Ahab

Congrats on making your decision. I'll see you at LBJ!

Congrats. That seems like a great decision!

I'm headed to graduate school. It's exciting to be moving back into a an academically challenging environment. The CLEA applicants for the new year are invited to the banquet for the outgoing Fulbrighters. Hopefully, a few of you make it out! Let me know if you have any other Taiwan-related questions. There was a lot of things I didn't know when I left the states.

I did not get a CLEA. I was an alternate. The people in my group that received the CLEA all had strong language backgrounds; however, they weren't necessarily the applicants with the most language experience. A few of the current ETAs that majored in Chinese did not receive the grant. The CLEA award is a nice way to get free language training and you get the opportunity to live in Taipei for a few months before the rest of the group arrives. At the same time, even without the award there are options for language development. You just have to decide how much time and money you're willing to invest.

I'm pretty sure CLEA notifications come out with the main packer but that feels like a long time ago, so I might be wrong.

Last year, everyone in Taiwan that received a CLEA was an ETA. There were only three awards given out and everyone else that applied for the CLEA was given "alternate status." My impression is that there is almost 0 chance that you'll receive a CLEA without prior Mandarin language experience.

I am headed to UT.

I'm a current ETA in Taiwan. If anyone has any questions, just ask away! Good luck everyone. You're very close to the end of this agonizing process!

+1

And congratulations! That's a fantastic offer from AU.

Not worth it! Take that money!

LBJ, particularly the MPaff, is known for being quant. heavy, which to me is a huge plus. I also think they try to emphasize it because incoming students are routinely surprised at the quant. emphasis (this is what I've heard). Thanks for the report nogone!

I've been leaning toward attending LBJ for the past few weeks; however, I was just offered significant funding for the Security and Intelligence Studies program at Pittsburgh GSPIA. My general interest is security (naval/territorial disputes and domestic conflict/protest) in East Asia and I'm concerned that this part of the world is not a significant focus at Texas LBJ. Pittsburgh seems to have more options for East Asian studies. The money is almost a wash. I received full tuition at LBJ and almost full tuition at GSPIA. What do you think? I also can't attend the open house events at either school. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Cheers.

I just received a funding decision via email.

+1!!