. I usually tell people to start building their application materials in July. That gives you five months to research, draft, get feedback, and revise. Rushing this process produces noticeable quality drops in the final submission.
Where to Find These Programs
For the For Strategic And International Studies Internship specifically, the main portals are your home university's career center, the EU Careers page, the UN Volunteers platform, and the individual websites of think tanks you are interested in. There are also curated lists on sites like Internations and ReliefWeb, though those tend to lean toward development and humanitarian work rather than strategic studies. Academic listservs and departmental notice boards are underrated. Professors who sit on selection committees often post openings there months before they appear on public job boards. If you have any relationship with faculty who work in this area, ask them directly.
The Reality Check
These programs are not easy to get into. Acceptance rates at the most competitive placements hover between eight and fifteen percent. The field is small and the number of qualified applicants exceeds the number of available positions every single year. This is not a problem with effort. It is a structural constraint. Having a backup plan is not pessimistic. It is practical. Consider applying to research assistant positions at university centers as an alternative pathway. These roles pay less but they build the publication record and professional references that make the next application cycle significantly stronger. I have seen candidates who took a one-year research assistant role end up placing in much better programs the following year because their CV had actual content instead of just coursework. The work itself is often underwhelming. Administrative tasks, literature reviews, meeting notes. This is normal. Even senior staff at these organizations started with the same work. The value is in the network and the credibility on your CV. Frame it that way and you will get more out of the experience than someone who expected to be rewriting foreign policy from day one.
