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@awayfromhere We will both be interviewing for our dream fellowships in March!!! Ahh!

That's what I would think. And the email made it seem very urgent since in the subject it said, "IMMEDIATE REQUEST." I'm just really hoping that it's a good sign, but after working up the numbers I am trying to be cautiously optimistic. How are you preparing for your Rangel interview? That's going to be so exciting!!! Everything is going to happen really quickly.

@awayfromhere Did you try checking your junk and spam email box? I wonder why they're asking for undergraduate institution--maybe they're verifying that we actually went to the schools that we wrote we went to?

I know that they said they will wait until the end of February, but I really wanted it to be today instead of next Monday. If I got an interview notification today, this weekend would be so euphoric as I think and prepare for it. There's also not a lot of inside information on the Payne besides one forum that I found from last year.

Anyone? @ZebraFinch, @jrdnmadrid?

Did anyone get two email updates from Payne asking for your city, state, and undergraduate institution?

As we are all waiting for news, I do have some slightly good news--I passed the Foreign Service Officer Test! We got our results today! This is the first step to strengthening my application for next year if the RPP fellowships don't work out this year, and who knows, maybe by this time next year I may already be on the Register (list to be picked from for FSOs).

Congratulations @ZebraFinch! Did you get funding too? And I haven't received anything from Payne yet, including the email asking when they're thinking of sending interview emails. :\ Though it should be this week since they say they'll send something out by the end of February. Or at the latest next week on Monday.

Oh, and I totally forgot about graduate school admissions. They totally took a backseat to the RPP fellowships for sure!

It's so hard to be hopeful and realistic at the same time. I get to hear the results from my FSOT this week too, so that's a lot of FSO related news to take for one month. @mrs12, I hope you hear good news! CLS is so competitive and being in the finals is already a great achievement in itself. I really hope that you get into the finals for CLS, then get an interview for Pickering, then you can spend the summer abroad then you are basically set for the next years and on your way to becoming an FSO! @ZebraFinch, I hope that we both get an interview for Pickering. I feel like you would have a great upper-hand because you've been through it before, so that's a great benefit for you. Fingers crossed for both you and me! And @jrdnmadrid too!

I am preparing myself for emotional impact this week since it's the last week of February. And have you heard back from CLS yet? How are you feeling? Do you have a plan B if things (knock on wood) don't work out?

I was doing some research on Payne yesterday night (I couldn't stop thinking about it) and I discovered that 18 finalists were chosen from a pool of 275 applicants in 2014. And out of those 18, only five were chosen to be fellows. That means only 1.8 percent of applicants get to become a Payne fellow. But that was two years ago, and if virtually all of us on theGradCafe applied to all three fellowships, it's likely so did others in our same position--meaning, an upwards of 300-470 applicants per fellowship.

The night before I received the Rangel rejection, I was emailing my Diplomat in Residence in Chicago and asked him about meeting up for an informational interview and he was so incredibly helpful. He was telling me about opportunities that might open up because of my proficiency in Mandarin, but I'm not sure how competitive I would be. He told me that he's willing to talk to me more about the Foreign Service (either I can drive to Chicago or we can do it over the phone). I'm keeping as positive as I can for the moment, so I'm trying to think of opportunities I can take this year that will make my application more competitive if I have to apply again next year.

Hey @jrdnmadrid, could you tell us more about your background? What did you study in school, what schools are you applying to, why do you want to become an FSO, what languages do you know and at which levels, and what are your plans if things don't work out this year with the RPP fellowships.

So did we all apply for Payne, Rangel, and Pickering? I still have hope that if this is the case, that we can take out ~30-60 of the applicants to Payne and Pickering, so that our odds are slightly better at getting an interview.

I've just emailed Payne to ask if they had a date set for notifying applicants. It would be great to know the exact date so that we don't have to be so nervous checking our emails all the time.

@mrs12 I greatly appreciate your kind words. It's still a bit shocking to me that I couldn't get into the finalists' stage. I worked so many months researching, writing, and editing it with previous fellows. You're absolutely correct in that we can only improve ourselves in the meantime. I am still going to read on foreign affairs and prepare for a prospective interview with Payne or Pickering. Payne is supposed to notify us by the end of the month for an interview in late March. However, they re interviewing for only 5 spots. I would be incredibly lucky and blessed to get an interview, but it's definitely tougher competition.

This really eroded my confidence for the Payne and Pickering fellowships, along with my graduate school applications. I used very similar narratives in all of them. I'm really disappointed with myself at the moment. I'm just thinking about what I might've done wrong. And I remember in the webinar Patricia said we "shouldn't write a sob story" for the financial part at the end of the application, but that's what I should've done. I wrote a numbers based paragraph, but it didn't pull any heart strings. I guess @ZebraFinch and I are in the same boat at the moment. I trust in God and God's plan for me, so I'm just happy that I am alive, healthy, I have a job, I have great friends, and I have a home to sleep in.

Sadly it's a no-go for me. :/

I truly hope that this is the case. Thank you for your optimism Zebra! I love theGradCafe and meeting people who are so supportive like you and mrs12.

I have to stop thinking about it. Lol. This increased heart rate makes me want to go work out!

I haven't received anything yet? But I'll keep you posted.

I wonder what the differences are between the Rangel and Pickering in terms of which qualities they want in their fellows. Do you folks have a guess? And ZebraFinch, can you tell us more about the Pickering interview process? I've been reading online about the interviews but I think some of them might be a bit dated. Also, I was reading your stats on another forum board, and it seems like your Q-GRE score was a bit lower than desired. Did you retake it this year when you were applying?

@ZebraFinch I'm so sorry that you didn't get into the finals this year--again. I feel your pain. I applied for Fulbright once, twice, three times. And got rejected also three times. There was a miracle that happened along the way where my third rejection (not alternate) became an "accepted." Don't give up on your dreams! It will happen if it was meant to be. Call Patricia after things have settled down. I have read that she is incredibly helpful. Also, I am also in the traditional routes to become an FSO. Sign up for a test the next time it's offered, and then when you apply again (and I really do hope that you apply again) you can show them how committed you are to work in the Foreign Service. I hope that you get into the finals for Pickering, though. And being married is a great thing! You have such a great blessing already. It's definitely tough to support another person through an unpaid internship, and it makes it much more difficult to do more independent type of work. I haven't checked my email yet today, but I will at 4PM after I leave work. I am so nervous.

Thanks! I'm fighting the urge to check my emails at the moment. I want someone to post on here first that results have came out so that I can at least know that it's there when I open my inbox for the first time today. Time for a prayer.