It's just like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

So last Monday, I was sitting in Crim Pro 2, minding my own business, when I got an e-mail.  I'm a PMF Finalist.  Needless to say, I paid no attention to the rest of class.

Ok, so what does that mean?  Well, here's the blurb that's being used around school:
"The Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program was established by Executive Order in 1977 to attract to the Federal service outstanding men and women from a variety of academic disciplines and career paths who have a clear interest in, and commitment to, excellence in the leadership and management of public policies and programs. By drawing graduate students from diverse social and cultural backgrounds  the PMF Program provides a continuing source of trained men and women to meet the future challenges of public service... There were approximately 8,000 students who were nominated by their respective schools and who went through the competitive interview process in February.  Out of that number 792 students were selected as Finalists."

In other words, I'm a pretty big deal.

Seriously though, what it means is that I have a fellowship that will allow me to work for a government agency for the next two years.  There's much more to the program than that, but that's the easy explanation.  Next week, I'm flying out to D.C. for a PMF job fair, where we have to interview with various agencies and hopefully get our jobs.  I'm so excited about this whole thing I can't even explain it.  I have always loved the idea of government work, specifically working in D.C., and while there this summer, I absolutely fell in love with the city, but never thought I'd be able to work there.  I just wasn't sure how I would make it happen.

I applied for the PMF program last fall, not really expecting to get anywhere.  I made it through the first round and took an assessment test in January.  I thought I did fine, but couldn't believe I'd end up accepted.  And yet, I did! 

Some of the jobs are outside of D.C. - but I'm going to do my best to end up in D.C., plus that's where the majority of the jobs are.  It's all very overwhelming, as there's a bunch of stuff that has to get done before the job fair, and we really only had two weeks to prepare.  Thankfully, Jayne is wonderful and is letting me stay with her again, which saves me a crazy amount of money.

So, that's what's been going on with me.  I'll definitely let you know where I end up and how this job fair goes.  Wish me luck!