>> First, I don't think you should have Foreign Services
with your goal [inaudible] that may or may not happen.
But devoting your career to that is not a very effective way to do things.
But general preparation -- most people coming
into Foreign Services done something after their BA degree.
Very few come in with BA's.
Either graduate school, working overseas, working in the U.S., doing something.
And the average age now, probably 28, 29, 30 of people coming in, all sorts of backgrounds.
I think the basic skills are the ability to write, the ability to communicate,
and interest in the world, and interest at trying to understand what's going on abroad
and trying to explain America's perspective and the American experience.
So, you need a good grasp of American History, culture, because you're representing the country
and you need to be able to do that effectively.
And you need to have good communication skills as I said, you need to be able to write well,
communicate well, that's sort of the central part of the job.