Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. ~Calvin Coolidge
Starting in 2009, the following are program/awards for which I’ve submitted applications.
- USC Grad School (successful)
- Summer 2010 Department of State internship: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (successful)
- 2010 Fulbright ETA to India (unsuccessful)
- CIEE South Korea Spring Break Scholarship Program (unsuccessful)
- Public Diplomacy Spring Break exchange with American University of Dubai (successful)
- TEDxUSC (successful)
- Annenberg-Marshall-Viterbi News Entrepreneur Fellowship program (unsuccessful)
- Association of Public Diplomacy Scholars, Alumni & Professional Chair (successful)
- CIS Annual Awards for Essays on International Affairs, 2010 (unsuccessful)
- Department of State 2010-2011 Foreign Affairs Campus Coordinator (successful)
- Business for Diplomatic Action’s Arab and American Business Fellowship (discontinued due to lack of funding)
- Department of State, Foreign Service: Written Exam 10/2010 (successful), PNQs 1/2011 (unsuccessful)
- 2011 Critical Language Scholarship for Turkish (unsuccessful)
- Presidential Management Fellowship: university nomination (successful), exam (unsuccessful)
- 2011 Critical Language Institute for Persian (successful)
- Department of State Title VIII Fellowship for 2011 Critical Language Institute (successful)
- 2011 Women Bloggers Deliver competition (unsuccessful)
- 140 post-grad school jobs (139 unsuccessful/1 successful)
- Association of Public Diplomacy Scholar (Syracuse) call for journal articles (successful)
- Department of State, Foreign Service: Written Exam 10/2011 (successful), PNQs 1/2012 (successful), Oral Assessment 3/2012 (unsuccessful)
- United Nations 2011 Young Professionals Programme (unsuccessful)
- Article submission to Exchange:the Journal of Public Diplomacy (successful)
- Foreign Policy Initiative 2012 New York Leaders Program (unsuccessful)
Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success. ~Dale Carnegie
Were you in San Fran for the OA in March? My wife was there. Can I read how the entire cohort came to not pass? I, myself, did not make it past the PNQs.
Thanks for the comment! I took it in DC, but will send you the PW for the protected page.
I am scheduled to take the FSOT in June and I am very interested in finding out how the entire group didn’t pass the OA. Could you please provide me with the PW for the protected page?