elementwil

*changes proposed program to Pakistan*

I hope you people interested in national security are watching the news right now...

Ditto! Crossing my fingers for us all.

Some good news Egypt applicants! I got this email from AUC today. Hopefully this means our schools won't cancel the program! "We are pleased to tell you that today the U.S. State Department reduced its guidelines for travel to Egypt from a warning to an alert, which is a significant difference.1 In its announcement, the State Department specifically acknowledged the “continuing improvements since the January 25 Revolution.” It stated further that “given that Egyptian security services have not yet fully redeployed, the Department alerts U.S. citizens planning to travel to Egypt to the possibility of sporadic unrest.” The U.S. Embassy in Cairo has resumed normal operations. The announcement can be read in its entirety on the U.S. State Department’s website. The link ishttp://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_5443.html. Now that the travel warning has been lifted, many of our partner schools can resume study abroad programs at The American University in Cairo. AUC continues to accept applications for the summer session and the fall semester. We look forward to welcoming students to AUC and Egypt for a front row seat to history in the making. Please let me know if you have any questions. Sincerely, Wesley Clark Director of North American Admissions and Financial Aid"

I inquired about how current political situations affect decisions back when Egypt was at the peak of it's political unrest a couple of months ago and got an email back saying: "The selection committees will not take the current situation in Egypt into account when making recommendations. If you are recommended for an award, and Egypt is not a viable possibility for study, we’ll work with you to find another program." They've confirmed multiple times throughout my discussions with them that they base the decisions on how meritorious the applicant and their packet is.

The general consensus is that the email asking for updates was an indication that your application moved on from the regional selection process to the national nominated committee. If you go back a few pages you'll see a little debate that ensued. That being said, nothing is for certain as of this point. When the awards are announces hopefully we can put this to rest!

Probably just scholarships, as that's what the question asked for. I'm sure the fellowship percentiles are very similar though.

Very interesting article (and I completely agree that the political situation arising makes me want to go MORE)...now how to convince my school to not cancel the AUC program...

With a name like that it's got to be good...

Welcome! I'm a scholarship applicant for AUC. Unfortunately, word on the "study abroad street" is that AUC will 95% be cancelled for American students for the fall due to the lack of police and non-essential US embassy staff (this may vary from school to school). I actually just received an email from her saying the resident director at UJ is holding a spot for me so I have 1 day to get all of my application materials in...so today will be a mad dash. I'm kind of disappointed, I was really looking forward to Egypt. Hopefully (if I receive the Scholarship), I can spend the fall in Jordan and the spring in Egypt. If there are any other AUC applicants right now, I would highly advise you meet with your study abroad advisor ASAP to work out a backup plan to Morocco or Jordan.

I don't get how you runners do it. Put me on a field and have me chase a football or soccer ball and I can run for days. Stick me on a track and tell me "Go" and I get bored in the first 50 feet...

Putting down that you want to be a FSO is not going to make or break your application. They probably just use it as confirmation that you're committed to serving the U.S. federal government and have done research on a position. Unless they are under the directorate of someone from the State or Defense Department to award them to people who write down specific jobs that are in high demand, I wouldn't worry about it too much. And they actually do give the awards out to military personnel...they just have to decommission during their study abroad program. P.S. - The Boren facebook page posted something about a college getting 30+ nationally competitive awards, including one Boren scholar. I wonder if our advisors know?!

I took the same approach. When you get into federal agencies, you almost never get where you "want" to work. Federal agencies, for the most part, like employees who can perform a wide variety of tasks and have a diverse amount of knowledge and skills. Steph, the Gilman and Boren are two mutually exclusive programs! Don't let one outcome affect your thoughts on the other...the judging criteria is completely different. Hang in there!

Special Agent, FBI.

We're almost there guys! About another week and a half...I just checked my Scholarship application on the Boren website and I couldn't access it anymore! Guess that means they're printed out and in front of the National Nominating Committee... P.S. - Happy Easter everyone!

Congrats man! That's awesome! Can I be your running-mate when you run for POTUS?

No - from what I understand ALI is the African Languages Initiative...it's a supplementary program held in the U.S. before their study abroad program, only for applicants who wish to learn Bambara, Swahili, Yoruba, or Zulu. However, I am not sure if they are mutually exclusive or not.

Obviously you're in the running! Crossing my fingers for you!

Yes, my advisor has served on both committees. My school has also placed top 3 in amount of Boren Awards for like the past 5 years, so she definitely knows something about the process. Her, like IIE, never gives a real straight-forward answer - but I did pick up on numerous language shifts regarding the difference between the two. I'm sure not ALL of the regionals is about your program essays and not ALL of the national level is about diversity, but I did pick those up as being the main focus of each. Hell, for all I know our pictures could be on a wall and they're throwing darts.

Once again, I'd like to reiterate to everyone that these are merely my thoughts - they are far from facts. Although I do agree that there are different angles to the follow-up email, they may not be applicable. The email (at least for Scholarship apps) simply asks for changes to your budget. Sure, it could possible that they were sent to only applicants in a certain region, but it doesn't make sense. Why wouldn't they ask everyone if there are changes? Compiled with that "common sense" and through talks with my advisor, it is my understanding that only applicants who make it to the national nominating committee get the email. I did some research into it and found this from the University of Illinois website: "The Institute of International Education processes your application and distributes it to regional screening panels for review. The geographic area panels will be evaluating applications and recommending candidates to be reviewed by the national nominating panel. If your application is forwarded to the national committee, you will be contacted by IIE in late March/early April and asked to provide updated financial information for the final, national review panel. Please let us know if you are contacted--this is good news! Last year, our finalists were contacted on March 23. If you are selected to be forwarded to the national panel, from there you may be designated an award winner or an alternate, or you may not receive an award. All students will be notified of their status in late April or early May." Take it for what you will, but I'd say it's a reasonable conclusion.

Then it sounds like you're good to go Steph! Best of luck.

Not having a Boren representative in itself is not a detriment - you just don't get the value of having someone to edit your essays to the liking of the IIE. I'm not sure if you had interviews, but that means your application would not have character/maturity judgement that they can use for evaluation, so hopefully you discussed it/provided examples in your essays. The bright side is that since you don't have a Boren rep you probably come from a smaller school - and Boren likes diversity in their awards, so they may be more apt to award you one.

To be straight forward, it MOST LIKELY means your application did not make it through regionals (unfortunately). The Boren response on FB validates the claim - and they say "sometimes" to not offend anyone/dash anyone's hopes. National scholarship competitions are generally pretty secretive in their selection process, so they keep things vague and will never tell you you're not in the running until you receive a rejection letter. I'm hoping I'm wrong, but it would not make sense to NOT ask for additional financial information from a finalist.

Email sent!

From what I understand, the regional selection process determines which applications are meritorious based on the essays/proposed programs, and the national nominating committees select recipients that reflect maximum diversity (ethnicities, programs, countries, universities, etc.). This is mostly speculation, but the language shifts from my advisor when I asked her about the difference (who has served on both) indicate something of the sort.