Summer Freshmen Class of 2004 II

T

Toyster92

< 25 Posts
I just got back from a visit from both Baylor and UT, and I am nearly 100% on UT. My only regret about going to UT would be leaving my jobs in Longview behind which I love and am making fairly good money. Also I am still anxious about leaving home three months earlier than usual. But in short, UT kicked *** and Baylor just seemed like the 13th grade of high school. Austin just has an electric feel to it, and since I am from Longview Pine Tree in the "Deep South" portion of Texas, being subject to all the differing viewpoints and ethnicities of Austin will be amazing. I talked to one of the admissions counselors about possibly majoring in international affairs coupled with history or cultural anthropology. She mentioned a number of applicable jobs including becoming a Foreign Service Officer. I would very much appreciate some advice from some of you that may have taken the exam or even been accepted. I was told that in order to pass the exam I would need to learn at least two other major languages apart from English. As of now I am able to have conversations in Spanish but only know tidbits from a couple of other languages. My brother (MaduroBU) tells me that Will_monk just recently was accepted into this program. I would very much appreciate some info, and I am willing to work very hard. I will be on campus for Orientation June 7-10 and will begin my classes on June 14. Hook 'em

Toyster
 
careers.state.gov/

My advice to you is to minor in, or at least take, Arabic or Farsi (Persian) or Mandarin or Cantonese or Hindi or Japanese. Or Turkish. Spanish, I took, and it didn't help. They have Spanish speakers. They need "weird" language speakers.

Also, apply for student programs at the State Department.

Do a foreign exchange program. Or an internship in DC with the State Department. Or an internship at an embassy. Or all of them. Take the Foreign Service Written Exam once you are 20 years old. Good luck.
 
Actually, here is the list:

Extra points are given to candidates who pass language tests in Critical Needs languages, currently defined as: Arabic; Chinese (Cantonese and Standard/Mandarin); Indic languages (e.g.,Urdu, Hindi, Nepali, Bengali, Punjabi); Iranian languages (e.g. Farsi/Persian, Dari, Tajiki, Pashto); Japanese; Korean; Russian; and Turkic Languages (e.g. Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Turkish, Turkmen, Uzbek).
 
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Need more input.
 
For the past two years a korean guy has lived with me and during that time i have been able to learn a few simple phrases in korean and also the han-gul phonetics system. I saw that you mentioned korean in your post, I am very interested in learning korean. The other language i have toyed with is German. I began posting on a German message board earlier this year and would communicate back forth in German with the use of a German/English dictionary. This helped me a lot to a point where I am able to read basic German with ease. I know German is more widely spoken than most and is not considered a "weird" language but I enjoy it. Now you can kind of see where I am at right now, what other advice could you give me in regards to learning about other cultures and languages. Hook 'Em

Tommy
 
The process for the Foreign Service is pretty wild. You take the written exam first. It is math, reading, writing, history, religion, geography, politics, pop culture, entertainment, science, grammar, technology, leadership, speech making, the U.S. Constitution, economics, and on and on. You will do well if you read news magazines (The Economist, The Atlantic Monthly) and follow at least some basic stories in the world news. It's like a game of trivial pursuit, plus essay, plus "biographical" data you have to give.

For the biographical section, just make sure you take advantage of the things UT has to offer. Go to the occasional foreign flick. Stop by the Indian Students Association festivals and eat their gross-looking but excellent food, make your way to the Hillel parties, and take advantage of other cultural celebrations you see on flyers around campus. Get involved in leadership positions. It's not that hard, many times. Just sign up to be "secretary" of your fraternity or the fencing club or whatever. Start your own club. Whatever.

If you don't just sit around drinking beer the whole time, only mustering the occasional energy to chase some tail, you'll do well on your biographical section. Don't get me wrong, drinking beer and chasing tail are part of college. Just don't let that be the only thing you do with your time.

If you pass the Written Exam (about 20-30 thousand people take it every time and 10% or so pass it), you get to take the Oral Assessment, which is a whole new challenge. Then they do background checks, which take a LOOONG time.

Go see an advisor about the language course options you have at UT. UT offers a lot of those languages.
 
I have a brother that goes to Baylor because he couldn't get in to UT. While in high school, he took some classes through ACC (Austin Comm. College) to get both HS and college credit. Some of these ACC classes transferred to Baylor as junior level courses. What does that tell you about Baylor?
 
as to your question about your free time (last thread), make sure you spend enough of it studying, that summer program is a joke, or at least it should be but you'd be surprised how many people **** it up b/c of how much they partied, well come to think of it they weren't brainsurgens in the first place if they had to go pro-v to get into school.

I'm assuming that Summer acceptance is still the pro-v group?
 
Actually Hornindallas, I am not on provisional. UT's provisional program now includes requiring that it's students attend a branch of UT ( Arlington, Dallas etc). Also under provisional I would have to make a certain grade point average during the summer in order to remain at UT Austin, but my situation only requires that I attend the summer semester (and do well enough to stay off school probation of course). At least that is what I understand.
Also back to the discussion with WIll_monk. I have been talking with my potential roommates through e-mail, and one of them is Chinese and seems like a pretty decent guy. So possibly I could look into that as a second language, that is of course assuming he knows either Cantonese or Mandarin. It is exciting to see how all this seems to be coming together. And I appreciate all of y'alls help very much,

Toyster
 
If you really want to learn a "hard" language, you probably should take classes, immerse yourself for a few months or a year, and otherwise practice. If your roommate can help you, that would be a great place to start.
 
Just had a friend go on his tour to Maritious (had to learn French). FYI, if you are willing to learn the languages for the state department, the CIA is also hiring people with language skills.
 
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