Interviews with 10 students and new graduates across the U.S. offer a glimpse of how they’ve been grappling with the fallout from the Trump administration’s unprecedented slashing of the federal government. Spearheaded by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, the haphazard cuts to public agencies have resulted in more than 280,000 federal workers and contractors being laid off from 27 agencies, according to a tracking report by one outplacement firm. But the axe has also fallen on aspiring attorneys, scientists, data managers, and others who had federal internships canceled or offers of employment rescinded amid hiring freezes, leaving them stung and confused. As they’ve scrambled to plot their next steps, many of these students have not only lost postgraduate opportunities, but their very faith in the public service as a viable career path.