arborio43

So excited, accepted for a Boren Fellowship, beyond belief right now. "Please note that a determination regarding whether or not Boren Fellows will be allowed to study in Syria has not yet been made. Given the uncertain situation, you may wish to consider an alternative country. Please contact our staff at the number below to discuss your options. Because you are proposing to study in a country under a U.S. State Department Travel Warning, your award is contingent upon the following: · You must sign the Travel Warning Waiver and comply with all of its terms, including the understanding that should the security situation dictate, IIE or the National Security Education Program may require that you leave the country of study. · You must obtain any required travel or research visas, as well as any required clearances. · You must register with the U.S. Embassy and comply with any specific regulations and requirements regarding your studies abroad. · For certain countries, including, but not limited to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, Pakistan, Syria, and Yemen, further restrictions may apply, including possible outright prohibition on using the Boren Fellowship in a particular country. In such cases, IIE will work with the Fellow to find an alternate program."

I vote someone calls the office again and sees what they say....

Interesting...I didn't receive any survey form from Boren around March 8th, but I did receive a budget update email. It's likely that those who received the survey were part of a random sample from the applicant pool.

An update from the Boren Awards Facebook Page..... Boren Awards for International Study Hello Charlene! The award notifications have not been made yet. We are working to get them out as quickly as possible and email notification should be sent out later this week. Now it looks possible we won't find out until Wednesday or later?

If anyone hears something via email, snail mail (or phone?), please post and let us know ASAP! Haven't heard anything on my end as of now....

When did Boren staff say "Syria wasn't off the table?" After April 4th but before the travel warning on the 25th? I think Boren wants the best applicants so given that we didn't know what would come to pass at time of application, I don't think they could not give us an award IF (big if...) ours were the most qualified....

From my emails with Mr. Saffle and from talking to prior Award/Fellowship recipients, my understanding of deferral is that it is much easier to do within the same academic year you applied for (aka I applied for the summer but may want to travel in the fall, or January instead) versus postponing it to the next academic year/funding cycle (ie lumped in with next year's applicants). For the February 2011 deadline, that is for any travel that starts prior to March 2012. So I am hoping to still go to Syria but just push it back until January 2012. When I asked about this circumstance, Saffle responded that "we might be allowed to postpone our planned program, or Boren will help us choose another country/program."

Interesting, thanks!

Different question. If we go with the notion that the March checkin/clarification emails were a sign that we made it through the regional rounds of competition and were going on to the national round, a) does anyone have any insight into how each proposal is evaluated at the two levels? (Same criteria or different?) Any idea how many additional proposals will be cut in the national round? I suspect none of us have any idea but thought I'd put that out there!

Hi Riverguide, I applied for a Boren Fellowship to Syria and am curious to hear more about what they said regarding potential study in Damascus given all that's going on there at the moment. If we had planned to study at University of Damascus, for example, it seems unlikely that that program would be shut down despite the unrest. I need to look further into what my home institution's policies are regarding student study abroad, but under what criteria does Boren operate for determining whether or not they will send students to a given country--State Department travel warnings, or what? I had applied to go this June so my thought was either to try and push it back to Spring 2012 or choose another country, although I am hoping Jordan and Morocco are not the only options..perhaps Israel for Arabic? Cheers.

Hey All -- Though accepted elsewhere, I was waitlisted for my top choice, Fletcher, and am meeting with the Admissions Committee this coming week in an attempt to upgrade my status to a full admit, either for Fall 2010 or Spring 2011. Beyond addressing what I perceive as any gaps in my profile that weren't addressed in my initial application, does anyone have any advice to share on what to say to the Admissions staff? For current or accepted Fletcher students, what about your/your application do you think caught their eye? My stats are all well within range or above range, but I am on the younger side (will have a little over one year relevant full-time work experience, plus several State Department/congressional internships and 8 months abroad in my region of focus). Any thoughts are welcome, thanks very much.