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Thomas Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship. It is for any U.S. citizen, regardless of ethnicity, who is interested in international affairs and a career in the U.S. Foreign Service as well as pursuing a master's degree at one of the APSIA schools. The fellowship award includes tuition & fees, room/board, 1 round trip travel a year to school, and books for the junior and senior years of college as well as the first year of graduate school.
The fellowship has the following components:
- Junior year summer institute in public policy and international affairs
- 2 paid summer internships with the Dept of State - one in Washington DC and one overseas at an embassy or U.S. delegation (these are both after graduation from college)
- 2 year master's degree
- minimum 4 and a half years in the foreign service
This program is administered by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and you can get information on it at their website:
www.woodrow.org/public-policy/undergraduate.php.
Also there is a graduate version of this fellowship for people who have graduated from college. It is similar in that they have 2 paid internships, but the program covers both years of the master's program in any relevant field to international affairs / foreign service work and they have a minimum 3 year commitment.
Several students at our university are seeking either graduate or undergraduate awards from the Pickering Fellowship for the US Dept. of State (managed, however, by www.woodrow.org). However, they have each met with a host of problems in trying to get reliable information about it; many have not received applications that were repeatedly requested by website months ago. The deadline for undergraduates is 21 Feb, for graduates, 28 Feb.
In the meantime, I believe we have scrambled to find the relevant application materials. I am hoping that one of you, with more experience than I, can affirm whether the following materials will comprise a complete application:
- Instructions on applying are available at www.woodrow.org/public-policy/UFAFapplication.php
- Personal Statement (2pp/~500 words)
- Employment Data Forms SF-181 [Race and National Origin Identification, 1p.]
and SF-256 [Identification of Handicap, 2pp.]
- GRE Scores (graduate) or SAT (undergraduate)
- Certification of Citizenship [ie. birth certificate]
- 2 letters of recommendation
- Official Academic Transcript
- Official FAS Financial Aid Statement from institution.
Is there anything missing or are we perhaps mistaken in weaving our way through the labyrinth of government forms?
Q. To what degree is "financial need" a factor? The language of the application reads: "Consideration will be given to qualified applicants who, in addition to outstanding academic achievement and leadership skills, demonstrate financial need...If you did not receive financial aid, please state reason on a separate piece of paper."
Does this mean that applicants who demonstrate need edge out other applicants when all else is equal? It seems to me to say that if you're at college with no financial aid, you may still apply. Has anyone observed how this has been applied in practice?
