Becoming a Foreign Service Officer

Tanrar

Alright, so I heard about this over on the SA forums, and I was wondering what the fine gents here would say about it.

For those of you who don't know what this is, it seems like it's diplomatic work. More info at http://careers.state.gov/officer/career-tracks

Some background on me:
I am working on a bachelor's in mathematics, should be done in a few years. I like working with people, and diplomacy has always seemed interesting to me. I don't really care about the money: I'm guessing it's not much, but that's fine, I am more interested in doing whatever I can to help my country and whoever else.

Do I have a chance at getting in with a bachelor's degree in math?

Brian Krakow

From what I've heard is that the Foreign Service is extremely dedicated to the idea that intelligent people can do anything regardless of experience (at least that's their excuse for shifting everyone around every couple of years). So, if you can show them that you're smart, maybe.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure that new FSOs generally have to serve in warzones. So be ready for that.

kaliyama

FSOs can come from any background. Never easy to get into, though. You'll need a lot of interpersonal skills together through the exam. New FSOs have to serve in hardship posts, but I'm pretty sure its not allowe to be a place where you'd receive danger pay.

Brian Krakow

kaliyama wrote:

New FSOs have to serve in hardship posts, but I'm pretty sure its not allowe to be a place where you'd receive danger pay.

Ah, yes. That makes sense.

Darkewolfe

The exams are not easy by any stretch, and it's a very long and involved process. If you're seriously considering it, start preparing for the exams now and get ready for about a year long process to get through the written, orals and essays.

Slider

I took the written test with a friend of mine. It was difficult, to say the least, and there is very little you can do to prepare for it.

If I recall correctly, my friend may have passed, but was systematically removed from the application process due for some reason...

November Fifth

No harm in taking the exam, but realistically, you need either a graduate degree, military service or mastery of one of their critical languages to have a shot at a position.

MrFish

I too am trying to become an FSO in the future. I have family that has served at a US Embassy in a diplomatic role, though not through the state department and thus not an FSO. However, the diplomatic community is fairly tight knit, if expansive, and I have got to meet a good deal of people and always ask how they got there...

Like November 5th said, realistically you need a graduate degree, military service, or critical needs language skills (generally speaking this means middle eastern or east asian, though i'm sure there is a full listing available online). Experience living and working overseas can be very helpful as well. I have found grad degrees from Georgetown and Johns Hopkins are excessively common.

First postings will not be particularly desirable, in general, but will not be a war zone. The Baghdad embassy has no time to show newbies the ropes.

Tanrar

Ah, general consensus seems to be I need a graduate's degree. That will be a small problem, as my scholarship won't last that long, but i'll see.

I sorta guessed that newbies got the bad assignments, but that's okay.

Thanks everyone, I'll think about all of this.

Darkewolfe

Go into the peace corps and learn to speak arabic. That's the cheap route.

MrMonroe

You should read this thread at SA:

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3166411