chupacabra

Hey everyone! I've been accepted as a semifinalist for beginner's Korean. Does anyone know how many out of the semifinalists actually get in (like what percentage or something)?

@dragon_seed Thanks so much for the reply. I think you're right. I took on a lot of difficult classes last semester and other factors aside I think I was pretty burned out by the time I turned in the application. Looking over my essays again, yeah, there was not a lot of convincing evidence at that point. In fact, I talked more about math than I did about Russian and its surrounding culture, which is a little ridiculous considering that this is the critical LANGUAGE scholarship, haha. But, I'm glued to this language, scholarship or not. Which is something I can definitely not say about math.
Congratulations to everyone who did get it and best of luck to those still waiting, I hope they get it too. 
 
 

Rejected from Russian. Kinda Really bitter about it. I worked so hard to get good credentials - 3.8 GPA, A's in all my classes, including Russian; glowing recommendations, and (so I thought) decent essays. My first professor even made me sign up for this random national Russian language essay contest last year and I won (still don't know how that happened but I thought it would give me good chances.) My fragile ego and I have been going absolutely bonkers trying to figure out what I did wrong. Seriously. I lost sleep thinking about it. Maybe my language skills aren't as good as I thought they were, I don't know. It's entirely possible. I feel like a failure. I wanted so badly to expand my Russian and apply that knowledge in the future but I guess it was a waste of time? 
I'll get over it eventually I guess.
 

Semi finalist for Russian, completely in shock right now. I'm from a recently branded disaster zone so I couldn't even get a letter from my Russian teacher and I thought this would be held against me.

@snegurochka  I'm sorry to hear, but at least there is next year to try it! Maybe it might help to look at it this way. My experience has been that the higher your language level, the more effectively you learn during an abroad session. If you go as a beginning or intermediate student, the learning curve can be so overwhelming that you don't even know what you don't know and you feel like you keep falling on a treadmill that's getting faster and faster (though you learn a lot, obviously).  When you go as an advanced student, you have a better idea of the language and you get so much more out of the experience.  So, spend the next year continuing to work on your Russian, work on your CLS application super early, and make a very good case about how you can contribute to the American economy or national security/diplomacy through knowing Russian (maybe you did that already). I'm definitely jealous that you get to study Russian I'd love to learn it, but I stop every time I try because it's so difficult. Keep your head up and keep working hard! 

Semi-finalist for Japanese! Just got the email about 20 minutes ago!  
Good luck to you all! Feeling super grateful right now!

Semi-finalist for Japanese! Just got the email about 20 minutes ago!  
Good luck to you all! Feeling super grateful right now!

I really hope they seriously take dedication to a language in consideration. I've been studying Chinese for 10 years and will continue to for the rest of my life. Most people take it and give up after a few years – even those who did a semester or two abroad. It's really a life commitment and even heritage speakers my age tell me how they couldn't keep up with it. I definitely think everybody should get a chance to study abroad, but I hope they don't count my past experience abroad against me, because I really need this program to get to the level I need to be at for my job, and I made that clear in my application. I'm out of school after this year, so it's my last chance to win this. Wishing you all best of luck, I'm definitely on pins and needles myself.  

@busybee That's so interesting! I've had an adviser who said the exact opposite, and she also was an application reader in the past. Who knows, then, maybe it's something that changes based on languages or years? I was always told to prioritize that aspect when critiquing essays or advising students about applying to the CLS, but there are many layers to the process for sure. It gives some food for thought. Good luck with everything, I certainly know the struggle of needing the language exposure/practice and not having many places to get it. Hopefully either CLS or FLAS will work out for you! I think we're often told it's hard to get CLS more than once, but at the same time I feel like you know so much having gone through the process... Again, anecdotally, I know at least four graduate students who did CLS so it's certainly not impossible! I feel like, too, that an application out of grad school would just carry so many more of the intangibles. I really hope it pans out for you! 
@sleepyficteer Thank you for your kind words. It's nice to know my perpetual lurking has had some positive effect! I feel very lucky to have received CLS twice, even if once I was unable to participate, and it's certainly a community that I want to give back to. I'm glad to hear that some of my thoughts were interesting for you.  
 

Fingers crossed for you, chupacabra. You did everything you were supposed to and I would like to think this sort of thing shouldn't be held against you.  

Aw man. I’m sorry this happened to you. We’re all hoping that the program reads your application— my fingers are crossed for you. More importantly, you seem like you’ve worked really hard on your application, and that’s something to be proud of. So keep your head held high! Please do keep us posted.

I really hope they read your application too!! Not saying you should hold it over your recommenders heads or anything BUT maybe let them know the situation and maybe they'll have time to write an even better recommendation? Especially knowing that they might have hurt your chances despite you doing everything right on your end plus reminding them about theirs.

I was secretly stalking this page after sending in my application. I applied for beginners Bangla. Good luck to everyone here!

May I ask what course it is?
I find it surprising that such cliques / passive aggressiveness exist at grad school, given that these are 'graduates',  i.e. adults.
Perhaps it is a younger cohort than usual. I don't think you need to feel sad or left out for not being involved or attached to cliques or immature 'private' jokes. But it's a shame that there is no-one mature enough to mitigate this passive aggressive behaviour of 'circling people out'. I hope you find someone like-minded, who is mature and serious about graduate school.
As somewhat introverted myself, I understand your concern. Obviously don't block people out, but don't resort to their immaturity and just be confident about yourself! (feel free to ignore advice from a complete stranger)

I'm a first generation college student. I have four parents and step-parents and not a college degree between them. I fell in love with academia as an undergrad, particularly in medieval history, especially studying abroad for a year in Ireland.
The first application cycle was a wild shot in the dark. I kept to the northeastern United States, wanting to be close to my family and my then-boyfriend-now-husband, who has a steady but immobile job as a firefighter/EMT in his hometown. I lucked out and got one acceptance to the University of Connecticut for their MA in Medieval Studies. So I went direct from undergrad to graduate school.
While at UConn I knew I wanted to go for the doctorate, and I got my first taste of Ivy League splendor at conferences in Yale, Columbia, and UPenn. I aimed high for the second application cycle and utterly struck out, not even being accepted for a PhD by UConn itself. Again, I had kept to the NE US, but thought that if I applied to enough Ivy Leagues that at least someone would accept me. I even had a potential advisor rooting for me at Yale, but it wasn't enough.
I was crushed. Not only was it rejection from something like 8 schools (all those fees!) but I hadn't done anything outside of school in my entire life. I picked up my EMT certification (highest in my class!) and worked as both a paid and volunteer first responder for a year. Going to academic conferences with no backing institutions felt awful, but I knew I had to network and get serious about finding someone to advocate for me. I applied to only two schools, both within a few hours of our recently purchased house, and got into one with a fellowship.
I thought the way was clear, but it turns out that the school was an awful fit for me. (No details for obvious reasons.) My advisor went from sweet as sugar to completely aloof and unavailable, often working overseas and unreachable by email, and when they returned they declared me incompetent and barely in the program by a thread. The department was obsessed with their alums obtaining tenure, despite putting out as many PhD's as nationally available tenure-track jobs every year, and ridiculed anyone who took an interest in a different career path. It also sounds petty, but everyone in my department was constantly dressed formally, manicures and heavy makeup, and since I biked to school and am a grungy metalhead I always felt an awful fit for my cohort. On top of that (or because of it), I suffered the worst expressions of anxiety and depression that had plagued me since teenage years, and finally realized that my doctorate at the school was untenable.

So I left. Man, did it hurt to leave that fellowship on the table, but I worked as hard as I could for a year and a half, and it was apparent that things just weren't going to resolve themselves. 

I worked for a while at a museum in the same city, but when I got pregnant I had to give up the long commute. I began teaching as an adjunct at two different community colleges, and since my son conveniently came at the end of the spring semester I was able to go back to work without a hiccup in my employment. For years I burned at the PhD I had left behind, while my husband encouraged me to keep thinking of it. History? Art History? Archaeology? Literature? Language? How could I best study my passion of medieval history? I thought it was something I would think about when my son and any other kids were in middle school, not anything close to the present day.
Then Trump got elected. Family members, friends, and neighbors revealed their racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, anti-equality ugly sides. My husband and I started talking about emigrating. We're white, but not Christian, and we're terrified of what this country has become - not who's in power, but the millions who have demonstrated their true beliefs.
"I still have friends in Ireland," I said.
"You could finally get your doctorate in Ireland," my husband said.
"Are you okay with me leaving the country for graduate school?" I asked, astonished.
"Our son's safety is the most important thing."
And thus began my fourth graduate school cycle. 

Due to my once-bitten-twice-shy fear of landing in the wrong PhD program, I applied to one-year MA programs in history at UCCork (my alma mater) and UCDublin (where some other friends also live - also, duh, Dublin). I only did so after contacting potential advisors through email and getting a positive response. My plan was to get a second MA and then, if the fit was right, continuing into the PhD. I applied to Trinity College as well, but didn't hear from anyone so didn't bother applying.
I was astonished to find that my MA advisor at UConn remembered me fondly, as well as two professors at UCC. Awkward as Hel for this American student, both UCC and UCD required ME to upload the LoRs...so I got to read them. I actually cried. My professors were entirely supportive, and specific about my strengths. My former advisor called me one of the top two or three students she'd ever had in her thirty year career! I sent in my applications to UCC and UCD...

...and then got an entirely apologetic, thoroughly interested email from the professor at Trinity who is THE scholar for my sub-sub-subfield (Viking Ireland ethnicity and identity). He had missed my email but found it on a fluke and was completely supportive of my application. However, he suggested I go straight for the PhD rather than waste time on a second Masters. I sent him my thesis proposal, he critiqued it deftly and cleaned up my language, and hoped I would join him as a student! So I sent in my Trinity application, including an application for a hefty fellowship.

And then I got an acceptance email to UCC. And five minutes later, an acceptance email to UCD. With a 5000-euro scholarship. This is the first time in four application cycles I actually have a choice!

Now I'm waiting on hearing from Trinity...and in the meantime, I've applied for a PhD at UCD, thinking what the Hel is the worst that can happen (yes, you can apply to multiple programs at once). The only potential fly in the ointment is that I've done more research and the only way my son can join me on my visa is if I'm in a PhD program and/or can prove that I'm well supported financially outside of the country. My husband is staying at home to support us, so theoretically that achieves the exemption, but if I get into a PhD right away that will cut the Gordian knot of immigration. 

So I'm still waiting it out...but thoroughly thankful that this has already turned out to be a better cycle than the three before.

My plan is that I'd move to LA to be closer to family; and once there, I'd apply to the Peace Corps! This would be great for bolstering relevant experience for my intended diplomacy/international relations graduate plans, but it would be a pretty big jump for me and feels surreal to think about.

My plan is that I'd move to LA to be closer to family; and once there, I'd apply to the Peace Corps! This would be great for bolstering relevant experience for my intended diplomacy/international relations graduate plans, but it would be a pretty big jump for me and feels surreal to think about.