Joining the Foreign Service

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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