Thank you!! Also, I feel like they are probably sending it out based off of region, so I would rest easy for a while. Fingers crossed for all of you!!!
I made no changes on my first budget update request. On the second update request, I replied I still had no changes, and they replied with something along the lines of: "Thanks. We will let you know if we have any further questions." Haven't had any other contact/questions since.
I received the same budget email that everyone else got, but yesterday I received another specifically from Boren Asia. It said the following in the intro: "We are spot checking our applicant budgets and have a few questions about your Boren budget and program dates. This process does not in any way guarantee that you will be a Boren awardee. We want to be very clear that not all applicants receiving this message will be awarded." Then it asked you to verify your dates and budget once more. I am applying for China.
I completely understand this feeling. I'm in a very tight knit group of friends who are all on track to graduate in the same year. I've been trying to come to terms with the idea that if I receive the Boren (fingers crossed) I will have to graduate a year after them and be without them for my senior year. I've just been telling myself that the benefits of a year abroad would outweigh the cost of going.
I wonder if the same is true for the scholarship and fellowship. Honestly, some people may be put off of working for the government given the current administration, government shutdowns and such that we have had in the past year. That could explain the decrease in applicants.
And yes, let the waiting begin!
Edit: I just saw @kbui said the said the same thing.
I applied for the scholarship. I want to study a year of Mandarin in China!
Also, I was curious about the correlation between budget emails and acceptance rate for last year? I know there used to be a correlation between acceptance and budget update emails. However, I know that was not true for 2016-2017. What was the case for 2017-2018?