[Boren 2011-2012]

I emailed yesterday and they said we will be finding out by both email and mail the last week of April or the first week of May.

Great idea! I applied to study Swahili in Tanzania and do a research project in public health/HIV for 10 months.

I've received 3 emails from Boren since mid-March. One was the general email asking about any changes in my plans, and two were very specific about my budget/the specific program I'm applying for. I take these as good signs that they're still considering me!

Does anyone know more about when we'll be notified?

[Boren 2011-2012]

I haven't received any emails, but this could be because I applied for the fellowship?

Hey everyone! Applied for a Boren Scholarship to study at the AUC in Egypt. Majors: Finance/Criminology & Criminal Justice/Arabic L&L. Did you guys receive the "Updated Information Request" email back in late March? I've been told by my advisor that this indicates I/we have made it through the regional selection process and are going to be evaluated by the national nominating committee.

[Boren 2011-2012]

Cool, no problem! Sounds interesting. I'm in aerospace engineering.

Thanks for setting this up! I applied for Boren to study Swahili in Tanzania and Kenya. I'm an Environmental Engineer by background. Anyone else?

[Fulbright 2011-2012]

Hey everyone, whenever you email the spreadsheet email your information, be sure to include all of the relevant stuff--like what address it was sent to (current or permanent), the notification date, the postmark date, the notification method, etc. Also, if you want any other information on the spreadsheet (e.g., email address), please be sure to make a note of this, otherwise it will not be listed.

Thanks! Congratulations to all those who have found out already, and good luck to those who haven't!

[Fulbright 2011-2012]

Is there a way we can make it to where all of the changes have to be approved by the admin(s)?

Or would that be too much trouble? I would be willing to offer up some time to look over changes and make sure they aren't bogus.

[Boren 2011-2012]

This board is for people who applied to the Boren Scholarship/Fellowship for 2011-2012. We can share our results, notification dates, etcetera (much like is being done on the Fulbright 2011-2012 forum).

If we get enough people, we can make a spreadsheet that has information about the results. This should prove helpful for those who come after us.

[Fulbright 2011-2012]

I just received yet another e-mail notifying me that IIE has not received my official transcript - the second transcript I had ordered for them. WTF is going on with the IIE mailroom?

I've been told that they already have my decision. At this point, no transcript = no notification. I'm about to go "Incredible Hulk" on someone...

Mail it yourself with some sort of delivery notification (e.g., delivery confirmation, return receipt requested). It costs more, but then you can at least be sure that it showed up and that they have it. :-]

[Fulbright 2011-2012]

That last part is very true. Most of these prestigious scholarships attract those not in the sciences/engineering. In other words, most of the applicants are not in those fields, which I find interesting and surprising. But then again, looking at my engineering class, I can see why they might or might not be able to function in the real world. Lol. Some have social skills that may not be on par with normal people ... but that is a generalization ...

I find it interesting too. Maybe us engineers are generally less adventurous, who knows... I don't know what it is like at your school, but our program has really been pushing study abroad the past couple of years... Just four or five years ago, we hardly had any engineering study abroad programs at all, and now we have a ton. So, maybe that will lead to more engineers applying for these types of things.

[Fulbright 2011-2012]

Another engineer! Have you found out about the Fulbright? Also, I see you applied for Boren! Wow. That's intense. Which countries can go to with Boren? Isn't that more geared towards political science type things? Or is that the Truman? Hmm. I get them all confused.

No, I haven't found out yet.

I hope to find out in the next one to two weeks though! Congratulations on your acceptance! It is definitely nice to see another engineer on this forum.

There was a small amount of overlap between Boren and Fulbright. Fortunately, the deadline for Boren wasn't until February, so I had plenty of extra time to craft my application.

Yeah, I get them all confused too. I think Boren is mainly for people who plan on getting a job related to national security someday. My adviser told me they haven't been getting as many math/science type people as they would like to, so I thought it would be a good backup plan in case if Fulbright falls through (here's to hoping it doesn't, though)!

[Fulbright 2011-2012]

Same thing happened to me too!

Haha! Same thing happened to me. This is brutal.

[Fulbright 2011-2012]

Any Australia people out there? Jonathan Akeley also told me that letters tend to go out in mid-April, but letters were mailed out last year on April 1. What's with the disparity?

I applied to Australia as well and Akeley told me the same thing (about two weeks ago). I was wondering about the discrepancy as well... I'm pretty sure the spreadsheet from last year might be wrong because all of the people that listed a date found out on the same date, which seems unlikely. Then, other people listed no date at all.

I've just been trying to convince myself that the notifications won't arrive till mid-April, so I can stop thinking about this so much, but it isn't working very well, haha.

[Fulbright 2011-2012]

Has anyone heard anything from Jonathan Akeley or is he avoiding all of the phone calls and emails from finalists? It's starting to get frustrating that other people seem to be able to get in touch with their program managers and we can't...

I sent him an email several weeks ago asking about Australia, and he said applications are typically sent out mid-April, but that there is no definitive time as to when they will be sent out this year. The spreadsheet from last year said the people for Australia had found out by this time, but I'm starting to wonder if that was an error in the spreadsheet...

[Fulbright 2011-2012]

o0o0o0 modeling! That's what my research is on ... hydrologic ... biogeochemical modeling ... yeah ... WAY too technical. But I had enough professors from history, German, and other non-engineers read it to make sure it wasn't too overbearing. But from speaking to my German professor, who basically told me to do Fulbright, she thinks that these "underrepresented" fields of study have better chances, or that you are in a smaller pool of candidates. If you think about it, how many engineers are actually going to WANT to learn another language and go ABROAD? Yeah, I'm weird like that. Haha. But I think the same applies to the business field as well! We must be exceptions to the rule ... or general student populace ...

I had a hard time explaining my project as well (GPS-related). Thankfully, our campus review process consisted of professors from technical and nontechnical fields who provided me with valuable feedback on how to say what I needed to say. In general, I think what you said about engineers is true. I know probably twenty engineers who applied to four or five different graduate schools each, but none of them applied for any scholarships or fellowships like the Fulbright or Boren, respectively.

[Fulbright 2011-2012]

Hi all,

I've been following this board for a while, but I hadn't posted yet (I finally caved in today). In any case, is anybody else a finalist for Australia?

Good luck to all the other candidates!