Applicants are responsible for ensuring that the following materials reach the Washington Semester Program by the stated application deadline.  The following items are needed for the completed Washington Semester Program application:

1.     A statement that discusses how the Washington Semester Program will advance  your personal, academic and professional goals (approx. 500 words);

2.     A current resume;

3.     A transcript showing all college-level work attempted, including the current semester; it need not be an official transcript;

4.     Three letters of recommendation addressed to the selection committee; one of the letters should be from a college professor familiar with your work.

5.     A statement from your honors director stating that you are an active member in good standing of your institution's honors program.

6.     If you are not in your college’s or university’s honors program, you may still be eligible to apply to the Washington Semester Program.  Please check with your college/university’s honors director to see if you qualify.  In those programs that allow non-honors college students to apply, your GPA must be 3.5 or higher, you must complete the standard application process.  In addition, you must have written permission from the honors director.

7.      The application at the end of this page should be submitted online as soon as you know that you are going to apply for the program.  Once we receive the online application, we will respond to you to let you know that we are starting a file for your application.  If you don’t receive a response from us within 48 hours, please resubmit the application or contact us.

All materials, including letters of recommendation, should be sent to:

Ms. Beth Burn

Program Manager

Washington Semester Program

Institute for Public Service and Policy Research

University of South Carolina

1600 Hampton St., Suite 406

Columbia, SC 29208

803-777-1180 Office Phone

803-777-4575 Office Fax

burn@sc.edu

Applicants are advised to check with Ms. Burn to ascertain that their application is complete prior to the application deadline.