( Long recap of the orals behind the cut. )

Ooh, my head. I am hungover, because I got drunk last night, because I was out partying, because I passed the Foreign Service Exam. It was so worth it ( Read more... )

It happens tomorrow. I am strangely serene. Perhaps after dreaming about this for years and actively planning and fretting and hyperventilating over this for months on end I have actually reached the end of my capacity for anxiety. I am all worried out. I've done everything I can do to prepare for this. There's nothing left but to get up tomorrow ( Read more... )

FS exam in 6 more days. I'm crossing my T's and dotting my I's, getting all my papers together, having my suit drycleaned, and generally psyching myself up. One of the papers I have to bring with me is the Statement of Interest, a one-page response to the deceptively simple request, "Please use the space below to describe why you want to be a FSO ( Read more... )

I have enough little stories of my brilliance for all the dimensions the FS examiners are likely to ask me direct questions about except one: Objectivity and Integrity. Have I ever had the opportunity to show bias and didn't? Do you have such a story I could plagiarize for my own nefarious purposes? (Just kidding. Mostly.)

I've finally gotten around to my 13 dimensions mini-essays, in which I attempt to brainstorm at least two stories from my life so far that exemplify each of the 13 D's, with as little overlap as possible. It's going okay, I guess. Some of the D's I had so many stories for the challenge was to pick out the best ones. Cultural Adaptability, for ( Read more... )

That's how many foreign service officers they're hiring this year. I got an email from the State Department for some reason, encouraging me to look into taking the exam. They're a bit late. 700 may not sound like a lot, but in previous years it's been closer to the 400-500 range. Now is a good time to be in the race ( Read more... )

It took me a while, but I finally found a study group for the FSOA. I've been twice now, and it's already done so much for me. The first week we did a practice group exercise, which taught me that I'll be fine if I can keep from panicking and be a little more assertive. This week a retired member of the examining board came to run another group ( Read more... )

Some two or three weeks earlier than expected, I got a letter from the Foreign Service Exam review board. Yes, I qualify for the privilege of taking the oral exam. Registration is next month; I'll take the test in May or June. The test itself is a day-long event including an interview, a group exercise and a case management writing exercise, all ( Read more... )

...I passed ( Read more... )