This is a record of my experiences in pursuing a career as a United States Foreign Service Officer. These are just my experiences, the process will be different for everyone. Please take everything with a grain of salt – my guesses are guesses, and my opinions are my own. Facts and confirmation can only come (when it does) from the US Department of State.
By the magic of the Internet, I can post an update right as I’m starting my A-100 training as an Entry Level Officer (ELO) in the Foreign Service (I actually wrote this a while back). It’s taken a loooong time to get to this date, and I thought some people might be interested to...
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Tags: A-100
Posted in Joining the Foreign Service | No Comments »
I know 24 days seems like an arbitrary number to countdown from. It isn’t nice and round like 25 would have been, and it isn’t quite as logical as 21 (three weeks). However, it’s the first time in a while that the foreign service career really feels like it’s happening. Getting the offer was...
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Tags: A-100
Posted in Joining the Foreign Service | 4 Comments »
I spent most of yesterday evening filling out forms from my appointment packet and from the website the State Department set up for entry on duty paperwork. I think I filled out over 15 forms – there were a lot of them. I wrote my name and address many many times and worried about...
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Tags: foreign service life
Posted in Joining the Foreign Service | 1 Comment »
This is going to be a long post – are you ready? Yes, you read that correctly: The Foreign Service is plan B. This post is directed to all of the Foreign Service Hopefuls who find my blog by googling ‘fsot score breakdown’ or ‘foreign service security clearance’ or any of the numerous foreign...
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Posted in Joining the Foreign Service | 9 Comments »
I’m on vacation, and we’ve been staying at my parents place. The guest bedroom is comfortable, but the morning sun ALWAYS wakes me up. This morning I didn’t mind so much, because when I checked my email from my phone I had an offer for the August 2nd A-100. Chad says he was awake...
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Tags: A-100, FSO Register
Posted in Joining the Foreign Service | 11 Comments »
I’ll get this out of the way now: my language test was pretty brutal, but I still managed to pass. I called 5 minutes early (mainly because I was nervous), and they had me call back at my appointed time instead. Oh well, so much for getting the test out of the way a...
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Tags: languages
Posted in Joining the Foreign Service | 2 Comments »
Since I can’t run down the halls of my office shouting “I passed! I passed,” I’m just going to have to do it on the Internet. To do: Gmail chat to my husband Done Tweet Done Facebook Check Website Double Check! Now I have to write a short email to Naomi my Hebrew teacher....
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Tags: FSO Register, languages
Posted in Joining the Foreign Service | 6 Comments »
First things first. I don’t know if I passed. I emailed my HR person at State and she told me that she won’t get my score until next week at the earliest. If there are any crossed fingers for me out there, keep it up! I’ve decided to delay doing a full recap until...
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Tags: languages
Posted in Joining the Foreign Service | 2 Comments »
As the Consular Register grows and grows, my chances of getting ‘the call’ get smaller and smaller. Right now, my oral assessment score of 5.3, which would have gotten me an offer a year ago, has me ranked somewhere around 70 out of 100. BUT! All is not lost. As I’ve said before, passing...
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Tags: languages
Posted in Joining the Foreign Service | 6 Comments »
I read a lot of blogs, almost all of these bloggers are MUCH better about posting updates than I am. It’s been almost a month since the last time I wrote here, so anyone who’s still out there deserves a bit of an update. =) 1. Chad got a promotion! Huzzahs! 2. I’m pretty...
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Posted in Joining the Foreign Service, Updates | 5 Comments »