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UnawareInGeneral

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Everything posted by UnawareInGeneral

  1. UnawareInGeneral
    There are people in their 40s who do ETAs. There were a couple posting on gradcafe other threads I have read who were life long language instructors and applied for and won ETAs. Others who changed careers later in life and applied and won ETA grants have also been on these boards.
  2. UnawareInGeneral
    Many of the older students are far more competitive than the younger students. (Provided the time between the two was productively spent by the older student/applicant. If someone is on the older range of the spectrum, knows what a Fulbright is and are in a place in life where they qualify to apply the time was probably well spent) There are far fewer people above say 24-25 who are going to take time out of their lives to apply for or participate in a Fulbright, so despite being more qualified they tend to be drastically less likely to apply and so there are fewer of them in the pool to begin with. Most of the Fulbright recipients I have met (anecdotal but you said you don't mind) were your age when they received the Fulbright. You are probably in the average range, not well above it.
  3. UnawareInGeneral
    Just apply. Coming from a background that isn't college oriented and a family that doesn't have a history in that direction is part of what a lot of "diversity" fellowships are about as well. Before they decided to make diversity essentially a by word for "not as many white men" those types of scholarships already targeted non-traditional students. That includes everything from returning students later in life to first generation students etc etc Ive used my less traditional path to college and graduate school to sell myself to scholarship and fellowship boards and it has worked extremely well despite my being the exact opposite of what diversity means in the current climate. If you don't apply, you are just rejecting yourself.
  4. UnawareInGeneral
    I am pursuing a post-graduate fellowship instead of pursuing a PhD, which I may never do now. Anyhow, when I was looking into it, the one piece of advice that I heard, without fail, from every single PhD I spoke to was, don't do your PhD outside the US. It just won't garner the same respect within the US academic community. Now, this is not speaking to the quality or value of those other programs, just the perceptions held by large swathes of the same academics who decide if you get in. This is essentially to second what was said above, LORs from people who earned their PhDs at US schools is going to help a great deal. If they did any post doc work in the US, even better.
  5. UnawareInGeneral
    There's nothing wrong with just asking the financial aid people at your prospective school as the above post said. You don't get your name added to a watch list for asking the question. This is sounds like a situation where you might be able to have the family member sign as a co-signer. The loan is in your name but if you (hypothetically of course) do what some international students have done and leave the country never to repay the loan, they go to the co-signer. They came down really hard on lending straight to foreign students awhile back because enormous numbers of loans never got repaid by people who were essentially entirely out of reach of the lender.
  6. UnawareInGeneral
    Every time I've had to write one I'm fairly certain they all started with a simple introduction followed immediately by a succinct "I am interested in X for X purpose" or something very close to that. I've never been turned down for anything, acceptance to a school, a scholarship or fellowship, or a job interview that has required a personal statement. Literally never. That might have something to do with other aspects of "me", but MAYBE, just MAYBE, it's because my personal statements start in just that manner! Take that for what you will, I'm not sure why people think a personal statement should start with something that is going to be quoted for centuries to come. Make it succinct, make it flow, answer whatever questions X organization has asked you answer in an intelligent and complete fashion. I'm not sure there's more to it.
  7. UnawareInGeneral
    Four score and seven years ago.....
  8. UnawareInGeneral
    Nope, they are still writing back within a few hours at most in my experience.
  9. UnawareInGeneral
    You've got a PM David
  10. UnawareInGeneral
    I get that some things are not always clearly spelled out with some fellowships and programs. I had that experience with a couple of the ones I applied to this year. Still, imo you should have asked more questions. I also completely get that you expected, it seems like, to have money to cover something that isn't your living expenses in China. Debt or something I'd guess. At least, I hope so. If not then you really were expecting too much freedom in what you were spending while on a fellowship. All that aside..... nebulous ideological purposes? You applied for it did you not? Out of everything you said, this is what really stands out to me. Were you randomly selected to receive a fellowship without applying? Did you then bullshit the decisions board and tell them you were onboard with their nebulous ideological purposes to get (what you thought was) a free ride for awhile and a prestigious bullet point on your CV? Sounds like you shouldn't have been awarded the thing in the first place really. Its like listening to the NSEP scholarship and fellowship people who don't want to do government service after the program is over. Deserve jail time for fraud if hey take tax payer money.
  11. UnawareInGeneral
    So I found your post here about a month late I suppose but if you haven't made up your mind yet, you have a PM with some information in it that you might find useful.
  12. UnawareInGeneral
    They've published the list of awardees for this year, looks like they awarded 107ish this cycle. Deadline being just this past Monday, guess they didn't get to many declining the award if they've got their list already.
  13. UnawareInGeneral
    Any alternates get good news recently? Deadline for people to accept was a couple days ago, just curious.
  14. UnawareInGeneral
    Then grant document, due tomorrow. *shrug*
  15. UnawareInGeneral
    PSA, all your documentation is due in about a day and a half.
  16. UnawareInGeneral
    I am the exact opposite of serious. I am actually at the end of a very long life transition kind of process. I left my previous career 5 years ago to go back to school. Now that my masters is in the bag and I'm going to China for a year, I'm getting rid of a lot of my old stuff that I just don't need as I'm done with my college student phase. I explained my budget in the PM I sent you as well, so whatever things I sell off and escape the burden of, just adds to the funds I have to spend while I'm on the program (and as I said in my pm the cost of living is LOW where I'm headed)
  17. UnawareInGeneral
    I intend to compete in local baccarat tournaments. Also yes, my Boren is entirely language study.
  18. UnawareInGeneral
    We got our flight itenerary to D.C. and then on to our destination (and home). At least, I got mine. Dunno about the other destinations/languages. Not sure if that's a sign of the window closing for alternates or not.
  19. UnawareInGeneral
    I'm not sure where or if we received the things we need to RSVP to the convocation (or tell them I'm not coming because of other commitments)
  20. UnawareInGeneral
    The Grant Document is in your email (or should be) for those of you intending to accept. And by in your email I mean the link to the portal that ostensibly has the grant document.
  21. UnawareInGeneral
    Oh come on! I was only 3/4 of the way through it. Spoiler alert would have been nice. Next you'll be telling me that Snape kills Dumbledore or that Gandalf comes back in a later film.
  22. UnawareInGeneral
    Well they have to pick a skin color. Truth is it's probably easier for them to make that video and avoid charges of choosing a person of color because that makes it seem like minorities are " more likely to be corruptible ". It's a given someone or many someones would interpret it that way. Make it a Chinese American (you know, the ones who are actually targeted most often by their intelligence agencies) and you'd get cries of racism. Its easier for them to make it about a white kid.
  23. UnawareInGeneral
    Alas, I won't get to meet you folks at orientation. I would have liked to, I'll already be on CLS at that time though. I did watch that video, but I received the loose lips sink ships talk so many times I don't even like to meet new people now for fear that I'll kill hundreds of sailors by accident. Also, the voiceover in the video of the guy who "went abroad to study Mandarin" is full of improperly pronounced Chinese words. C- for production quality.
  24. UnawareInGeneral
    It's not just you on the grant document.
  25. UnawareInGeneral
    Don't take this the wrong way, I'm glad to see you are 32, in school, and pursuing fellowships like this. I'm your age, and I'm finishing my masters in a school where I'm 6-7 years older than the average student. I thought maybe I was too old to go spend an entire year abroad on my language. Good to see other students my age in pursuit of the same things. I was worried about this until I asked my professors about it. They all said just accept it and go get the language study in, it's paid for and it makes you more valuable for the rest of your life. Two of them actually laughed at me and said I was half their age, why was I asking them what "too old" is.
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