sapphireblue

I did apply for the CLEA but haven't heard any news yet. Only received the two notification/congratulatory emails from the Fulbright board and IIE that mentioned the grant decision exclusively. I was also wondering what people's experiences with the CLEA have been and whether it's common for Fulbright to send those notifications through later? CET Harbin did accept me for the "Fulbright Summer Start" term back in March, which seems pretty contingent on selection, but I'm not sure how much to read into that as an indicator for the CLEA decision. I haven't found much information about the percentage of grantees getting CLEA for Mandarin or on what basis Fulbright allocates the funds to people either...I'm just worried that if CLEA isn't automatic for all who applied (which I'm guessing it's not), then I could see how candidates with more extensive language background might be disadvantaged in this sense against those closer to the minimum second-year proficiency, who could make a stronger claim for needing additional language training before their grant term. Anybody have any thoughts or insights into the CLEA selection process?

Wow, notifications for China out around 11am on April 6th when the last few years haven't been notified until April 20th or so at the earliest! Was not expecting that at all. So happy to hear the good news so soon - selected as a finalist for a China research grant! ^^ Wishing good luck to all of the other China semifinalists waiting to hear back today!

Congrats to everyone selected as a finalist! I'm an alternate for Korean (same as you, @Ganny!) at the Intermediate level. It's been interesting reading what you all have heard about how alternates are moved up off the waitlist. To be honest, though, I don't have much hope. I was a finalist last year for Advanced Mandarin in Tainan, Taiwan, so I'm thinking that might have counted against me. I can definitely understand prioritizing candidates that haven't received a scholarship before, but I went in thinking that perhaps applying for a different language would mitigate that factor somewhat. I'm also under consideration for a Fulbright to China this year - @hobakie, you mentioned that you expected your result in part because you're applying for Fulbright. I'm curious whether being under consideration for multiple Department of State grants likely does affect CLS decisions? I hadn't considered that before, but I suppose it would make some sense if they know that dates for the mandatory Fulbright PDO or Mandarin CLEA grant programs would conflict with CLS and there's a chance people who receive both would decline CLS anyway. @ImagineHagens, in answer to your question, the CLS Chinese students at the Taiwan program site last year received a $960 stipend. I think we had an unusually generous amount though, and from what I heard, that's more than the stipends for students at Mainland China sites. Food and transportation is really all I spent money on in Taiwan and both are cheap, so I think I only spent ~$300 of that money over the summer. Other students put their stipends towards travel, which we actually had 2 completely free weekends for as far as I remember. My guess is that since Taiwan was a new program site in 2016, CLS just overbudgeted how much they thought we'd realistically need to cover essentials, and they might lower the stipend this year.

Accepted for the scholarship to China for the 2015-16 year!!! Got the email at 1:20pm today. Apologies for lurking and only just posting now, but better late than never, right? Congratulations to the scholarship and fellowship recipients, and good luck to the applicants still waiting to hear back!