mrs12

I just really want to know alreadyyyy. I found out that one of my new classmates also applied for Turkish for the same level as me and was accepted as a semi-finalist. The idea that we might spend a whole summer together bettering out Turkish sounds amazing. These last few days have been so slow!

Yeah. It's odd. It used to be 40, so it was 20/20. But now it's Rangel with 30 and Pickering with 10/20.

Yes, I'm not yet a senior in college so this year I'm eligible to apply to the Pickering, whereas as a senior I can apply to both the Rangel and Pickering for their grad programs. The deadline to submit the Boren hasn't passed yet, actually. But in the end, I decided not to complete my application because the dream program I wanted to apply to isn't running in the Fall and I got some interesting offers for this summer that I would have had to ignore if I had gotten the Boren. If you did the Boren before, don't you have an easier in into the Foreign Service? I am a semi-finalist for the CLS for Turkish! I'm super excited. I don't know what my chances are at this stage, but one of my Turkish classmates is also a semi-finalist for Advanced Turkish so we're really hoping we will both get picked and get to spend the summer together in Turkey! Only being in the undergraduate program for the Pickering has some drawbacks. For instance, they choose just ten people out of the 30 total for both the graduate and undergraduate program combined. But I figured I couldn't hurt my chances by applying, and if I don't get through I'll have more experience for applying next year.

I've watched some of the webinars too. It does sound like Rangel sends out their finalist announcements, you have a short time to say yes or no, and then they tell Pickering about the people who accepted and if Pickering was considering those people they no longer do so and THEN Pickering sends out their interview list. I just wish Pickering was first, haha! I did some math as well, I think it's around the same percentage rate, but with this sort of application, I bet it's so based off of the essay that it's really hard to look at statistics like that and know anything. At least from the little I've researched it seems like a lot of people apply to both. I know you can only apply to the Pickering as a 3rd-year undergraduate, not to the Rangel, so that doesn't help me. But in your case, I think a lot of people apply to both though they might have a program favorite. I know it's somewhat common for someone to get denied the Rangel and then have a good chance at the Pickering. That's just anecdotal though, from people's comments I've seen on different sites.

Huhhh, well then I won't expect news from the Pickering until after March 11th I suppose. Wow, that is a really quick turnaround for the Rangel though! And no! I didn't get a call. That's so terrifying! What sort of feedback did they want? I really really hope you are a finalist for the Rangel, but part of me really wants to worry over and get into the Pickering with you together. Haha! Either way, kudos for not having a heart attack yet with all these surprises.

Oh my goshhhh. What is the timeline? Does that mean they tell you right after the selection panel meets? I wish the Pickering would give us more concrete information instead of just "sometime in March".

I'm currently doing my research into grad schools for an MA in Middle Eastern Studies and I figured you all would be a great resource to plumb. How did you pick your schools? I can't seem to find any official ranking of schools, although for my subject it probably wouldn't help much anyway. I'm trying to go for Turkish Studies, not really Ottoman, with a more modern focus, but it's so hard to find schools that have any concentration on Turkey or the Turkic world. Good luck to all of you in this stressful waiting period!

I think that's a good point @pdh12. I applied in '14 and didn't make it to the semi-finals. Does anyone who applied before and now/previously made it into the semi-finals have a clue what they did differently this time? I think for me I was very specific for how I need advanced language skills which I cannot get from a course at my university, and I outlined my senior year capstone project which will require advanced levels of Turkish so it was a very tangible application this time whereas before I focused more on my desire and my passion but without very concrete examples of why it mattered.

I can't help thinking about how much I want this. I'm still in contact with the lovely people I did my state internship with and they are so supportive of my desire to join them. These next few months are going to go by so slowly! You're right in that I think I had a solid application. I managed to get a letter of recommendation from the section head at the embassy where I interned, and apparently everyone in the office collaborated on the letter so I think it will speak to my experiences there. But I truly believe everyone applying to this has amazing applications, it sort of self-selecting in a way. So I've heard that the Rangel written essay can be a lot more broad and random, and that the Pickering is usually about a foreign policy issue. Are you preparing by getting ready for the FSOT? I'd imagine that preparing for that would be equivalent. I'm not even sure what I would do to prepare really, other than practice writing timed essays and read more broadly on topics I don't know much about.

Oh, by not holding out hope, mostly I realized that if I thought I had a chance I would just stress and focus on nothing else these next two months. So it's easier for me to just set it aside, tell myself there's no way, and get on with my life and school. This way I can actually get things done, and if I do get to the interview it will be an amazing surprise, and if I don't I won't have built myself up to expect it.

@kbui To be honest, nothing! I'm not holding out hope that I have any real chance at the Pickering, and my semester is so stuffed that I'm just focusing on getting good grades and preparing for my final year at school. When I get the chance I try to read the Foreign Policy magazines because I think the writing exam would be the hardest for me, if the subject was something I didn't know anything about. If I hear back in March that I've been invited to the interviews, then I'll freak out and try to study harder. (That might be the downside of applying while still as an undergraduate.) How about you? Did you end up applying to both the Rangel and the Pickering? Don't they have different deadlines for when they announce things?

Was anyone else applying for Turkish? I heard back from my friend who was also applying that they didn't get through. It's so crazy that now we have to wait another month...

Yay, I was selected as a semi-finalist for Turkish! <3 Thank you everyone for all the support and nerve-wracking moments together. Good luck to all of you.

You just saved me a few minutes of panic, @philosonista! It totally is alphabetical!

Not yet, ahhh! Also, the thing I hate most about not getting into programs is not knowing what I did wrong in my application. At this sort of level we're all equal in our interests and dedications, I tend to assume, so a lot of it is simply knowing what they're looking for. Sometimes that helps me keep perspective as to why I get into some programs but not others. At the end of the day, we're all equal candidates I believe. Congratulations, Zephyri!

Congratulations on the Gilman! Is that for this summer as well or next year?

They are totally running out of days. I can't imagine that they will make us wait until February, because then everything is pushed back!

I don't think they post locations until after they chose the recipients. I know with Turkish we won't know the official locations until then at least, even though we can guess based on the last couple of year's locations.

I recently found out that you could apply using a summer program/Fall semester and it would still count as a preferred program length so I've decided to apply for the Boren Scholarship. I really want to spend next semester doing research in Turkey, but I don't have too much hope because this is a last minute application. I've got time in the next two weeks to really fine-tune my essays but I won't hold my breath in the end. @Letsgoooooo Are you applying for the Scholarship or the Fellowship? Where do you want to go and what language are you studying?

Uffuuuu. I got through today by telling myself maybe they would say something at 5 PM. I hope we don't have to wait a whole extra week.

@kbui@awayfromhere Did you both send in your applications on time? I just got an official email saying everything was received from the Pickering.

Haha, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one obsessed with the deadline. I keep checking my email even though I KNOW it's the weekend and they won't automate the response. Tuesday is so far away, and no guarantee that that's even the day. Thank you, @pickadiscipline! That's all really helpful!

I feel like it's too late today for any results. So now we have to wait the whole long weekend...

I know they send the alert through email, but I can't help but obsessively check the online application anyway in case that gets updated before the email is sent. :DDD

I should specify that I'm curious about it at the Master's level.