kyle-from-grad-school

I applied for Ukraine this year (Ukraine is the perfect program for me but is also on the non-anticipated travel-warning list like Russia). When I talked to Boren before applying they said that if you apply to one of those countries, your application will be judged normally as if you were allowed to go there. And then if you were selected to receive an award, if they cannot send you to that country they will send you to your alternate. What program are you wanting to do in Russia? I studied in Moscow last year and its an amazing city. The qualify of life is great and Moscow has, by far, the best public transportation I've ever witnessed. I was taking classes closer to the outskirts of city (MGIMO) and was working nearly full-time in the city centre and still had plenty of time for a social life as well. I hope you get to go to Moscow; you'll absolutely love it. My alternative to Ukraine was also Kazakhstan. Which program there are you doing?

I'm super nervous. I'm worried I drastically overestimated my budget and funding request too.

We have to wait until April/May to hear back from this program? It seems with funding starting at the beginning of June, there should be an earlier notification. For those who weren't aware, the application system went down earlier today so they're giving until 9am to submit. I'm polishing my essays now and will submit in the next few hours. Good luck to everyone!

I'm also applying for a Boren Fellowship to spend a year in Ukraine (or Kyrgyzstan given Ukraine becomes off-limits this year) to study advanced Russian and international relations. I'm starting with a domestic Summer Language Workshop in intermediate-advanced Russian. I'm interested in knowing the background of others applying to get an idea about who we're up against. I'm a graduate student of International Relations & Comparative Politics. I'm graduating (magna cum laude) this year with two Bachelor of Arts in Political Science (International Relations) and International Security & Diplomacy. Throughout I've focused on US national security and foreign policy in Russia and post-Soviet states. I'm an alum of the State Department's Gilman Scholar program where I studied at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and interned at the Russian International Affairs Council--both of which are directly affiliated with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.