Umenohana
-
Posts
76 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by Umenohana
-
-
The fact that they allowed extensions for the 2020 cohort despite being pretty adamant about it earlier (and likely facing restrictions with gov budgeting) should definitely make you optimistic that even if things aren't so great for the 2021 cohort by winter/spring, you'll still be able to to defer further.
-
1 hour ago, Person1234 said:
So it seems alternatives are starting to get bumped up?
Oh? Have you heard from someone you know or in another group? Any idea if it was for Flagship or general Boren?
-
2 hours ago, Tomsand said:
Is anyone else's portal appearing empty? Where it used to state that I was an alternate is now blank. Tried it on three different browsers.
I haven't checked the portal since submitting the application, but yeah, mine is empty as well. I think that's normal though. My previous year's application on there is also empty.
-
1 hour ago, machinecloud said:
See this is what I don't understand about the award with COVID. If people accept by May 2nd but then decline knowing their country is a no-go (there will likely be many...) I'm wondering whether the funding frees up.
From what I understand, this is how it works. Person A and person B accept by May 2nd. In July, they're told that their country is a no-go for the fall. Person A decides to hold out and wait to see is maybe they can go in winter/spring/or even summer. So they are just deferred, but still considered to be a recipient, so nothing changes. Person B decides it's not worth it due to conflicting plans or something, and declines their award at that time. This means that an alternate of a similar profile will get promoted. (Whether they take into account approved vs non-approved for the fall countries when deciding which alternates to promote is another question! Maybe they'd like to be able to send more people abroad, as opposed to making sure to promote people for similar countries).
Now, from the wording of the email we got as alternates, it seems that if person B decides to keep the award for the time being, but then declines any time after September, that funding is just gone and no alternates will be promoted. Which seems like a bit of an arbitrary deadline. Especially considering that the 2020 cohort has been deferring forever and something similar might happen this time around as well. But what can you do..
-
50 minutes ago, Furby said:
When can alternates most likely expect to hear back?
Hard to tell. There may be a wave of notifications after the May 2 deadline. Possibly one more in around July, when they announce which countries are a no-go. But otherwise, it could be at about any time.
-
On 4/15/2021 at 8:52 PM, Umenohana said:
It's hard to tell, but I'm pretty sure it would be for the entire Boren program. They don't really have spots per country and some countries may have only one or two finalists without any alternates or even applicants behind in the line. They might take the country or part of the world into consideration, but I'd think in general, it would not matter too much. Just my opinion based on the data I've seen.
So apparently I was not quite right on this. My campus Boren advisor says that when Boren promotes alternates, they generally try to choose someone who is a close match based on the application package. This goes for amount of funds requested and country/language (or at least the region). He didn't say it, but my guess is that academic background and career aspirations could also play into this.
This was also hinted at by the Boren Asia advisor's email I recently got. So looks like alternates are not really taken from a general pool and your country choice matters more than I thought.
-
56 minutes ago, hannahfischer said:
Participation in CLS Virtual Institutes in Summer or Fall 2020 does not count towards the limit of two participations!!
*** this is true but does NOT apply to 2021 Virtual Institutes. If you participate in 2021, it does count against the limit.
-
1 hour ago, Furby said:
Me too! It's really frustrating being given a cookie and then someone saying jk maybe I'll give it to you this next time. MAN I JUST WANNA KNOW ? I've been waiting for a year to leave and I still haven't been able to and fall semester is the last chance we have to go under a 2020 scholarship. And if I don't get bumped up It's as if I was never awarded one in the first place given travel in the fall isn't possible for my 2020 award
I totally get your feeling! It's awful that there's now this whole other level of uncertainty added to our already mess of a situation.
-
1 hour ago, machinecloud said:
Oh man! So sorry! That must be frustrating. Did you apply to a Flagship?
You really never know with these things.
Nope, just the regular Fellowship program to Japan
-
-
2 hours ago, AONomad said:
We know that we had 4 people last year because our school director told us that's how many they have right now-- and the 2 out of 6 is just from our group chat, so nothing that intense lol
I don't know the Stanford person myself, just heard from the grapevine from my professor, so I don't have that many details. Just know she thought that person was a strong candidate and was surprised they did not get the fellowship
I think another thing to consider is that Boren very likely has different standards for students of different levels. For example, I was accepted at first try for the Scholarship a few years ago, even though when I look back, I see that my essays were not that great at all. But I went to some school that nobody knows and doesn't have a Boren advisor or any other previous finalists, so maybe that bumped me up in some way. Last year, I was accepted as a Fellowship finalist, and although I updated my application a bit for this cycle, maybe they expected a lot more experience/achievements from a 2nd year MA student, so I only got an alternate.
But your point about this year being more competitive is interesting, it will be good to see some data when it comes out.
-
1 hour ago, machinecloud said:
Thanks for the positive vibes. I will not plan my life around this but my bags are ready to go just in case.
I imagined there being alternates per country but the way you put it makes way more sense. I bet it's more on a case-by-case basis. Fit is important. Will absolutely update when they respond. I also reached out to the university representative.
Are you also an alternate?
That's good, sometimes a campus representative might also be able to shed some light on these things, if they've been in the position for a while. Yep, I am an alternate right now as well.
-
3 minutes ago, machinecloud said:
Thanks so much for this. It seems like some countries have so few people every year which concerned me. I applied to a country where they send very few fellows.
What do you mean by "applicants behind in the line?"
I emailed Boren about this to see what's up so I'll update when they respond.
I think they would look at the strength of your application rather than the country itself, so don't worry!
I meant that I don't think they have a "line" of finalists-alternates per each country. So it wouldn't be like if one person declines for Cambodia, the next best alternate for Cambodia would get it. But again, that's just my opinion, I don't really know how their system works. But let us know if you hear back!
-
27 minutes ago, machinecloud said:
Alternate to the Fellowship program. Does anybody know if we are alternates to the entire Boren program, to the country we applied to, and/or some combination of both on a case by case basis?
Congrats to everyone who was accepted and best of luck to alternates and everyone applying next year. Cheers!
It's hard to tell, but I'm pretty sure it would be for the entire Boren program. They don't really have spots per country and some countries may have only one or two finalists without any alternates or even applicants behind in the line. They might take the country or part of the world into consideration, but I'd think in general, it would not matter too much. Just my opinion based on the data I've seen.
-
1 hour ago, Msf1997 said:
Kinda a dumb question, but do you always receive the amount of money requested? Or do they send a follow-up email confirming funds (which may be less)?
Not a dumb question at all! I think you'd usually receive how much you asked for, unless it was very clear that you overestimated. Or if your program changed and the new one is cheaper, you'd have to ask them to adjust accordingly. Your amount can also be adjusted when you already start the program, if you find out you need to use less. It's always easy to go lower, they'll happily take back the money. It's more tricky to request a higher amount and approval is not guaranteed.
I don't quite remember if there would be a separate email, but if your country has not been approved yet, you might not find out for a while. For example, the 2020 cohort never got to know the amounts we'd receive because we just kept getting deferred.
-
3 minutes ago, seagull_stan said:
Wait so while the deadline to accept is May 2nd, awardees can just not accept the scholarship yet and still have it??
I assumed if they don't accept by May 2nd, that would mean they decline the award.
Oh yeah, I mean that they can accept, meaning no spots will open up, but they'd still be free to decline at a later date. If they don't sign the agreement yet and don't get any funds, they can just decline later. And I doubt Boren will make them sign anything if their country is not one of the approved ones yet. That's how it was in our 2020 cohort, we are just in the "technically accepted" limbo.
-
For the alternates, I don't know much about how likely it is to get promoted, but I am afraid chances are very low for us, especially with that September cutoff. My guess is that most people won't decline by May 2nd yet, and sit on the award and see where it takes them. Since travel approvals are so uncertain, it really doesn't make sense to decline, if they can just decline at a later date without any penalty. (That's what lots of us in the 2020 cohort have been doing, not many of us actually declined, unless they were absolutely sure that it's not what they wanted anymore)
-
Alternate for the Fellowship. Not what I expected to hear, huh..
-
1 minute ago, AONomad said:
Probably not, deferrals were not allowed last year (at least in the beginning-- not sure if things ended up changing as covid got more serious)
They kind of allowed us to defer, but not really. At first it was "you must leave by March 1st 2021, no matter what." I think that's the usual Boren guidelines. Then closer to the end of fall, they allowed us to defer our departure date to either summer or fall 2021. But in either case, we'd absolutely HAVE to come back to the US by December 31, 2021. Nobody would be able to stay into 2022.
As mentioned above, they haven't actually told us if summer 2021 is an option. We're still waiting on that decision to come out. Haven't heard any updates since when we had to put in our deferral decisions in the fall.
So I think they'd be somewhat flexible, but don't expect no-strings-attached deferrals into the next academic year. You'd have to reapply.
-
39 minutes ago, bethanyc19 said:
Does anyone know if the decision email will contain the decision? or does the email direct you to a portal to view the decision? I just need to be cautious today when opening my email and make sure I'm ready?
It will contain the decision in the email itself.
-
50 minutes ago, lexiree123 said:
One of my friends got Boren last year (South Africa) but hasn't been given the green-light to leave yet. A couple weeks ago, she told me that Boren sent out emails and notified last year's recipients that they'd be updated on their country-specific program status on April 16th (Friday). I'm assuming that's when we'll hear back at the earliest since I don't think it would make much sense for them to notify the new cohort about their program statuses before the older cohort. But maybe that's not the case - fingers crossed for tomorrow!!!?
That's a very good point. But they did tell us (old cohort) it would be *by* April 16th, so there's still that possibility. Oh well, no use in guessing. Hopefully in the next few days both news should come out!
- lexiree123 and seagull_stan
-
2
-
5 hours ago, phantomramen1 said:
Hi all, CLS Bangla finalist here. I just got off the alternate list and I have no idea what to do. I did the same program that the CLS is organized through last year--in a virtual format--and I hated it. Normally I love learning new languages, going to class, and working through the struggle of finding your way in a new linguistic context, but doing this online just sounds absolutely miserable. I'm wondering whether I should decline the offer, and if I do, whether that hurts my chances of getting the CLS again. Does anyone know?
I would suggest trying to speak to others who did CLS Bangla last year (if there was a virtual institute for it) and hear about their experiences. In general, participants of virtual programs said it was absolutely worth it, but if your worries are about Bangla specifically, it may be worth it to talk to others.
But as someone above said, it will not hurt your chances at all if you decline now. If you already decided you don't want to do it this year, don't worry about having to decline.
-
50 minutes ago, dubu_soop said:
Does anyone happen to know what email address decisions will come from? I want to set up notifications for anything from them rather than checking my email every 10 minutes on Thursday and Friday.
boren@iie.org
-
1 hour ago, AONomad said:
Two points isn't a trend, but I checked and both of those days were Mondays. If they usually send out results on Mondays, we might be looking at either April 12 or April 17
April 15, 2020 was a Wednesday. According to my campus Boren Advisor, April 15 is a pretty reliable trend. I'm guessing the only reason it was the 17th in 2017 was because April 15th and 16th were weekend days, so it fell on the first weekday afterwards. So I still think it will be April 15 this year, or 16th at the latest. Could be wrong, but that's my guess.
Critical Language Scholarship 2022 Applicants
in The Bank
Posted
I don't think they ever release acceptance rates per country. You can look at the CLS website to see how many language institutes each language has had over the years. Japanese has pretty much always been one. And I can say with almost 100% certainty next year it will be Okayama University again (it is a 5 year contract as far as I know).
The number of institutes doesn't really give you a whole picture anyway though. Take a look at this. Both Japanese and Azerbaijani had just one institute, but 26 vs 6 participant spots. And I don't know for sure, but I think it's safe to speculate that there are a lot more applicants for one Japanese spot than for one Azerbaijani spot.
I haven't been able to find the more recent counterparts to this document, but at least during Covid, it seems that the exact number of participants is not determined in advance. When I was a finalist last year, around April or May our program officer told me that the number wouldn't be determined until pretty close to the program start date. I'm guessing because people might pull out or be promoted at the last minute and they can be much more flexible with this in the online format.