Need Help Finding Prospective Colleges for Daughter Who Wants to Be an Ambassador

Parents Forum
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<p>Through the Global Scholars Program at American University, she could have an M.A. in International Service in four years. It is difficult to get into (as difficult as getting into Georgetown, with students with SATs/GPAs equally as high), but there is significant merit money (unlike Georgetown), and internship opportunities are as great (if not greater) as at Georgetown.</p>

<p>Given the choice between a B.A. at Georgetown and an M.A. at American, who do you think would be farther along? </p>

<p>Smith is another good choice, though I think the DC area schools are better, if only because of the exposure, and the possibility of in-term internships.</p>

<p>(Note that for entrance into the Foreign Service these days, fluency in two languages is pretty much a requirement.)</p>

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<p>check this out: [State</a> Department engages Mount Holyoke, Smith in foreign policy effort | GazetteNET](<a href=“http://gazettenet.com/2011/03/14/state-dept-engages-mount-holyoke-smith]State”>http://gazettenet.com/2011/03/14/state-dept-engages-mount-holyoke-smith). Excerpt below:</p>

<p>Saying the United States has to do more to “promote the next generation of women leaders,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a new partnership between the State Department and Smith College, Mount Holyoke College and five other women’s colleges…This partnership is aimed at promoting the role of women in public service throughout the developing world</p>

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<p>If D wants to do important work in the international arena and foreign policy matters to her, there are many more choices and potential paths than the foreign service! Have her take a look at some of the premier development institutions and ngos and the kind of work they do: the World Bank and IFC, the IMF, the Gates Foundation, Doctors Without Boarders, International Planned Parenthood, World Wildlife Fund, etc…</p>

<p>Remind her to check out the placement offices at her potential schools to see what kind of support they provide for internships too.</p>

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<p>Your best bet these days for being an ambassador is not to join the foreign service, but instead get filthy rich and donate to the winner’s presidential campaign. All the plum spots are political appointees these days, and a good portion of the not so plum spots too.</p>

<p>I agree with mini that if she’s sure of her path American is a great choice.</p>

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<p>Agree completely with Bovertine & Mathmom. I know two ambassadors. Both were major packagers of donations to Obama’s campaign; one had also been chair of a major federal commission. One is flat out very wealthy, the other is well off. </p>

<p>My impression is that for most developed countries, ambassadors are largely political appointments heavily biased towards big donors or those with substantive Washington political experience. Third world countries most often have ambassadors appointed from the regular State Department ranks.</p>

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<p>Another avenue for excellent training–a masters in public administration (MPA) degree from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University</p>

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<p>Here is a link to Pitt’s graduate program and the positions some of its grads have held. Pitt has extensive language choices at the undergraduate level and offers guaranteed admission to this graduate program for top students who apply to study languages (and other related majors) if they maintain a certain GPA. Pitt also offers very nice merit money to top applicants. [url=&lt;a href=“http://www.gspia.pitt.edu/Alumni.aspx]Alumni[/url”&gt;http://www.gspia.pitt.edu/Alumni.aspx]Alumni[/url</a>]</p>

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<p>Ooops, I realized in my post #5 that I messed up the name: it’s the Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs:</p>

<p>[Madeleine</a> Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs at Wellesley College](<a href=“http://www.wellesley.edu/albright/index2.html]Madeleine”>http://www.wellesley.edu/albright/index2.html)</p>

<p>Having two secretary of states as active alums is also a boost.</p>

<p>My D is looking at the Fletcher School at Tufts as a possibility for graduate school:</p>

<p>[Home</a> | Tufts Fletcher School](<a href=“http://fletcher.tufts.edu/]Home”>http://fletcher.tufts.edu/)</p>

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<p>Yep…in the US and probably many other countries in the world…the post of Ambassador is a ceremonial political appointment. More importantly…you need to be wealthy not only because of donations, but also because you may be expected to support some expenses of your embassy out of your pocket. </p>

<p>As for being a career Foreign Service Officer, having two foreign languages down is a plus, but not necessarily a hard/fast requirement. However, the ability to pick up foreign languages quickly and to be a quick study in the culture/society of countries one happens to be posted will be. </p>

<p>Moreover, there’s two parts to the initial exam according to some friends who took it. The written exam is the first part and is hard…but passable so long as one has taken full advantage of their undergrad educational resources and prepares to tackle the topics on the exam(i.e. history/politics to psychology/management). </p>

<p>However, assuming one passes the exam…the second part is a “group interview” where you will be interviewed with others who passed that exam together and observed for good social skills/interaction with others as well as your responses to the interviewers/given exercises. Unfortunately, this is the more difficult part as most will flunk this part of the exam…and they don’t provide any feedback so you know where you fell short beyond mere self-speculations. </p>

<p>As for foreign service assignments:</p>

<p>One former FSO in a building I lived in a few years back mentioned that the foreign service has a policy of assigning FSOs who emphasized the study of a nation/region and/or had ancestry from that area as far away from there as possible to both expose new FSOs to different cultures and to minimize risks of them being caught up in espionage (I.e. One friend of his who studied something pertaining to East Asia and was fully fluent in Mandarin and Japanese was assigned to South America and Africa for his first two assignments). That…and all foreign service assignments are based on the needs of the US government at that point in time.</p>

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<p>OP you do realize that in these days of instantaneous communications that the Foreign Service is often irrelevant except for minor bureaucratic tasks like approving visas? You do realize that that most of the exciting work goes to foreign service specialists from government departments, Agriculture, FBI, DEA, the military, other than the State Department. Your daughter should also realize the danger involved in many of the assignments and the day to day hardships, as well as the stress on families should she marry and have children. As pointed out by others, she will never get to be the ambassador to the UK or France. If she is lucky and good she can look forward to becoming an ambassador to a place like Burkina Faso or some country that no wealthy donor would be interested in. Finally, your daughter should realize that the Foreign Service, like the military officer’s corp, is an up or out organization. You get promoted or you are invited to leave. There are interesting jobs in the State Department’s civil service that she might want to consider.</p>

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<p>tsdad, I appreciate your candor. My daughter (and us, her parents) are approaching this from a very naive point of view–I know that she wants to be a world citizen, work in other parts of the world, use her language strength (and learn more) and make a difference in the world. So I don’t really know what a foreign service specialist is or how one becomes one–what the training is, the education, the career ladder. any light you want to shed or resources you want to provide, that would be terrific. we’re just starting this process and obviously have a big learning curve ahead of us.</p>

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<p>The State Department has a very good section on their website about careers at State.</p>

<p>There are some quizzes you can take to see if the Foreign Service is for you–the good and the not-so-good aspects (“Are you prepared to spend 2/3 of the next 20 years living abroad? Are you willing to spend your time getting people out of problems they got themselves into?”) as well as description of what they are looking for (it specifically says foreign language proficiency isn’t required, which surprised me) and the various career paths they offer (five separate ones).</p>

<p>There are also, as mentioned above, civil service employees of State, who work in domestic positions.</p>

<p>Many other government agencies hire people with interests in foreign affairs as well.</p>

<p>The Foreign Service is a way of life, like the military. They make a point of moving people around, you are required to spend time in “hardship” posts, and it’s hard to have a family life. But it’s also a career that offers fascinating experiences and challenges. Here’s my friend’s career trajectory, from his bio on the Embassy’s website:</p>

<p>Deputy Chief of Mission in the United States Embassy in Jakarta. </p>

<p>Before that, 3 years as Minister Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. </p>

<p>Before that, 2 years as deputy director of the Office of Korean Affairs at the Department of State. </p>

<p>Before that, 3 years as regional environmental affairs officer at the Embassy in Bangkok. </p>

<p>Before that, 3 years as Senior Adviser on International Affairs the VP.</p>

<p>Before that, serving in U.S. missions in: Manila, the Vatican, the UN, Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh City.</p>

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<p>chai: to learn more about the Foreign Service & its exam, check out [Career</a> Tracks - U.S. Department of State](<a href=“http://careers.state.gov/officer/career-tracks]Career”>http://careers.state.gov/officer/career-tracks).</p>

<p>You’ve gotten a lot of good - and accurate - advice from other posters.</p>

<p>MD mom: I was stunned to click on your GSPIA link & see someone I know.</p>

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<p>chaieverymorning:</p>

<p>You daughter might want to consider doing a couple of years in the Peace Corps out of college. She might also look at the many international service organizations that provide opportunities. I do not have a list, others on CC might. if you belong to an organized religion they may have service groups that your daughter could contact top see what opportunities are available.</p>

<p>I spent 30 years in the Federal government in the Departments of Justice and Education. I do not have a high opinion of the State Department as a place to make a government career. Others, of course, may.</p>

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<p>To get the ball rolling you might check out United World College (an international high school program). I believe the deadline has passed for this year but she would likely be eligible to apply next year. She would begin in her senior year and then complete one extra year (in order to receive an international baccalaureate diploma). As a UWC student from the U.S. she would become a Davis Scholar, which covers all tuition, room, and board at a UWC school in one of 12 different countries. Graduates go on to great universities and have many connections related to careers in international service.</p>

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<p>Though this one is in CA, Occidental college has a Diplomacy and World Affairs major which may be suitable. </p>

<p>[Diplomacy</a> & World Affairs | Discipline with Attitude](<a href=“http://college.oxy.edu/dwa/]Diplomacy”>http://college.oxy.edu/dwa/)</p>

<p>In addition, it also has a semester long program at the United Nations that is unique to Oxy:</p>

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<p>wow, this is a wealth of information. my daughter just got up (it’s a holiday and we’re in California) and I’m going to have her start reading through all of your amazing suggestions…</p>

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<p>Deskpotato has many good points about life in the Foreign Service. A lot of times it is not glamorous if you are posted in “hardship” and war-torn countries</p>

<p>I have a cousin who has spent all her life in Foreign Service and has just recently retired. Towards the end of her career, she wanted to spend more time in the US because her parents were elderly and her children were all here, and she had to jump hoops NOT to be posted overseas again. According to her, you cannot spend more than 3 years consecutively working in the US. One can get weary being overseas all the time. Perhaps it is appropriate to call it “exile” here instead of “expat”.</p>

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<p>Since she’s only a sophomore, she might still have time in planning her high school program to fit in a semester abroad or other international experience. With top grades and scores, I’m sure this type of thing isn’t at all necessary for admission to college, but it can only help her portfolio of “global citizen” credentials.</p>

<p>My daughter is on a gap year program abroad right now. One of the reasons (although far from the only one) is that she is going to be majoring in international studies and had never traveled abroad! Many of the other incoming students in her program, from what I could see as the Facebook group formed, were kids who had lived and studied abroad, either as ex-pats (kids of Foreign Service Officers or international businesspeople) or as foreign nationals, and it seemed she might be at a distinct disadvantage compared to her peers without that experience. Had we known what her academic interests were going to be as early as you know, and had we known about the progam in time, we might have given very serious consideration to the Eisendrath International Exchange program for the second semester of her sophomore year.</p>

<p>My daughter currently plans to do her junior year of college abroad, in a different country, so that she’ll have two distinct foreign living experiences, but had we been able to fit one in in high school, that would have been even more enriching. (From a cultural standpoint…perhaps “impoverishing” would be a more accurate term from a financial standpoint!)</p>

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<p>During my three decades in the Foreign Service, I worked under both political appointees (read wealthy donors/politicians) and career officers. It is not the college they attended that won them the assignment, but the use they made of what they learned there. Tufts, Georgetown & Hopkins are common feeder schools but so are Bowdoin, Colby, Carleton and Oberlin. Many Ivy grads populate the foreign service but you will also find many who went to Texas, Wisconsin, William and Mary and even Western Washington (our current Amb in Afghanistan) or U.C. Davis. There are smart, hard-working and creative people everywhere and many of them compete to get into the State Department. Representing the United States around the world is not a ticket won via the SAT.</p>

<p>Learn Chinese, learn Arabic. Challenge yourself. Many have peace corps experience or have lived and worked abroad. Many have law degrees or have taught. What matters is knowledge of the world, ability to work at a high level with other talented people, the discipline to function well in tough situations, a talent for verbal and written communications and the dedication necessary to push rocks uphill when that’s what it takes.</p>

<p>The best your daughter can do is push herself, experience the world and be open. The doors that open to her when she does will generally be the right ones. It’s a great career so good luck to her.</p>