But anyway, when you’re scheduling, you also don’t want to do too few hours per day. I’m currently interning for Congress and I’m the only intern who works full time so I get perks like helping out on legislation and getting to go along to events, while the others who come in for less than four hours a day get to scan business cards.

So given the two things above, I’d say the best solution would be to intern full time for a couple of days a week then work at wherever you want for the other days.

I’d also make sure the days were continuous. Like if you were planning on three days a week, do Monday-Wednesday rather than Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Staffers are always less likely to give you good assignments if you can’t be relied upon to finish them. Now, if you were willing to take stuff home, it’d be a totally different ballgame.

Anyway, just extend some feelers out to NIH when you’re talking to them and just ask upfront; it never hurts. Say that you’re completely committed to them and that they’re the first priority, but you were wondering if there was a way you could do something else while being able to make the maximum amount of impact for the office.

Best of luck!