Rangel & Pickering Fellowship

[awayfromhere]

On 2/27/2016 at 4:05 PM, kbui said:

@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?

Yeah I've checked both and there's nothing. That is strange, wouldn't they just look at the transcripts that were uploaded?

[kbui]

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]

15 hours ago, kbui said:

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.

I've got my fingers crossed for you! Do you have a background in public health? Payne is so much more specialized than Rangel, I'm sure that's definitely working in your favor. 

For the interview I've just been reading the NYT and the Economist everyday. I've practically memorized the Foreign Service dimensions at this point haha. I'm doing a couple of mock interviews with my adviser this week which hopefully will help. I haven't gotten around to practicing the 1hr written exam yet, but I really need to get started on that. The decision timeline on Rangel is insane. My interview is the 9th, they send out decisions on the 12th, and you have to send acceptances by the 15th. Talk about overwhelming!

[awayfromhere]

@kbui

Just got the email telling me I wasn't chosen as a Payne finalist. I'm rooting for you!

[kbui]

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

[ZebraFinch]

You're a Payne finalist? Congrats!!

[kbui]

Thank you @ZebraFinch!

I'm so excited right now that I can't even concentrate at work!

Edited February 29, 2016 by kbui

[ZebraFinch]

Give yourself the time to be super excited!! And then prepare! Good luck! This is great news, the Payne is so competitive.

[awayfromhere]

3 hours ago, kbui said:

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

YAY!! Payne is SO competitive, you're obviously an amazing applicant. Now we can both freak out over our upcoming interviews!

[mrs12]

Oh my gosh! @kbui!!!!! Wowwww, woowww! Congratulations! You're amazing! I'm so happy for you! This also means your chances at getting asked to interview for the Pickering are really high too, I'd imagine!!!

When do you interview? 

Ahhh!!! I'm seriously so happy for you right now! I knew you were going to do well, but the Payne is crazy competitive! 

[kbui]

Thank you @mrs12! This forum is so supportive no matter what happens. I'm so blessed to be a part of it. I'll be interviewing on either March 15th, 16th, or 17th.

And I can't believe that you have to wait an indeterminate amount of time for the CLS! By the way, what is the recent award that you won???

Edited March 1, 2016 by kbui

[kbui]

17 hours ago, awayfromhere said:

YAY!! Payne is SO competitive, you're obviously an amazing applicant. Now we can both freak out over our upcoming interviews!

Thank you!!! I think I'm just incredibly lucky. I can't believe I somehow beat the odds. The email said that 15 applicants were invited to interview (from an unprecedentedly high number) and seven will be selected to become fellows--this is much better in contrast to the 18 finalists and five fellows from the previous year. But I am still going to try my best in the upcoming weeks to prepare as much as possible.

Your interview is coming up so soon! Have you joined the Yahoo! FSOT and FSOA groups?

Edited March 1, 2016 by kbui

[mrs12]

@kbui, I just can't stop thinking about your success! It's made me so happy. Seriously, I can't explain it. But knowing that it's someone like you who gets accepted at these things makes this process so much more tangible to me. I just feel really positive. And I'm so excited for you!

The thing I won isn't related to any of this. I participated over the weekend at a interdisciplinary hackathon and my group made a really cool product and won for best in Brain and Cognition. It was a super fun two days and I was really excited to win because we put a lot of work in but I hadn't imagined our project was good enough to even get mentioned!

 

[kbui]

@mrs12 You still have a lot to look forward to also! You are learning a critical language and are still in the running for some great scholarships and fellowships. I talked to Pickering today actually, and one of the coordinators told me that the Pickering Fellowship committee has an internal deadline for the 23rd-25th, and that communication would follow the week after. Another representative said that they expect to send notifications out before April 1st. I narrowed it down the freak-out dates for you! Haha.

And that is a great achievement! You are so talented--I can't imagine you being anywhere far from success in the near or far future.

[mrs12]

Oh wowwww, you got actual dates out of them! Only four more weeks then!

So with the Payne timeline, you're still going to wait and see what the Pickering says right? Is there a chance you could get both and would have to choose between them? They are a bit different. Do you know which one you'd prefer? Considering your background are you more into USAID? And how's your grad school search going?

Thank you for your confidence in me! I think that I will end up doing something enjoyable either way, but I sincerely want to be in the Foreign Service. I feel like I could contribute to my country, like I have something to offer there. And I just love the comradery and the environment. Even if I'm not invited to interview for the Pickering though, I'll apply again next year, and even if that doesn't work out I'm so happy to have experienced all of this because it really is helping me to clarify my life goals and to improve myself in various important ways. 

[kbui]

I asked Pickering about it, and they were incredibly nice about it. However, unfortunately the Payne finalists who are selected will have to make their decisions one week before Pickering sends out their interviews, and I think my email may have instigated them to start contacting Payne because right after my email, they sent an email back saying that they will treat Payne fellows like Rangel fellows--meaning they will communicate with them also before sending interview invites so people can't get both.

Edited March 5, 2016 by kbui

[mrs12]

But you still have double the chances! Because if for some crazy reason you don't win the Payne, you could be called in to interview for the Pickering still! 

I'm so nervous, I want these four weeks to pass by so quickly. But I bet for you, you're trying to prepare for your interview, huh? Is it the same sort of interview, do you know? A written and oral test?

Looking at the dates for when the Pickering announces who goes on to the interviews I see now that there's very little time to prepare between then and the actual interview.

Good luck! Good luck! Good luck! I have a really good feeling about your application.

[kbui]

Have you thought about taking the FSOT? If you select a cone and let's say you don't pass, the next year you can select a different cone. And if you do pass (which, with some guided studying is completely doable), you can start preparing for the Personal Narrative and Oral Assessment, and then once you do get an interview for Pickering, either this or next year, you will have a strong footing into the process already!

Though I know that you're still in school and it's hard to have so many things on your plate. But it wouldn't be a bad idea.

That reminds me. I haven't started on my Personal Narratives yet since I've been only preparing for the interview! And thank you so much for your confidence. A part of me feels really good about it because it's what I've been doing for years now, though I know that the other finalists will also be amazing so I will definitely be humbled on that interview day. Whatever happens, I really hope to make good friends and to gain more insight into USAID's FS.

[jrdnmadrid]

Hi Team,

Update from me. Rejected for Payne/Rangel but I did get into two of the colleges I applied for out of four. Not bad:) 

@kbui Good luck with Payne. I am sure you are already aware but the USAID foreign Service is different than State. There are not five cones but several different career tracks (http://www.paynefellows.org/?areaid=2&contentid=970&mcontent=y&typeid=PAYNE62548). I didn't realize this when I first started looking at the scholarships and thought FSOs were all the same! 

Now I sit and wait for Pickering. 

[kbui]

That's good to hear @jrdnmadrid! Will you still go if you somehow don't get the Pickering?

And what type of FSO did you say you wanted to become when you applied for Payne? They're quite specialized, which is good in a way where you develop really specific knowledge. I wonder if people can switch FSO types easily in USAID.

[jrdnmadrid]

1 hour ago, kbui said:

That's good to hear @jrdnmadrid! Will you still go if you somehow don't get the Pickering?

And what type of FSO did you say you wanted to become when you applied for Payne? They're quite specialized, which is good in a way where you develop really specific knowledge. I wonder if people can switch FSO types easily in USAID.

Its a good question @kbui on the switching. I actually don't know about that. I spoke about wanting to become an FSO in general with the Payne application, which I probably should have tailored more to a specialty. Hindsight is 20-20. 

If I don't get Pickering, I'll defer until next year and try again. In the meantime, I hope to continue improving my skillz. With a z because I am cool like that. 

[kbui]

I researched it right before I applied for it. The thing was, I was not planning on applying for Payne because I had only a week to apply since I found out about it really late and because the acceptance rate was so, so low. But I'm so glad I had the encouragement from a Rangel fellow to apply!

[ZebraFinch]

In an officially weird turn of events, I have gone from 2015 Pickering alternate to 2015 Pickering fellow, and so I'll be withdrawing my application from the 2016-2017 pool. Good luck everyone! I'll stick around to answer any questions on the interview process and so on.

[kbui]

1 hour ago, ZebraFinch said:

In an officially weird turn of events, I have gone from 2015 Pickering alternate to 2015 Pickering fellow, and so I'll be withdrawing my application from the 2016-2017 pool. Good luck everyone! I'll stick around to answer any questions on the interview process and so on.

OMG!!! Congratulations!!! What happened???

I remember talking to some fellows that went from alternate to "fellows," but they were still waiting for a security clearance to be sure. This was someone I talked to a couple months back, and they were also a Pickering alternate-turned prospective fellow-now unknonwn. Maybe you got their spot because they also didn't pass the security clearance?

[ZebraFinch]

I've no idea on much of the details. I went through the clearance process myself (which, brace yourself if you get any of these fellowships, it's loooooooooong and grueling) and was told that if a fellow didn't pass the clearance (including suitability clearance, which based on what I know, is where a lot of people have issues) I'd get the spot but that was IF and only if I passed it as well. So, I could've passed it and not gotten a spot anyway; someone must've failed, which is not the way I wanted to become a fellow because I loved everyone I met on interview day but I guess it means they weren't a good fit.

Sort of bad news is I'll get less funding for my first year, but frankly I just wanted to be in the Foreign Service so I don't really care. I got some funding from Georgetown anyway and am going to see if they can match some of the Pickering funds to make up for it.

But between this and being accepted into Georgetown, I've had a very different application year this time around (even if I kept my horrendous GRE scores), so I really encourage anyone who isn't successful this year to try again. Sometimes things just need to happen at the right time.

Edited March 8, 2016 by ZebraFinch