Haunted

We all have two kidneys...

Well...at least we are both still waiting a long time for ours...
I have tried calling and e-mailing with no response yet. Starting to get antsy.

I have finally, finally, finally found out this afternoon that I have received the grant!!!!!!! I am ecstatic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally got the email, twas bad news.. oh well, I guess I'll graduate instead. Congrats to the rest of y'all 

Waiting tables is the secret to getting rich quick.
Not really, but it's extremely flexible (much more so than retail), easy to trade shifts when you need it, and you leave with cash in your pocket every night. I work at a dying restaurant and if I work two doubles and Friday night I can pull down $300-$400 easy. In New York, you could be pulling that a day.
There are some pretty easy to find resources on learning how to save money, just Goggle around and they'll find you. I do it by putting no more than $75 in my wallet to spend from my tips every weekend. Everything else goes into an envelope that goes to the bank every two weeks, and I don't touch that money for anything but school expenses. If I have a surplus (birthday, holiday, Grandma sends money) it goes straight into savings. I work every shift that I can reasonable manage which is weekends right now. In two weeks I'll likely be working five or six shifts a week with at least 2 doubles.
I'm going to a public school and living with my parents because that's an option for me. Get room mates or move back home if you can. Work your butt off every hour that you can manage. Working in a restaurant for two months, two years or even two decades isn't shameful. It's an honest living. My grandfather was a short order cook for 40 years with little education outside of the army--he and his wife raised 7 children while they were dirt floor poor. All of those children have jobs and an education. One even got his PhD and now his daughters are planning on getting theirs after they do their master's. Mine will be funded in part by working in a restaurant. 

@rack_attack124 Your situation right now will not be solved with a masters program (in health informatics). If you want to get out of debt, there are other ways to do it besides getting into more debt. I'm not sure which types of programs have deadlines this late into the year, but if it's a for-profit school, an online college, or if the school has low admissions standards, that may actually even work against you [1][2]. If you are looking to "be a millionaire," working in a job will not get you there. You have to ask yourself what value you can give people--may that be entertainment, advice, products, skills, services, anything else that you think people will spend their hard-earned money to receive.
Before taking on a mountain of debt and thinking that you can "pay the debt off pretty fast," I would highly recommend reading the posts on the Student Debt Crisis website. They really opened my eyes to the world of student debt and how many, many people regret it. We too often hear the side of admissions and their job placement rates and their student ambassadors, but we rarely see the truth and reality for a great number of people.

Update: I got promoted from Alternate to Finalist for research in Germany! It does happen! Alternates, keep crossing those fingers!

Has anyone done their oral test via the phone yet?   Just did mine......I went on a horrible tangent about peacocks in vermont turning wild and ambushing people's chicken coops. ><  whyyyy

Hey guys, just to try and shed a little light on the stipends: 
Your stipend will cover more than what it's intended for (lunches, toiletries, etc), but won't get you far if you want to travel. Honestly, amount received varies from country to country but you will have a better time if you can go with a few hundred dollars for travel. The CLS is a really intense program and you will need some money to get away and to get some space on the weekends. For Turkey, I believe I received about $500... but I don't quite remember. 
Also, lots of things in DC will be financially covered during orientation but not everything. A couple meals are on your own and it's also fun to grab a beer with the people who will be in your cohort one night. 
Remember: you won't know what cool things are possible until you're in country. What I can recommend is that you all look at where you think you'd like to travel and budget accordingly. I recommend Rome2Rio to estimate in country trip prices (there is also an app, which is cool) and remember that in a lot of places budget airlines exist and might be cheaper (not to mention faster) than busses or trains if you book in advance. Also, if you're going to a Muslim area you will be there during Eid and have a long weekend where you will want to travel. 
A bit of extra cash never hurt. Bring some and be a little happier. 
Let me know if you have anymore questions. 

Hey, I just got bumped up from an alternate to a finalist for Urdu! Best of luck to everyone else!
 

Anyone else apply for the Center for Engaged Scholarship dissertation fellowship? This award is not listed on the Wiki. It's new this year - $25,000 for social science dissertations that are relevant to "progressive values." 
I applied and haven't heard anything. Just wondering if anyone else had.
http://cescholar.org/dissertation-fellowships/

The waiting is beginning to wear on me. I just got a job working for the USDA in Hawaii and I have to let them know within a few weeks, so I am hoping we all find out ASAP.
 
Anyone else in a similar position with a job offer or grad school?

Hello- I was on the wait list for Hindi, but I recieved notification that I got a CLS on Monday... Yay!

In case any one has the same questions, here's an email sent to hindi alternates in my area. Hope this helps a little with the alternate anxiety!  

@pdh12 we haven't started the visa process yet (for China), but my first day is on the 16th. If you go on the CLS website, they have listings for all the program sites and their start dates. Bangla, Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu are also on the 7th, which makes sense to have all the India ones on the same date.  The Tainan, Taiwan program is also on the 7th.

Yes ! Congrats ! will you have a blog !? I want to stay in touch and live vicariously through you ! 

This is for everyone out there who may not be getting the result they wanted. This was my third year applying to Switzerland, and I thought I was a little bit crazy for trying so many times. Just found out that I'm a finalist! Please don't give up, I was able to do so many amazing things in the years that I wasn't selected, and you can always try again. Best of luck out there to everyone who is still waiting, congrats to all those who were selected, but to the NS folks out there--there is hope, and I really hope that another year is your year!

Indonesia just found out! I'm a finalist! 

I'M IN AS A FINALIST!!!!!!!   I was just bumped up from Alternate!!!!!!!!!  HINDI

We found out on a weekend last year... Literally like 6pm EST on a SATURDAY. I was so mad, haha. I was not expecting it whatsoever and was like, on a city bus by myself and just started crying like a crazy person calling my mom like "I GOT IT." Not ideal. 

Hello Spain people! Here is the link for the Facebook group for the 2016-2017 grantees! 
https://m.facebook.com/groups/1009131539133272?view=group&refresh_sidenav=1

I found some PDFs that Boren has posted and it gave me a better idea about some of the finer details of both the Scholarship and Fellowship. Here are the links! 
Boren Scholarship Handbook (2014): http://www.borenawards.org/document/download/current_year_scholarship_handbook_183.pdf
Boren Fellowship Handbook (2015): https://www.borenawards.org/document/download/current_year_fellowship_handbook_182.pdf

@pdh12, the CLS is a good program to be an alternate for. There are usually a lot of people taken off that list, and I'd expect this year to be even better than normal because of how many people had to commit to other programs who were semi-finalists and might have been chosen finalists or alternates. I wouldn't lose hope yet, I'd say this is a good sign!

D=  !!!!!!!   I'M AN ALTERNATE 

Wow, I am so thrilled I have made it this far: I am an alternate for Hindi. Who is a finalist, and how many other scholarships did you apply for, ha ha?
This so amazing!