Bad News

I got back the response from my appeal. State upheld its original finding of unsuitability, and ended my candidacy.

This is big shock for me. Becoming a diplomat is something I've been actively pursuing for the past five years. On my fourth attempt at the oral test, I finally passed. It took about five months for my medical clearance to go through, followed by another four for my security clearance. During that time, I took four language tests: French (which I failed), Chinese (which I failed), Korean (which I failed), and finally Chinese again on January 5, which I passed.

The really hard part is that the reason for my unsuitability is my job history, which by the standards of 3 FAM 4130 isn't clean enough. To make matters worse, I don't know how long I have to wait before my mistakes no longer matter.

For now, I really hope I can pass my February 15 test. Participating in the PMF program would be a great ointment for the burn I got from State.