kristinochka

Alternate for Russian

Last week, my email for Russian said we would know "in the coming weeks," so I don't expect Russian semifinalists will know this week at all.

@pdh12 yeah, I sympathize. does your other program provide funding, too?

@mrs12 I wanted to go to Russia, and the program I committed to is in Bishkek.

newbie here... found this forum last night. I was a semifinalist for Russian but another program I got into (fully funded, airfare, stipend) gave me until today to commit. I got into it about two weeks ago and I told them I was still waiting to hear back from CLS and that I would know by the end of February, so they extended the commit deadline for me. when I got the email this morning I nearly flipped, as the subject line said something like "passport information needed" and I figured that meant I was moving along as a recipient and they needed my information, only to learn they asked that of all semifinalists "just in case" they're selected. the email also said something about hearing about the decision "in the coming weeks," so that's when I realized I wouldn't be able to hold out any longer and just had to commit to the other program. it'll be heartbreaking if it ends up that I get it but because of the late response having to decline it. I know there's chatter on the facebook page about this, and while I understand that it's a very generous opportunity for recipients, I do think it's a bit unfair to have applicants work so hard on their applications, have faculty write recommendations, and then stall. they emphasize how carefully they select the recipients, but yet by their lateness will likely mean losing applicants they wanted to bring on because of students having to commit to other programs by a certain deadline.