Tips for Finding Housing

Housing in Washington, D.C., is expensive and limited—you should begin your search early. Most Smithsonian museums and offices do not provide housing assistance for interns. (Exceptions are the National Museum of Natural History Research

Training Program, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, and the National Zoo's Conservation and Research Center.)

Housing options in Washington include temporary apartment rentals and sublets, dorm rentals, group houses, on-site Washington programs through your college or university, and alumni associations through your college or university. Once accepted into an internship program, you may want to ask your internship coordinator about other interns who might be looking for roommates.

Public transportation is very good in the region—suburban bus systems and the Metrorail bring tens of thousands of commuters into the city each day. The farther away from the center of the city you get, the cheaper the rents are, but you also need to take into consideration the cost of public transportation and the time and distance you will travel.

For more housing information, check the real estate rental listings in the local D.C., Virginia, and Maryland newspapers.