IR Dude

Got my, "No." e-mail today. "The finalists were announced last week. Unfortunately you weren't one of them." At first I was like... "Ouch... my face..." But then after a while I thought... Yeah... If my job was to tell a few thousand people, "No. Now stop asking me questions." every year... I suppose my responses would look similar, if not, worse than that. So there it is. Loose ends are tied up. Goin' to SAIS and payin' full price.

Did you take the FSOT yet Cornell? I hear it's best to take it and get the application process going at least one year before you finish school. As I'm told, the background check alone can take up to a year depending on how many exceptions you have and how much international experience you have. (Or... does your internship require that you get Top Secret security clearance? Cause that'd be crazy helpful.) Even then, assuming you've made it through all the hoops, depending on your placement on the roster, it can take up to another year before you're offered an actual position or nothing at all. Also, I don't think the Pickering itself guarantees an FSO position. If they fail the FSOT they fulfill their commitment by working for the State Department Civil Service. Look at me, a Pickering know-it-all... and I'm not even gonna get the damn thing...

Sounds like she just wanted to get your number.

Congrats Keondra! Good luck in the interview. I'm told there aren't many finalists (maybe 30-40) so I imagine an e-mail is sent out to all of them at the same time. Which means my e-mail saying, "No" is probably being worded right now in just the right way.

I took the FSOT two weeks ago. There were 15 people there (I'm abroad right now, hence the low number). 13 of them were PCVs.

3.4 "public Ivy" 1250: 5 GRE 5 years working experience [1 management (US), 2 Peace Corps (Africa), 1 county government (US), 1 education (Asia)] languages [African - fluent, critical Asian - intermediate, Spanish - beginner] letter of rec. [PC Country Director, Education Supervisor in Asia] I've heard that competition is fierce for everyone, but particularly difficult for white males, given that the State Department has publicly disclosed that recruiting females and minorities has been a priority in recent years - hence not holding my breath. I know two Pickering grads now and both were completely shocked when they heard they were candidates for interview... so mmclean0260, don't worry too much about your stats or where you got in, I think other factors may play a more important role. Keondra, not to get your hopes up or anything, but you sound like a shoo-in, especially with the 2 critical languages. Good luck to both of you! I'm looking into ROTC to pay for school. That might be kinda fun anyhow.

Gotcha La Voz. I'm gonna look into what Lonestar99 has mentioned. If ROTC will pay for my grad school, I'll do it in a heartbeat, especially if I can fulfill my service obligation via Reserves. Lonestar99, thank you for the info!

These sound like unrealistic expectations. There's no way the Army is going to pay you $120,000 to do some push-ups on the weekends... And I have no idea, but I highly doubt the GI bill will cover $120,000 after enlisting for only a year. You guys might wanna do a little more research on that. I mean hey, if it's true, hell, I'll see ya at officer training this summer. But I'm willing to bet this is some grade A misinformation.

Really? Does that apply for SAIS?

bump. I feel better seeing fellow loaners out there, but that definitely sucks for us. That e-mail saying, "Hey IR Dude, congratulations on your graduation! Now that you're out of school, please pay $1400 by the 1st of every month for the next 10 years or we'll destroy your life!" is really gonna cramp my style.

Anyone out there get the magical phone call or e-mail? or... Anyone out there know an approximate date we'll find out? I'm not holding my breath on this one, but it'd be nice to tie up loose ends here.

For those of you paying with loans, are you nervous about the massive amount of debt?

When are we supposed to get the results?

Hi SAIS BC 2010, I was accepted into the AFP program as well, though only for the DC program. A friend of mine is currently a second year student there and has expressed fairly negative opinions of it. Can I ask you why you're switching and what you are thinking about switching to? Actually, I have lots of questions about the AFP program. Do you mind if I PM them to you? Thanks, IR Dude

My e-mail said : "Hhahah ahahahah ahahaah hahaha hahaha hahaah.... Yeah, don't apply here again. Love, Harvard"

I flagged esiagrad@gwu.edu as spam this morning.

Man... come on. I checked this thread again because I thought you guys were announcing that Harvard got their results out.

Are you State Department bound? Having no debt would be nice to buffer any failed attempts at entrance. Otherwise, if I were in your situation, I'd go with the higher ranked school and take on the debt.

You're joking, right? I mean unless you're President, some other major political figure, the big cheese for a government program, CEO of a large financial firm, Chief Economist for some place that has Chief Economists, a high ranking military commander, Head Researcher for a big-name Think Tank, Director of an NGO, in bed with the Energy buffs, or some sort of major religious figure, why in God's name would you consider turning down a free $120,000+ degree from a school best suited for what you ultimately want to do with your future career? I'm curious to know what job you'd be doing that would give you working experience prior to re-applying to SIPA. I'm facing the difficult decision of whether or not to throw my laptop out the window of my 4th story apartment if/when I get negative results from SAIS. Tell ya what, lets trade decisions.

I don't know how qualified I am to comment on this, but it seems like if you're interested in moving to the private sector after a career in the public sector then where you went to graduate school seems like it shouldn't matter, or at the very least, be nothing more than a nice little resume conversation piece. At that point a consultant firm (I would assume) would be more concerned with years of experience, highest position attained, and depth of knowledge of your sector, and less concerned with "image". I can only comment on experience of my father who worked for the DOE for 20 years, rose to a fairly high position, and is now making a killing as a consultant. He went to a no-name state school and has no problem finding work.

This message is to reach out to other fellow wait-listed candidates for the Fletcher School. How are you taking it? I'll admit I was disappointed, but I still have four other schools to hear back from. What are the rest of you going to do? The admissions committee gave us the option of submitting additional information that would strengthen our application, but I honestly can't think of what I would send them other than pictures of myself pouting... or maybe a note saying... "...Why...?" written in blood. Anyhow, it'd be good to hear from you. Best of luck to you with your other applications. -IR Dude