gabiwankenobi

I can honestly say I tried, I even had a student who won it and that is currently doing an MA in Eurasian studies and she said it was actually good. I think it's better not to expect anything regardless, but yes, I've been told that I've been total fighter for Russian language in my island and if it doesn't work out with Boren, I'm pretty sure I'll continue fighting for Russian Language. Another part of my essay was about the lack of regard in U.S Military Political analysis regarding the cultural sphere of Russians and ethnic Russians. I was blessed with two great Russian (particularly ethnic Russians from the poorest regions of the EU) professors here, one is currently giving the class we both fought for free of cost because my home public institution cannot afford to pay her due to budget cuts. My best friend whom I met while in St. Petersburg is also Russian but was raised in the poor parts of East Germany but finds himself staying there because he has a job although he hates it due to Russia's economic crisis so you can imagine the passion and enthusiasm I have for this topic. Sounds slightly crazy, right? also, I'm very happy to meet someone who has also interned and researched this topic! What did you apply for and how did you get interested in this region? We might not get the scholarship/fellowship, but this board can certainly serve for some networking. @UnawareInGeneral I actually don't think they've awarded a Boren for Russian somewhere other than Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan or Russia according to the statistics. I kept that in mind during my essay, I guess that's also why I was surprised to hear the Baltics were getting a lot of love in the fellowship. I suppose they could just be used to lead to the shady conclusion of Moscow's supposed expansion game in the first essay. Anyways what did you apply for? What are your interests? I'm super curious.

I might think this because I come from a place that doesn't have degrees in Eurasian affairs or Europe and I'm in my BA. Thanks for the heads up though, may the force be with us all.Hpefully it's not that common in the Scholarship arena since they're graded differently. I'm not surprised in the fellowship arena, but in the scholarship it would surprise me because most Boren Scholarship applicants statistically apply for Kazakhstan or Russia. I'm actually slightly proud that an application from a small town girl in Sociology is similar to graduate students from Defense programs C: welp, I tried my best, like I said, may the force be with us all. I genuinely don't think I'll get it considering that I've never had classes on national security because it's not available, just research and individual study. I'm sure there will be far more impressive applicants.

Hey, everyone, I've been low key creeping on this thread since I submitted my application, and I figured maybe I can help paint a clearer picture of the applicant pool. I am a Sociology student with a strong background in History from the not incorporated territory of Puerto Rico and I am the only applicant from this region for the Boren Scholarship so you can imagine how hard this was for me considering that my Recommenders could not even submit their letters of recommendation because Puerto Rico was not listed as a state at first, or even listed at all. We have one campus rep and he was in Paraguay during the five months I worked on my application, and I am the first applicant he's submitted. I applied to study Russian Language in Latvia. I am currently an upper intermediate speaker and there is no level of Russian language beyond A2 (Upper Introductory) offered in Puerto Rico, much less bilateral agreements with Russian-speaking institutions. As a result, I coordinated a study abroad for semester in St. Petersburg State University, to prepare for this, my great professor got me a Russian student to practice with and I attended a total of 3 hours of Russian per day plus began to coordinate activities on campus to promote Russian. After I came back from St. Petersburg, I was able to make some calls (also low key fight with the administration with my cohorts) as an Honor student on campus in order to allow Intermediate Russian to be given for the first time in my home institution during this semester. I applied to the Boren Scholarship because there is just no chance to reach an advanced level of Russian in Puerto Rico, I coordinate activities, tutor lower level students, and work with a nonprofit Russian Cultural Center here, so I'm super nervous especially since my essay dealt with Russian Hybrid Warfare in the baltic states and how it affected U.S. interests ,therefore I had to include at least two paragraphs of context seeing as it is a very specific and uncommon theme. Hopefully y'all have a better idea of how diverse the applicant pool can be, good luck everyone! Keep in mind that everyone has a specific topic and not every essay can be treated the same, for example, it's certainly not the same thing to explain how hunger creates instability in a region and to explain how for example electronic warfare creates instability in a region.