jvw123

Congratulations to all of you! I'm a current Pickering, so I thought I'd chime in with my two cents. First, no one ever gave me a list of schools or programs that were/were not acceptable. I assume that if your programs were way off base you wouldn't have been chosen as a finalist, and really lots of different courses of study would be useful in the FS (economics, management, etc) so I can't imagine that a policy degree wouldn't be allowed. Second, to prepare for the interview, I would suggest familiarizing yourself with the FS, the 13 dimensions, and the cone you'd like to be in. Think of it like a mini oral assessment. There was a very detailed blog post that I linked to under another forum, http://clevertitle-comingsoon.blogspot.com/2010/04/day-as-pickering-fellowship-finalist.html. It was a little different back then because all fellows came to DC for the interview/test. But the content should be the same. Good luck with the interview and written test. Also, I'm trying to put together some information about the process for future Pickerings, so once you've tested/interviewed feel free to post a debrief here. ~j

Congrats! I think I can answer your funding question: The Pickering funding (at least last year's funding) works like this: you get a certain amount of money for the academic year, that money goes first to pay your tuition. If there's any left over it then goes to pay for housing (up to 1000 a month), if there's any left over after that it goes to pay for food, then books, then a flight to your school from your home and back. If you run out of money somewhere in there, then you pay the rest yourself. I would assume that SAIS is referring to the Foreign Affairs Fellows (FAF) as opposed to Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellows (GFAF) for the 2nd year comment. Because FAFs are chosen while still undergrads. They get their last two years of undergrad paid and their first year only of grad school paid by Pickering. So they would have to find their own funding for the second year. By offering them a discount SAIS is sure to get more FAF Pickerings and boost their numbers of fellows and of FSOs, which looks good on their recruiting docs, so smart move by them. That said, if you're a graduate fellow, the tuition should be covered both years, so no worries, you can take it to whichever school you choose. And good luck with the interview. It will probably a nightmare over skype, but maybe no less difficult than interviewing under major jet-lag.

Well, I hemmed and hawed for a day about whether or not I could go into specifics. Luckily I don't have to. Here's a link to someone who 1) no longer has to worry about any NDA and 2) explained it all very thoroughly. Good compromise, no? http://clevertitle-comingsoon.blogspot.com/2010/04/day-as-pickering-fellowship-finalist.html . (D-Lux - that's probably the one you were referring to.) Here's another one about the Pickering Orientation from an undergrad Pickering fellow. http://ymbarzilai.blogspot.com/2009/06/bangkok-dc-bangkok.html . That information seems a bit dated though, because this past year they didn't fly the fellows back to DC for Orientation (at least not the graduate fellows), so only the ones who were already in the States attended. And just a piece of personal advice, don't worry about the test at all. It's the interview you'll want to prepare for.

Sure. I heard I was a finalist on April 6th. They immediately started making arrangements for the interviews, which were at the end of the month. They flew in 40 finalists. There's a tour of FSI, a test, and an interview. I prepared in the same way that I would for the Oral Assessment, with the 13 dimensions etc. I would recommend that to others as well. And you probably don't need to be told this, but dress professionally and conservatively. Any other questions?

Sorry. I was just referring to Pickering. No idea about how Rangel works, so you might be right.

(Remember, you'll have to come to DC at your own expense in March/April to interview in person for these Fellowships.) to D-Lux Hey, just wanted to say that I don't think that statement (above) is true. It certainly wasn't true this past spring. All 40 fellows were flown in for the interviews and it was paid for by State. (Even those that were overseas at the time, which quite a few were.) Maybe the rules have changed this year, but I don't think so. Also, in regards to the white-male issue, there were a few white males at the interviews. Maybe 5-6 I want to say. Can't say how many got through, since I haven't seen any other fellows since. All of the finalists were really exceptional people with outstanding experiences, so just making it to the interviews is huge. And to mmclean0206 - It sounds like you're talking about the diplomacy fellows program. State isn't always accepting diplomacy fellows, I think the next open period for applications is June/July and you compete with graduates from several other fellowships including Pickering and Rangel. I'm unclear on whether you'd need to submit the personal narratives and be evaluated by the QEP so it's worth looking into.