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Update... got the recommendation email this afternoon, which says final decisions will be out by early January!

I received the survey yesterday and freaked out! Too funny. Have a great week!

Spelmanite, Thanks for the reply! The words "by mid-December" are driving me crazy right now because they are so non-specific. Hopefully any day now?! I think I am a pretty unusual applicant because I am in the middle of an M.A. TESOL degree, and my grad school would grant me a year deferral to leave and complete the ETA prior to my graduation. It's frustrating to have no idea whether come February I will be starting my last semester of grad school or packing for Brazil, and I would much prefer the latter. I know one other person who applied for a Brazil ETA, but she applied for the normal 2012 cycle because, like you mentioned, she will be in the middle of school at that point. GOOD LUCK and please please post if/when you hear anything!!!

Decaf, I also applied for the Special Opportunity ETA in Brazil. My advisor thinks I will hear right before the Christmas holidays... She indicated that IIE likes to put out decisions right before they go on break. But if anyone has more detailed info/past experience, I would love to hear it! I'm also curious about stats for the Special Opportunity grants--are the odds of getting one generally any better? Ok, last question: Brazil says that 2 years of any Romance language can be adequate, + basic knowledge of Portuguese. I speak Spanish (studied high school & college and lived in South America for a year) and took a once-a-week Portuguese class this semester... are there usually a lot of Brazil applicants with similar situations given that Portuguese isn't all that commonly taught in the US, or am I at a big disadvantage? Good luck everyone!!!