Originally Posted by FliesWay2Much
Intern: A full-time government employee hired out of college into an entry-level position. These are usually at the GS-7 or (in rare cases) GS-9. There is a probationary period because they don't yet have the on-paper experience to qualify for the job.
I was hired into one of these programs and many of us were hired in as a GS-11. I was. On top of that, due to our degrees (CS or engineering), we often qualified for premium pay scales above the GS scale. I was on the engineering and networking pay scale and it paid about 10k more per year than a regular GS-11 with locality.
Some were even promoted to 12's during the "internship."