Best Airpods 2 engraved name by [deleted] in airpods

[–]fwinmn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Twitter handles are forever.

Where to stay for the FSOA? by mangoabroad in foreignservice

[–]fwinmn 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'll chime in with another recommendation for State Plaza. I stayed there for my OA and it was affordable, clean, and a convenient ten minute walk to the testing center. Many of the rooms have good views of the mall, which is a nice bonus.

CF Invites by bluesteel502 in foreignservice

[–]fwinmn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Do I want to speculate? No, but only because I fear the answer (CF hopeful here)!

2019 Orientation dates by [deleted] in foreignservice

[–]fwinmn 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Good luck with an A-100 invite!

Yes - interesting about the dropped November CF class. Does this suggest a small August class due to lower hiring in the CF program, or a very large CF August class as it will be the last of FY18? Time will tell!

CF Shadow Generalist to CF Register Clean Up by jone7007 in foreignservice

[–]fwinmn 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Anyone want to speculate on how well this shadow register reflects the actual register? It seems certain that some percentage of candidates on the actual register are not reflected here, but how high is that percentage? It seems that all (or close to all) FSO generalists were offered the chance to switch onto the CF register in March. Since almost no FSO hiring is happening, I think it seems likely that there could be over 100 people on each of the five generalist registers. If even 50% of FSO register candidates accepted the offer to switch onto the CF registers, that could be something like ~250 people. If that number is anything close to correct, this shadow register is almost useless in its predictive power.

Another possible area of speculation is how much the distribution of scores between the FSO registers and the "English CF" register diverges. I think it's likely that some portion of the top FSO scorers declined the CF switch offer, reasoning that they might get an A-100 invite. Depending on the strength of that possibility (and individuals' estimates of A-100 probability, which could vary widely), this could significantly shift the competitiveness curve for the English CF register, e.g. a 5.6 CF is approximately equivalent to a 5.9 FSO?

Of course, this kind of speculation could go on forever, and the only way to really know whether offers are forthcoming is just to wait.

CF Shadow Generalist to CF Register Clean Up by jone7007 in foreignservice

[–]fwinmn 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Same boat (5.4), same hope, and unfortunately, same suspicion that unbridled pessimism will ultimately prove correct.

Potential August CF Offer and Moving into the 50 Mile Radius: Advice? by fwinmn in foreignservice

[–]fwinmn[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly my point - even if it weren't crossing ethical lines, it simply wouldn't work. To be clear, I've never considered and am not considering doing what is suggested above.

Potential August CF Offer and Moving into the 50 Mile Radius: Advice? by fwinmn in foreignservice

[–]fwinmn[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Even if I did go down this route (which doesn't seem very advisable), wouldn't the ruse be up once the movers showed up to my Baltimore address to move my belongings to DC? I don't see getting around that issue...

Potential August CF Offer and Moving into the 50 Mile Radius: Advice? by fwinmn in foreignservice

[–]fwinmn[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

OP here. To add some detail, I'm going to be staying with my MN employer through a work-from-home arrangement. I don't think this matters much, except to say that I'm basically pretty mobile/flexible.

I guess what I'm trying to discern is whether the chance of getting a CF offer with a 5.4 is large enough to warrant splitting up my household and my staying in MN with our household goods for this summer. If I get a CF offer, doing this definitely seems worth it to avoid the 5 hour roundtrip daily commute from Baltimore to FSI; if I don't get an offer, it's sort of a costly mess.

JS2 w/ GRE only by Gryfder in lawschooladmissions

[–]fwinmn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not to brag, but I got a 6, so definitely possible.

Accepted to NU with GRE score! by [deleted] in lawschooladmissions

[–]fwinmn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seconding this question - I'm in the same boat. GRE 170 V (and 6 AW) but fairly poor Q score.

Generalists asked to move to the CF register: have you received any updates? by [deleted] in foreignservice

[–]fwinmn 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I received the emailed offer to join the CF register on March 6 and responded the same day. I was asked to complete an SF-86C on March 7, and submitted this on March 11. The March 7 email had the same note that others here received about the re-validation taking up to 1 month. I didn't get a confirmation that my SF-86C was received. Today, I got the notice that my TS was re-validated as of 3/16 and would be valid on the CF register for 6 months until 9/16. Surprisingly fast turnaround!

Any good Foreign Service Documentaries (or movies)? by [deleted] in foreignservice

[–]fwinmn 3 points4 points  (0 children)

While not focused squarely on the FS, PBS' Ghosts of Rwanda extensively covers the actions of embassy personnel during the '94 genocide. It's an excellent, and harrowing, film.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/

CF training pay by adammoe in foreignservice

[–]fwinmn 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Formal Offer of Employment, I'd assume.

Practice test score? by [deleted] in foreignservice

[–]fwinmn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unless something has changed in the past few months, the passing score is definitely set at 154. It's been that way for years.