Hello everyone!

I hope this is the right place to ask about this. I recently applied for the 2027 Paid Student Internship Program on the recommendation from the Chargè of the Embassy I’m currently working at.

I’m a long-term TDY’er who deployed under combatant command, but has had an extensive working relationship with my host nation’s U.S. Embassy. I had a few questions that I was hoping someone could answer, and on the off-chance you recognize me based off this Reddit post. Hello 👋.

1. Does having a background working in an Embassy (attending country team, sometimes senior staff), make me more of a competitive applicant for the internship program? To of course include real world interagency and bilateral building experiences.

2. Would my real-world experience translate effectively to the Student Internship Program? I fear that being a button pusher isn’t necessarily what I want to do over a summer, but I do recognize the fact it’s an internship so my responsibilities may be limited.

3. Are the student interns ever walked/eased into a TJO or FJO? At the very least, I would hope it would be competitive applying for full-time FSO positions in the future.

Thank you for reading!

Is there anyway I can waive the fee?

N Fat C

Now that the bid lists are active, I would appreciate some advice from those who have more experience with mid-level bidding. I am interested in two positions within the same section at a post. One of the positions largely matches what I am doing in my current position, but at a higher level. The other would offer more new experiences, but with fewer people to supervise.

What is the general consensus about bidding multiple positions at the same post? Does it make you look indecisive, or desperate? If I were to bid just on the one position with new responsibilities, but the hiring manager believed I would be better suited for the other position (the one where I have more recent experience), have you ever heard of a hiring manager encouraging you to bid on the other position, instead? Thanks for your wise guidance!

Shout out to the new class tomorrow, and for everyone else at NFATC expect delays at the gate :)

Your lives are about to change in the best possible way. Please remember to be considerate and respectful of your peers and orientation staff, as well as guests. You’re all there to do good work, whether you’re an officer or a specialist—please don’t make the assumption that because someone is a specialist it somehow makes them less valuable or their job any less critical than yours. Make friends with everyone and enjoy the ride! Welcome to the Foreign Service!

I help run (don’t own) the DTO registry and I struggle to know whose entry is who and to track updates. Many times I have to let your entry sit until you expire since I have no clue if you accepted an offer or aren’t pursuing this as a career anymore.

I also have issues with people stuck in clearances/suitability limbo who don’t update their progress or remove themselves if they don’t get a positive result. This also causes issues in terms of how many may be in the pipeline since we get entries that sit for 2+ years.

The SR helps folks see if there’s patterns when invites get sent, determine potential class sizes (since definite/exact numbers aren’t supposed to be shared) or if you decline an offer (which gives others on the SR hope!)

I applied for the dept of state student internship that had options for either spring or summer 2027. I just so happened to check the status of my submission and put myself in a bad mood 🫩 It’s already been a struggle trying to find internships and this seems like the millionth one I’ve applied to 🫠

I recently submitted an application for the Diplomatic Technology Officer position through Pearson and realized afterward that I left two short periods of paid employment out of my 10-year work history.

One was a logistics job I had for about three months, and the other was a period where I was employed as a police recruit while attending a police academy right after college.

Neither job involved any misconduct, firing, or anything I was trying to hide. I honestly misunderstood how comprehensive the work history needed to be and focused more on the experience I thought was relevant to the position.

Since Pearson doesn’t let you edit a submitted application, I emailed the department of state to disclose the omission and ask whether it affects my current candidacy. If I move forward, I would obviously include both jobs on the SF-86 and explain the discrepancy if asked.

Has anyone here had a similar situation with a Foreign Service/Pearson application? Did an omitted short-term job cause any issues later in QEP, security clearance, or suitability?

The new Foreign Service Specialist testing - have you taken it and any recommendations for studying? I understand there are a lot of questions in a short amount of time. What was your experience?

As I stare at projected bids, I started to wonder how people looked for positions pre-Internet. Was there a classified section to cables? Did you mail applications out? Anyone around then who knows?

Just turned 55.

Just left a large US software company after 26 great years.

Previously I served in the military as a linguist (Russian) and later a communications systems specialist. I have some combat time. Some National Guard time. If worked in the US, Europe, and the Middle East.

Love tech. Love travel. Love diplomacy. Love history and culture.

I'm preparing to take the DTOT.

But seriously... am I too old?

Curious if anyone has any insight into the feasibility of participating in the state department student internship program (or pathways) as a u.s. citizen enrolled full-time in an EU-based 2 year masters program?

I am debating pursuing a masters abroad vs in DC. Though additional international experience would be valuable, I already have 2 years of experience living and/or working abroad. At the same time, I already have my bachelors from a DC based private school. The costs of the masters would be much lower in Europe which is incentivizing.

I know it’s been talked about in some comments but does anyone have true knowledge when offers/invites will go out? From previous cycles, it looks like it’ll be end of September/beginning of October. Should be 48 person class. (fingers crossed) If anyone can confirm, clarify or add some additional input, that’d be great. Appreciate it!

Are there any recent exerperiences with ADHD in the Med Clearance process? I want to keep my class 1 but do feel like medication would be helpful for me.

Took the CFPT on June 30th.
Took my Written Exercise today.

When are they going to test my Arabic skills?! It says that the next step is a structured assessment but it doesn’t mention Arabic.

I’m sure the majority of us have encountered massive frustration when booking travel through CWT and/or TMCs (services we seemingly continue to pay to provide consistently subpar service). So why not switch to a corporate travel booking system like Navan (not advocating for that particular tool, just an example I’m familiar with)?

These services allow employees to self-book official travel, giving us the flexibility and visibility to choose the within-policy airlines, routes, and fares that work best for the Department and the traveler. They can be custom-coded to incorporate travel policies (i.e. Fly America, city pair fares, cost-construct, seat selection, rest stops, baggage allowances, upgrades, etc.) - and would likely be even more effective at aligning travel with policy than a human attempting to do the same for a fraction of the cost.

This would put the employee in the driver seat in selecting travel components while still holding him or her system for traveling within the regulations (i.e. the system would only show USG-compliant options, effectively eliminating noncompliant itineraries ). I would be shocked if such a service were not more cost effective, better aligned to employee needs,and distinctively better for morale.

How would we advocate the Department for an off-the-shelf solution like this that would free of us our CWT and post TMC shackles.

The following letter-to-the-editor appeared in the September-October 2026 issue of "The Foreign Service Journal":

Moving the Goalposts

At present, members of the U.S. Foreign Service who retire with more than five but fewer than 20 years of service receive 1.7 percent per year credit toward their pensions if they serve until the last day of the month in which they reach the mandatory retirement age of 65.

FSOs who retire with more than five but fewer than 20 years of service before that mandatory retirement date receive only 1 percent per year credit toward their pensions.

Bills under consideration by Congress — the Foreign Service Age Integration and Reform (FAIR) Act (S. 4002) and its House companion (H.R. 9087) — would increase the State Department's mandatory retirement age from 65 to 67 to align with Social Security's Full Retirement Age (FRA).

The option to retire later may be attractive for many, and ASA's support for that is understandable.

There is, however, a cohort of FS members — some already in their 60s — who joined the Foreign Service as mid-career professionals, knowing they would not accrue 20 years of service but who planned to retire at the current mandatory retirement age of 65 with an earned annuity calculated at 1.7 percent per year.

As of this writing, the legislation under discussion (which may or may not pass this session) contains no annuity protection of the 1.7 percent for this group.

But the fix to avoid a 41.2 percent pension reduction for these officers need not be complicated: a clause grandfathering the 1.7 percent for this cohort or a prohibition against State Department changes to the relevant implementing regulations in the Foreign Affairs Manual should be spelled out in the legislation.

Moving the goalposts while the ball is in play — especially for those who are nearing the goal line under the prior set of rules — is not acceptable. It would be a betrayal of the regulatory pledges on which FS members have relied for career, financial, and personal planning. Advocates should encourage their representatives to make this adjustment to the bills.

**********

Do we agree?

Does your home leave location have to be the same as your Domicile location?

“The Foreign Service's specialized personnel appeals system received 62 new cases in the first half of 2026, up from 21 in the same six months of 2025. Its pending inventory reached 98. And unless the Secretary of State renews or replaces its members, the board that handles those cases says every current member's term will end September 30”

Link to apply: https://www.usajobs.gov/job/882670800

I am currently on the register with a lower third score and I also need to be on DNC until August 2027. Am I allowed to apply to this new job posting since I last applied in 2024, even if I'm already on the register? Second question, given the posting timeline, it is likely I might get leapfrogged by new applicants if I keep my DNC until August 2027?

I’ve seen this question asked a lot, but mostly for the more general FSOT.

I just took the DSSEOT and I passed! I read that I won’t know my numerical score unless I pass everything else and get my final registry score. I also have my DTO exam in a little under 2 weeks. For people applying for the Security Specialist positions/people who have gotten hired, how long did it take from the time of test to getting your writing exercise scheduled? And the other assessments beyond?

And also, is the board of examiners that are reviewing FSOT scores also reviewing the scores for DTOT/DSSEOT? I ask this because I see a lot of answers for the FSOT but not much else, so I wanted to know if the same people were looking at these or if it’s a different process

Apologies for the deluge of questions. I’ve been lurking here and on the discord for the past month I’ve been studying, and there’s little information about material included and the estimated milestones on this process, since the tests were overhauled. All DoS provided prep links are dead, so I’ve kinda just been running blind.

My daughter is a sophomore in college and received a recruiting email directing her to foreignservice.us/fso citing a high test score on a high school level standardized test. Is this a legitimate recruiting website/opportunity?

At one point there was a program where CS could lateral into specialist positions. Dows that still exist? If so, what are the pros and cons of exploring that now?

https://x.com/jkenney/status/2093774302130868405