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Critical Language Scholarship 2015


alifbaarbie

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A friend emailed them yesterday and they emailed back and said likely early next week... someone else said they were waiting for State Department clearance.

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Hello everyone. I'm a semifinalist for Intermediate Russian keeping my fingers, toes and eyes crossed! Haha. Surely it has to be tomorrow? I've been in the refresh-my-email-constantly phase for what feels like forever (read: ten days)

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I won a CLS Arabic scholarship last year, and we found out on Feb. 15.  I think we had a little more than a week to accept, but they ask for all this paperwork with your acceptance, so I would guess most students will take the week or so to get those papers filled out and scanned.

 

Such a great program- good luck to all who applied!

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I won a CLS Arabic scholarship last year, and we found out on Feb. 15. I think we had a little more than a week to accept, but they ask for all this paperwork with your acceptance, so I would guess most students will take the week or so to get those papers filled out and scanned.

Such a great program- good luck to all who applied!

Zephyri, did you apply again this year for another scholarship or are you just a kind soul wishing us in the dark luck? Haha!

Either way, was your experience a good one? What do you think made your application stand out?

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Savannah--me, too! The weirdest thing happened to me today. My mother texted me saying a cousin who lives overseas called her totally out of the blue JUST to say that she was expecting to hear great news from her on the 26th, without any knowledge of my application to this program. My mother explained everything to her and said that I was hoping to hear tomorrow (the 25th), and my cousin replied that I may find out on the 25th, but she wouldn't find out until the 26th, and she had a very strong feeling about getting good news from our family (just my mom and myself). Too. Weird.

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Hi Krolechka,

 

I did not apply again this year as I need to do my field research this summer.  I applied for a Boren though, so we'll see how that pans out.  I had an excellent experience on CLS, but I know several students who did not have a great experience- some of this was luck, in terms of getting sick after eating at the wrong restaurant, or having an obnoxious roommate.  But I found the level of instruction to be very good- once I took advantage of office hours and other teacher resources.  

 

I can't know for sure what made my application stand out, but I tried to paint a picture of myself that showed how invested I was in the language- and that I'd be a good investment for the scholarship.  If I could hazard a guess, I'd say it was my strong graduate GPA, and research grants I'd gotten to do some initial field work in the Middle East.  I also had experience learning other foreign languages (one through immersion), so I made the case that I could do well in CLS's immersion program.  

 

Keep in mind of course that I was one of only 3 graduate students in my program, which was largely undergrads.  The undergrads' career interests ranged from diplomacy, to medicine, to military intelligence, to journalism.  What I was most impressed with was how ethnically diverse CLS's cohort was- they really do want to recruit a range of young people into their program.  Moreso than any other scholarship group I've seen.

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I know many people may already be aware of this, but for those of you who are not, I contacted the office this afternoon, and the woman on the phone told me that their was some sort of delay and the notifications had to be pushed back. As a result, she said that finalists will be notified by the end of February; I asked if that meant by this Friday and she told me that it did. So, it looks like we will be notified either tomorrow or Friday. Good luck everyone, the wait is almost over!

Edited by SavannahLMartinez
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I, too, was chosen as an alternate. I know logically that this is silly but my heart still sank at the feeling of rejection. I know that some people get off the "wait list" sometimes but, from what I've heard, it's a pretty rare occurrence.

An enormous congratulations to all finalists! Have fun wherever your travels take you!!

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If you are on the wait list, we were given until 3/16 to accept or decline, just to give you a timeframe. Good luck! I've been there myself, so I completely understand the wait list limbo.

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I was never promoted as an alternate, but know people who were. I get the impression it's similar to PhD wait lists. They do a first round of promotions of alternates right after the initial deadline, and after that if not promoted, your chances of getting promoted go down. But they do promote rather close up to the time people are scheduled to leave the country. Hope that helps! Also, if you have questions, call! The staff are very helpful and always apply again!

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Does anyone know when we learn where exactly we are studying? The sites are online, but if you are in Russian, there are two options, and we don't yet know which one we are in.

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Alternate for Hindi here as well. Not too disappointed, as I also got a FLAS to do Persian in the US, which I would be perfectly happy doing.

 

I made it off the waitlist for CLS last time, so it does happen? 

 

TBH, I have some reservations about going back, as I had a quite awful host family experience before, and know multiple other people who did as well.... Not sure how much that varies from country to country though. 

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Alternate for Hindi here as well. Not too disappointed, as I also got a FLAS to do Persian in the US, which I would be perfectly happy doing.

 

I made it off the waitlist for CLS last time, so it does happen? 

 

TBH, I have some reservations about going back, as I had a quite awful host family experience before, and know multiple other people who did as well.... Not sure how much that varies from country to country though. 

 

What was your host family experience like. I have heard mixed reviews ,but those were for languages other than the one I am going for (Chinese). Also how was the language pledge. I am hoping it is super strict and not a do as you please type of situation. 

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Hi,

 

I didn't do Chinese, but I think it's generally true that the host family experience and language pledge strictness varies.  Your living situation depends on how well you get along with your roommate, whether you share a room, or have separate ones, how much experience and enthusiasm your host family has for hosting American students, how far you have to travel every day to the language school, etc.  

 

As for the language pledge, upholding it depends on your CLS-employed Resident Director, the teachers at your school, but most importantly, on your cohort.  My advice is to make the commitment yourself to uphold the pledge- this is the only way you can ensure you get the most out of your 8 weeks there.  In my group, there were a handful of students who kept the pledge all the time, but I'd say most of them did not keep it when they weren't at school.  On group trips (CLS and independent trips) everyone spoke English, even though we weren't supposed to speak English on CLS trips.  I think we slid a little because we were exhausted from immersion!  It happens, but don't be afraid to insist on speaking in the target language if that's what you know is best for you.  Ultimately, people will accept it, and when you come home, you'll be glad you did.  You want to do well on your OPI test, which you'll take right before you go home, or shortly after you get back.  That's how you'll see how much progress you made during your stay, and if your goal is to boost your proficiency level, you'll be glad you kept the pledge.  

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