Yay! I Got My OA Invite Today!

Well, I guess the title says it all, doesn't it? I'm so thrilled. I actually saw an email invitation to join a local study group before I downloaded the letter from the ACT website. I tried to take it as a good sign! Here's how the letter begins ...

Congratulations! Based on a comprehensive review of your candidate file, you have been selected to participate in the next step of the Foreign Service Officer selection process, the Oral Assessment.

Yippee, I am one happy camper! On June 21, I'll be one of those folks at the ACT website, trying to sign on for a July date. I've already figured out which range of days I'll be aiming for.

It feels great to be back in the game again. Swell ...

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Waiting ...

Spent half the day reading recaps and tips on the Yahoo FSOA Forum. Initially went to FSWE Forum to see if anyone had received response to QEP/PNQs. Found link to a schedule indicating that answers (i.e. invites to the OA) will probably go out in mid-June.

In two weeks.

I'm getting nervous. I tell myself not to be. But ... it doesn't help. I passed the FSOT, but wonder if I passed it well enough to qualify for an OA invite.

I guess I'll find out soon enough.

In the meantime, I'm finding it harder and harder not to think about last year's OA and what I could've done better -- and where I could be stronger.

Hence, the re-reading of recaps and Traveler's tips.

Also, indulged in reading blogs of the newly sworn in, including a blog by someone who was in my study group. Seeing her blog and her photos gives me hope. She's just a regular person, like me. Shy, introverted. Smart as a whip, gentle and kind and not pushy or aggressive. Someone who could, without being pushy or aggressive, assert herself during the OAs.

Nice.

I spend some time rearranging the elements on this blog page, changing the colors, an wondering, "Is this a waste of time?" What if I don't garner an invite to the OAs? What then? I glance at the Countdown widget, which now reads 89 days since I took the FSOT. I change the title to, "Long Road to Becoming an FSO." Suppose this "long road leads to nowhere?"

But suppose it doesn't?

Well, I know that if I don't get an invitation this time around, then I'll try again. I'll swallow my disappointment and re-register as soon as the system allows me to. I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. And I won't think about last year and everything I did wrong. I'll think about next time and what I can do right.

No, I don't want to go down as one of those legendary candidates who tried five, six, seven times. But I don't want to give up. I've never been one for giving up.

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PNQs: Personal Narrative Essays

Submitted my Personal Narrative Essays today. Put it off as long as possible, then got worried that the site might crash on the deadline day. Reviewed them, but couldn't think of better answers than the ones already prepared.

Need to notify folks that State might be calling them for verification. Don't want to notify anyone. Have told only one person that I took the Written. Told him that I failed. Have not even let him know that I passed. Am hesitant to even write about it here. Might just "unpublish" the announcement, actually. Being superstitious, I guess.

Should I notify them? That would seem to be the most adult thing to do.

But then everyone would know again. Everyone would ask, What happened?

Suppose I don't even get an invite to the OA?

Invitations are sent out based on your cumulative score: the written plus your PNQs.

Have heard of people who were invited to OAs before but then fail and successfully retake the written, who then receive an invitation to submit PNQs, but then don't receive invitation to OA again.

Is this fear talking? Pure, irrational fear?

Yes.

Am I listening to it?

Hmmm ...

Oh, well. I'm still very happy and thrilled to have passed again. I'm grateful at every stage of the process. Just plain old grateful.

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