Anyone applying/applied for Pickering GFAF Fellowship?

[slothrop99]

Just wondering if anyone else is applying to the Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellowship thru the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Foundation? I just submitted my app, and it sounds like a great deal for anyone who's thinking of a career in the foreign service (or at least doesn't mind serving 4.5 years in the FS upon graduation). Any ideas as to whom this scholarship is geared toward? Past recipients? It's kind of strange that they consider applicants who haven't even been admitted to grad school yet. How sucky would it be to receive the fellowship and then not get into any of my schools? Not likely, I suppose.

Any other would-be Pickering Fellows out there?

TS

[Dreams]

Any ideas as to whom this scholarship is geared toward?

I think you already answered that. Those interested in the foreign service primarily, and international affairs in general.

Past recipients?

A long time ago I came across the profiles of past recipients. They were really interesting. You have the requisite "I lived abroad growing up and it sparked my interest in international affairs," as well as the "save the world" type. But there were also a lot of "average" folk applying for the fellowship. They update their list yearly, and you contact them to get a list of past recipients and the schools they attended.

It's kind of strange that they consider applicants who haven't even been admitted to grad school yet. How sucky would it be to receive the fellowship and then not get into any of my schools? Not likely, I suppose.

Yeah that's the good thing about it. It is designed to bring people into government service who otherwise may have chosen other careers or would have been turned off at all of the bureaucratic hassle of landing an initial position. Even more interesting is the fellowship for sophomores.

Did you let the schools you applied to know you were also applying for a Pickering? I imagine it would likely make them give your application a little more consideration. Schools like to publicize those fellows for the prestige.

Good luck with your application. I remember hearing last year that their cohort found out everything really late - like May late I believe.

I would also be interested in hearing from current or former fellows.

[invictus]

I inquired and finalists (presumably those moving on to the interview stage in DC) will hear mid-April.

[slothrop99]

Sounds like we should hear before Apr. 10

[99_boy]

slothrop, did someone tell you we would certainly hear by the 10th? I called to inquire, but got a much more vague answer than that (was basically told in the next couple weeks).

Also, getting invited for an internview means you are a finalist, but defintely not guaranteed to get the fellowship, right? Does anyone have any idea how many people get invites to interviews? I wish this thing got decided before April 15th...

[slothrop99]

I emailed them last week and Sylvia Sheridan told me that finalists would be notified before the 10th (I wonder about non-finalists?). Anyway, the timing is BS! I think you're right in that the actual fellowship decisions won't be made until after the interviews, probably sometime in May. How are we supposed to decide on schools? For example, I have a nice funding offer from SIS and no money from SAIS. If I knew I was a Pickering fellow, I'd go to SAIS. But how am I supposed to make that decision? Throw down deposits at both schools? I honestly don't know why they wait so damn long...

P.S. how did you find a phone number? There's nothing on the website.

[slothrop99]

Anyone heard anything yet? Today was supposed to be the day. This fellowship timetable is so effin' ridiculous.

[invictus]

Any word yet?

[99_boy]

I called a few days ago and they said if you didnt get an email last week, it meant you were not a finalist. Rejection letters are supposed to arrive in the mail any day now. woo hoo.

[slothrop99]

Didn't get a call, so I'll assume it's a no go. I still can't get over the insanity of letting people know about fellowship info after they have to decide on schools.

[Dreams]

Didn't get a call, so I'll assume it's a no go. I still can't get over the insanity of letting people know about fellowship info after they have to decide on schools.

Yeah I know right. This year they decided to wait so long in order to let other fellowship competitions wrap uo before getting theirs started. I think the communication could have been better on their end though.

[invictus]

Anybody receive a rejection letter yet? I didn't get a call so I'm assuming its a no, but it would be nice to see it in writing.

[motanosh]

April 10th, huh?

Since I hadn't heard anything I was assuming that I wasn't getting it, but faith keeps hope alive! Oh well.

Good thing is now I don't have to worry about making a tough choice between grad schools. I was torn between SIS and SciencesPo (Pickering only lets you go to a US institution). SIS great school, but I didn't get into the program I wanted, instead I was accepted into a different program. One I am probably more qualified for but just wasn't as interested in. SciencesPo has got a great program though its a bit different than the programs I was applying to in the States (MPA vs. MA Intl Rel). However, from several conversations with FSOs it sounds like a great fit for the work I want to eventually do in the State Dept.

Basically, applying to the Pickering and grad school landed me in different spot than I thought I would be in but one ultimately more exciting and challenging than I had envisioned.

The application process: Just added stress or a beneficial process?

[slothrop99]

Incredible. Has no one heard anything? I would expect more from such a well-regarded institution. WWNFF can suck it.