become a foreign service officer

This has been my goal since middle school (since I knew what the foreign service was, lol). I’m majoring in political science and expect to graduate in a year or so. I’m not sure if I want to go for a master’s right afterward, but I’m seriously considering it since it would improve my chances of getting in, make me more knowledgeable, and increase the pay grade.

Hopefully this dream of mine is not too far off.

I’m in High School right now, and I really want to become a Foreign Service Officer. It’s going to require a lot of hard work and dedication. I can’t start directly working towards it until I’m in college, but for now, I’m going to work really hard in school, especially my International Relations class, which starts next semester.
I’m also planning o taking as many AP classes as humanly possible. AP English Lit. is required senior year for students taking Honors English(which I am) and AP Spanish is senior-level Spanish. I’m seriously considering AP US History, which you take senior year. That would be 3 AP classes there, and if I decide to take AP Psychology or AP Art History, that would be 4, which might be a little crazy. Next year (junior year) I plan to take Law & Society and Communications & Media as my electives (they’re both one semester).
Obviously, this is a long-term goal, as I won’t be taking the exam for another 6 years.

but still so far to go! I have medical, security, and suitability clearance…it is just a numbers game from here…unfortunately, my numbers aren’t so great!

My journey began in April of 2004 when I sat for the Foreign Service Written Exam…then I patiently waited for my results…three months later I received them and was shocked (and thankful) to discover that I passed on the first attempt…

I signed up for the Oral Assessment_{Step 2 in the process…I completed the OA in October 28, 2005…once again, I was shocked, thankful, and honored to have passed on my first attempt. (only 8% do this}I can only thank my Maker!)

Now I am going through extensive medical, security, and suitability clearance…Provided I pass all of these, I will be placed on a register where candidates are ranked according to score. As A-100 classes become open (thus jobs become available), the top scoring candidates will be moved from the reigster to A-100 classes…HOWEVER, as more people continue to pass the OA, more people are added to the register according to RANK~it will not help to be first in time. I could technically sit on the register for two years (the maximum) and be bypassed each time by the newest successful candidate!

It is a lovely process though and I truly believe that it is working to find the best people for the job. You have to REALLY want it to go through all of this…I should have started the process my second year of law school.