kbui

Sorry about that Anna. If you're not a senior, you can always apply for another scholarship. A second application will be much stronger because now you know a whole community of people who's willing to help you, and when you get it it'll be even more satisfying. Thank you for your positive wishes.

I'm kind of glad that the Gilman doesn't have this semi-final/final stage in our applications, so we just have one moment of anxiety rather than multiple ones.

So from these replies, it seems that only China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Jordan have received the letters. There hasn't been any replies on South America, Africa (though this may be due to the ALI), Europe and Eurasia.

Haha, everything is in your favor today! Congratulations and happy birthday!

Maybe they haven't sent information to applicants of the Middle East yet, or that they haven't sent it to students in certain regions in the U.S. yet. I would wait a little longer, then email them if I haven't received anything sometimes next week (since I'm sure they'll be very busy today).

I just got that sought for financial update request. March 23, 2012, 10:16AM CST, applying for Taiwan, Mandarin Chinese, living in Minnesota. I'm so excited! I wonder how many people get recommended to receive the ~150 scholarships. Here's what the request looks like: Thank you for submitting your National Security Education Program David L. Boren Scholarship application. Currently, your application is being considered, and final award decisions will be announced in early May, 2012. If your study abroad program has an earlier deposit deadline, you may want to let them know that you are awaiting a decision from the Boren Scholarship. If you are awarded a Boren Scholarship, you will be required to attend the Orientation and Convocation Ceremony in Washington, DC on June 6th and 7th. We would also like you to be aware that, if you are awarded, certain materials will need to be submitted before your first award disbursement would be issued. Should you win the award, you would need to purchase your roundtrip airline tickets before receiving your first disbursement. Please plan accordingly. For study of French or Spanish, awards will be contingent upon testing at the appropriate language level. If you are an applicant for one of these languages and are conditionally offered the award, you will need to take a test through a service called LTI as early as possible after receiving the award packet. The level at which you test on the LTI exam will determine whether or not you remain eligible for the Boren Scholarships. As your application is being considered, we request that you provide IIE with additional information about your study abroad program costs and financial aid status. The Boren Scholarship online system (https://nsep.iieweb....p/nseplogin.asp) allows you to submit the requested information electronically. Applicants should use their original user name and password to log onto the system. Please be sure to hit the “UPDATE” button in order to save the requested information online. ** PLEASE PROVIDE IIE WITH THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION USING THE ONLINE SYSTEM BY MONDAY, APRIL 2ND! ** A. Cost of attendance at home institution – Please state your total cost to attend your current U.S. institution for one academic year. Include tuition, room and board, books, etc. as appropriate. Do not subtract financial aid or scholarships/grants. B. Updated Financial Aid Information – If you receive financial aid, identify the total amount of financial aid that you receive for an academic year. Include scholarships, grants, AND loans. C. Study Abroad Dates and Cost –The table lists your study abroad dates and costs as stated in your application. You must contact your study abroad program to determine if anything has changed. If so, enter the new dates or amounts in the space provided. The program costs MUST be broken down into the following categories: · Cost of tuition and fees – if your home institution requires you to pay its tuition rather than the study abroad program costs, please include your home institution tuition costs in this field · Cost of room and board – this is housing and food · Cost of round-trip international airfare – please remember that you must travel on a U.S. Airline as far as possible · Cost of books, insurance and local transportation Please be as accurate as possible in estimating these costs, keeping in mind that Boren does not select recipients based on their budgets. If there is no change to the information listed, you will need to reenter the same dates/figures on the second column. D. Study Abroad Financial Aid - If you receive financial aid, identify the amount of financial aid that can be applied to your proposed study abroad. Do not include loans. Do not hesitate to call our office at 1-800-618-6737 or email boren@iie.org if you have any questions. We look forward to receiving your updated information by Monday, April 2nd. Sincerely, Susan Sharp Assistant Director, Boren Scholarships and Fellowships Institute of International Education 1400 K St., NW Suite 650 Washington, DC 20005

I hope we get the scholarship budget requests soon. I just want to get this wait over with and then relax.

I think we can safely assume that when somebody adds "no offense" to a sentence, we can be pretty sure it's going to offend someone, lol. Try an alternative like, "Can someone please..." It's a more appropriate--and respectful--way to request something.

In my personal statement for the Fulbright ETA application I wrote about my experience teaching in rural Thailand, and my language skills in Vietnamese. I also wrote about my high interest in learning Vietnamese music and the ancient Chinese based writing system. I feel like a more American dominant panel would want to see results, which, hopefully, my years of volunteer teaching/tutoring will come into play. If it's more Vietnamese, then they might want to see more of a cultural aspect, which my interest in the arts and language will benefit me. Whatever it is they're looking for, I just hope that luck will sway towards me so that I can come back to the place I was born and create an impact as a Vietnamese American!

March 18th? So does that mean we should be clicking refresh even more rigorously now?!

From the DEAN? Lol, that's a great honor! Congratulations! What school are you from?

I am waiting anxiously for the financial update emails to arrive. I'm sure people on here are incredibly dedicated and intelligent individuals, so I hope that we all get good news soon. And @fadedsinrise, don't lose hope yet; I'm sure you'll be just as surprised as the rest of us when those e-mails get sent out.

I never knew about this ranking system. With my Vietnamese background, I assume that the Fulbright committee in Vietnam will take these rankings very seriously (since they LOVE putting numbers on students to see how good they are). Hopefully the U.S. was kind when ranking my application. My advisers said that they ranked me "extremely high," so we'll see how far that gets me. I hope the best for others too, has other people heard from their advisers on how they were ranked with the on-campus committee? *fingers crossed for early notification of acceptance*

Thank you so much! This will make my wait much easier, since I can stop getting heart attacks refreshing my inbox every 2 minutes--until April, of course. Haha.

I think you can reapply, but you must have some other plans to do during your year. If you're just taking the year to lay around and watch TV, it's probably not the best idea to wait on the offer. However, if it's a year where you are getting involved in a potential future field to gain insight into if you really want it or not, then by all means, go for it. It's better to figure it out now rather than 4-6 years down the road once you've finished your Ph.D. I've met countless professionals who went to graduate school and medical school who wished they had taken some time off after undergrad. I hope this helps

I'm sorry to hear that... What country and grant did you apply for?

I don't even know WHAT to expect. Vietnam's response has been as early as March 31st, until April 31st. Why won't they tell us as soon as they know?! #FulbrightProblems

Not yet, but I checked on the Illinois Fellowship website and they said their students received emails around March 23rd last year. I'm just relaxed now, since I know it's totally out of my hands.

I can't tread these forums anymore. I feel so nervous every time I log on... but it's so addicting to hear other people's great successes in hopes of achieving my own... :\

Boren is so nice when I talked to them on the phone. The lady on the other line made it seem like no big deal that I'm applying. Maybe that's because she's already seen so many applicants that she's desensitized to the intensity of the process, haha. Hopefully, like StephanieM suggests, my STEM major background and longer period of study will be in favor for the Boren judges. China is the most competitive country, but I don't know if Taiwan is grouped in it or not... since that's a whole international relations question.

This Fulbright forum is going to give me a heart attack T_T lol

I just checked the Fulbright website, and they said that the Western Hemisphere and East/Pacific Asia (besides some select countries) scholars will not go to the orientation in D.C. I was looking forward to going there... :\ IF I received the scholarship, of course. Not to count my eggs before they hatch or anything...

Really? Thank god because I applied for 9 months. I'm actually attaching an additional summer in front of the 9 months (with funding from another program, MAYBE), so I hope they'll favor my dedication to the language.

First off, congratulations! To answer your question, the Boren's preference goes towards: Study abroad for a longer period of time. To encourage greater language and cultural immersion, preference is given to applicants proposing a full academic year, or at least two consecutive semesters, of study abroad. Applicants planning to go abroad for only one semester are encouraged to lengthen their time abroad by adding a summer before their fall semester. I would assume they won't like a shorter studying duration, but that would ultimately mean they'll save money. So I think it'll be up in the air until we get those e-mails and confirmations of our scholarships.

Well, my adviser decided to leave for an entire week. The SPECIFIC week when all the study abroad applications on campus are due. Needless to say, I'm always out of the loop on this type of information. I'm relieved and even more anxious at the same time. I've been checking my email religiously for the last couple months, and I just want to get a positive response so I can continue and plan my next year! LORD please let the e-mails come soon for all of our health's sake!