2019-2020 Boren Applicants

[sab333]

Just now, moussdutoxx said:

I received general scholarship award (no flagship program) an hour ago. It could be based on location! Keep hopes up!

Congratulations!! That's awesome

[sab333]

Just now, rachel8512 said:

What program are you for again? I’m Georgia 

Jordan...so I feel like I should have gotten a rejection email or something, but I guess not lol

[rachel8512]

Just now, sab333 said:

Jordan...so I feel like I should have gotten a rejection email or something, but I guess not lol

Wow they really hate us lol. 

[motorka]

I just got my rejection e-mail, no worries or anything but for the rest of you guys good luck, those e-mails are coming!

[sab333]

2 minutes ago, rachel8512 said:

Wow they really hate us lol. 

Honestly

 

[rachel8512]

I just got my rejection too ?

[sab333]

Me too ?

 

[QasidHabib19]

I’m an alternate for the general scholarship to Jordan. But congrats to those who got accepted! Do you mind sharing the day you accept or deny the offer so us alternates can get a good idea of our timeline?

[AllieJohn]

I got an AFLI fellowship award to Tanzania. Was told to accept or decline by May 1!

[QasidHabib19]

38 minutes ago, moussdutoxx said:

I received general scholarship award (no flagship program) an hour ago. It could be based on location! Keep hopes up!

Congrats! Where do you plan on going?

[LDOC]

~Got offered an alternate spot for AFLI Mozambique ~ Not sure what the odds are of getting selected as an alternate are but congrats to everyone that received it

[trine]

Got accepted to the IFLI! Hang in there everyone ?

[trine]

18 hours ago, boolaboo said:

JUST GOT MY IFLI ACCEPTANCE FOR SCHOLARSHIP

see you there!! 

[Shuakbar]

Hey all-

Was lurking on the forum and figured I’d share my story. I am Boren fellowship awardee for Arabic and going to Jordan. I’ll be at Qasid. Excited to return to Jordan and continue my journey in the MENA  

 I originally applied for Lebanon and did receive budget email 1 and then a few days later another email stating they did not anticipate sending applicants to Lebanon. Once boren confirmed they would not be sending applicants to leb, they asked me to send an alternate country. I then proposed an alternate program with a budget for Jordan. I then got another email on the 4th for budget clarifications for Jordan and then yesterday received my answer at 1530 EST. 

Excited to be going and certainly humbled by the experience. I echo some of the other voices on this thread, its imperative you work with an advisor who 1)knows what Boren is looking for 2)can ensure your essay is explicit and detailed as possible without elaborating on unattainable goals. If you didn’t get selected keep your head up and try to find another way to get your theater of destination. At the very least apply again next year!

 

if anyone is going to Jordan drop me a line, I lived and worked there back in 2014 so def excited about returning!

[co0311]

Is anyone going to Ukraine? 

[bullsgirl]

12 hours ago, co0311 said:

Is anyone going to Ukraine? 

I am! I was surprised because two weeks ago they had me submit a budget for my alternative country as they "didn't anticipate sending students to Ukraine."

I assume you're also going? Where at?

[co0311]

5 hours ago, bullsgirl said:

I am! I was surprised because two weeks ago they had me submit a budget for my alternative country as they "didn't anticipate sending students to Ukraine."

I assume you're also going? Where at?

Yep, I will. Sent you a PM.

[hkshopefullol]

Hi guys,

I got the Boren AFLI Tanzania for 2019-2020 and I recently found this forum! This is so exciting! To everyone who did not get it this year, you are just as great as everyone who got it and I hope it does not deter you from applying again next year. I am so glad that this forum is very encouraging and supportive of people regardless of their status as a Boren applicant. I was wondering if you guys have a Facebook or LinkedIn so we can create a group? I want to create a Facebook group for 2019-2020 winners, and one for everyone in general so future applicants can join the group for support and advice when they start the process and start freaking out as we all did leading up to decision day. I have found only two other Boren winners for this year on LinkedIn and Instagram and the Facebook group is mostly alumni from last year and years prior. It'd be great if we could all be part of a Facebook group. Anyone who is interested can reply to this or message me directly. Thanks guys!

Edited April 21, 2019 by Abéy IV

[Diana R]

On 4/21/2019 at 3:20 PM, Abéy IV said:

Hi guys,

I got the Boren AFLI Tanzania for 2019-2020 and I recently found this forum! This is so exciting! To everyone who did not get it this year, you are just as great as everyone who got it and I hope it does not deter you from applying again next year. I am so glad that this forum is very encouraging and supportive of people regardless of their status as a Boren applicant. I was wondering if you guys have a Facebook or LinkedIn so we can create a group? I want to create a Facebook group for 2019-2020 winners, and one for everyone in general so future applicants can join the group for support and advice when they start the process and start freaking out as we all did leading up to decision day. I have found only two other Boren winners for this year on LinkedIn and Instagram and the Facebook group is mostly alumni from last year and years prior. It'd be great if we could all be part of a Facebook group. Anyone who is interested can reply to this or message me directly. Thanks guys!

Hey, congrats! I also got accepted for an AFLI scholarship in Tanzania this year! Unfortunately, I think I'm gonna decline my award-- I've been going back and forth between Boren and another program I got into, which has been an extremely hard choice for me, but I think I'm leaning towards the other program. That being said, I'm still really interested in Boren and hope I can apply again when I'm in grad school (planning on calling Shereen today to ask if it's possible to reapply after declining or whether that'll just kill my chances going forward lol). I'm going to have some serious FOMO this coming year if I don't do Boren, so, if it's not a weird request (and I totally understand if it is!), would you mind adding me on facebook or instagram or something so that I can get a glimpse of your Boren experience in Tanzania and ask you questions about it at the end? I've already thought of some things I would do differently in my application the next time around, especially surrounding the spring internship, just based on a recent conversation I had with a Boren Tanzania alum-- but I would love to get more perspectives as well as live vicariously through you throughout the next year! And if anyone reading this is an AFLI Tanzania alternate: you may just get my spot! ? 

Edited April 25, 2019 by Diana R

[Borenthrowaway]

8 hours ago, Diana R said:

Hey, congrats! I also got accepted for an AFLI scholarship in Tanzania this year! Unfortunately, I think I'm gonna decline my award-- I've been going back and forth between Boren and another program I got into, which has been an extremely hard choice for me, but I think I'm leaning towards the other program. That being said, I'm still really interested in Boren and hope I can apply again when I'm in grad school (planning on calling Shereen today to ask if it's possible to reapply after declining or whether that'll just kill my chances going forward lol). I'm going to have some serious FOMO this coming year if I don't do Boren, so, if it's not a weird request (and I totally understand if it is!), would you mind adding me on facebook or instagram or something so that I can get a glimpse of your Boren experience in Tanzania and ask you questions about it at the end? I've already thought of some things I would do differently in my application the next time around, especially surrounding the spring internship, just based on a recent conversation I had with a Boren Tanzania alum-- but I would love to get more perspectives as well as live vicariously through you throughout the next year! And if anyone reading this is an AFLI Tanzania alternate: you may just get my spot! ? 

Do you mind if I ask what the other program is? What makes you want to do that over the boren?

Edited April 26, 2019 by Borenthrowaway

[Diana R]

On 4/25/2019 at 8:50 PM, Borenthrowaway said:

Do you mind if I ask what the other program is? What makes you want to do that over the boren?

It's a program through the French Embassy for an English Teaching Assistantship in France for a year! I minored in French and, since my undergrad is coming to an end, I've been feeling really worried about my language skills regressing. So spending a year living/working in France before grad school seems like a good way to build upon my existing French skills while they're at their peak and really hammer it into my head, and in my case (with Boren AFLI) I felt like that may be more strategic in the long run if I really do want a future working with US-African relations since French is also a huge language in Africa. I'd still be going through the motions of language learning and living abroad, which I think would only better prepare me for Boren again in the future, so I really hope they'll accept me again once I'm in grad school because I really do want to learn other African languages, and Swahili seems especially underrepresented. I want Boren, but I also really want to do this French program, so I'm hoping I'll be able to make both work-- but also, apparently if I declined this teaching assistantship, it would seriously hurt my chances if I were to re-apply, so that was also something to take into consideration. Definitely not easy to turn down Boren now though--still haven't brought myself around to formally declining it. I know that was a long explanation; hope it makes sense!

[Borenthrowaway]

7 hours ago, Diana R said:

It's a program through the French Embassy for an English Teaching Assistantship in France for a year! I minored in French and, since my undergrad is coming to an end, I've been feeling really worried about my language skills regressing. So spending a year living/working in France before grad school seems like a good way to build upon my existing French skills while they're at their peak and really hammer it into my head, and in my case (with Boren AFLI) I felt like that may be more strategic in the long run if I really do want a future working with US-African relations since French is also a huge language in Africa. I'd still be going through the motions of language learning and living abroad, which I think would only better prepare me for Boren again in the future, so I really hope they'll accept me again once I'm in grad school because I really do want to learn other African languages, and Swahili seems especially underrepresented. I want Boren, but I also really want to do this French program, so I'm hoping I'll be able to make both work-- but also, apparently if I declined this teaching assistantship, it would seriously hurt my chances if I were to re-apply, so that was also something to take into consideration. Definitely not easy to turn down Boren now though--still haven't brought myself around to formally declining it. I know that was a long explanation; hope it makes sense!

Oh yea, that is clearly a better opportunity. I would have made the same decision as you have. Congrats! I hope I can get a future with the boren award but so far it seems like boren awardees don’t have anything but the experience and the scholarship to back them up once you have to serve your 1 year. And that will most likely be as some entry position pushing papers and not a position that is located within the region of language study. I hope I am wrong though. 

[Diana R]

On 4/27/2019 at 7:53 PM, Borenthrowaway said:

Oh yea, that is clearly a better opportunity. I would have made the same decision as you have. Congrats! I hope I can get a future with the boren award but so far it seems like boren awardees don’t have anything but the experience and the scholarship to back them up once you have to serve your 1 year. And that will most likely be as some entry position pushing papers and not a position that is located within the region of language study. I hope I am wrong though. 

Thank you! It's nice to feel validated on a decision I'm not even 100% sure of haha. Yeah, my campus advisor mentioned most Boren awardees fulfill their federal service requirement with entry-level analyst positions. May not be the most glamorous job starting out, but it does help you get your foot in the door if you see yourself pursuing a long-term career in the federal government! Not to mention it's a good way to build your network (and you'll likely meet other Boren awardees who may have similar career interests as you). And I think I saw that you'll be studying Arabic, right? That's a language that's becoming increasingly important both in US affairs and global affairs!

[Borenthrowaway]

3 hours ago, Diana R said:

Thank you! It's nice to feel validated on a decision I'm not even 100% sure of haha. Yeah, my campus advisor mentioned most Boren awardees fulfill their federal service requirement with entry-level analyst positions. May not be the most glamorous job starting out, but it does help you get your foot in the door if you see yourself pursuing a long-term career in the federal government! Not to mention it's a good way to build your network (and you'll likely meet other Boren awardees who may have similar career interests as you). And I think I saw that you'll be studying Arabic, right? That's a language that's becoming increasingly important both in US affairs and global affairs!

Of course! Yes im studying Arabic and hope to find a position somewhere abroad to fulfil my service requirement. But alas, I doubt it lol More than likely it will be completed in DC.

[yallabye]

It's May 2nd...have any alternates heard anything back yet? Or would it still be too early?