Relly Posted September 12, 2019 Posted September 12, 2019 Hey everyone! Today the new application cycle begins, and I thought it would be nice to start a new thread for CLS hopefuls of this upcoming summer.
emopeacock Posted September 12, 2019 Posted September 12, 2019 That's me! I'm a Turkish 2018 alumni. I'm applying for Hindi this year. I still adore Turkish and study it frequently, but have little desire to go back to Baku. What's your target language?
thornberry Posted September 14, 2019 Posted September 14, 2019 Hi, all! I was wondering what kind of resources anyone would recommend for the short essays and the statement of purpose? Are your schools' scholarship offices helpful in this regard and/or do they offer access to successful sample essays? Good luck everyone :)
Definol Posted September 17, 2019 Posted September 17, 2019 I'm applying for advanced Japanese. Tried last year, but it was admittedly rushed. So hopefully this year will be better. Btw, does anyone have statistics on the recipients of last year?
emopeacock Posted September 17, 2019 Posted September 17, 2019 3 hours ago, Msf1997 said: I'm applying for advanced Japanese. Tried last year, but it was admittedly rushed. So hopefully this year will be better. Btw, does anyone have statistics on the recipients of last year? Not last year, but their average is 10% accepted I believe.
Relly Posted September 19, 2019 Author Posted September 19, 2019 On 9/13/2019 at 9:56 PM, thornberry said: Hi, all! I was wondering what kind of resources anyone would recommend for the short essays and the statement of purpose? Are your schools' scholarship offices helpful in this regard and/or do they offer access to successful sample essays? Good luck everyone I was fortunate (unfortunate? haha) enough to make it to alternate last year for Russian. I think they have a video on the website going over what each essay is looking for and I used some of that information to help craft my essays (the biggest mistake a lot of people make in essay writing is they don't actually answer the prompt's questions!). I'd also reach out to your school's CLS advisor (if they have one) for help and get a few good writers to help you proofread.
thornberry Posted September 21, 2019 Posted September 21, 2019 On 9/19/2019 at 9:15 AM, Relly said: I was fortunate (unfortunate? haha) enough to make it to alternate last year for Russian. I think they have a video on the website going over what each essay is looking for and I used some of that information to help craft my essays (the biggest mistake a lot of people make in essay writing is they don't actually answer the prompt's questions!). I'd also reach out to your school's CLS advisor (if they have one) for help and get a few good writers to help you proofread. It's really impressive that you were an alternate last year! Hope it turns out this year. Thanks for the advice! Their video had some helpful tips.
TeacupKid Posted November 5, 2019 Posted November 5, 2019 Hey everyone! I've decided to apply for a CLS this year in Persian. I study Arabic but thought that I may not be as competitive since I'll have finished the most advanced level my university offers by the summer. Does that affect my competitiveness?
thornberry Posted November 6, 2019 Posted November 6, 2019 20 hours ago, TeacupKid said: Hey everyone! I've decided to apply for a CLS this year in Persian. I study Arabic but thought that I may not be as competitive since I'll have finished the most advanced level my university offers by the summer. Does that affect my competitiveness? It seems like if you would rather do Arabic, having completed all of the courses at your university would be something in your favor. It could demonstrate your commitment to the language, and the lack of further Arabic courses at your university could be spun as precisely the reason you need an outside program like CLS. You've utilized all of the resources that your campus has to offer, so being abroad in an intensive program like CLS is the logical next step.
InssaKimAnna Posted November 12, 2019 Posted November 12, 2019 Hello everyone! It's my first time applying to CLS; I'm applying to the Korean program and hoping my NSLI-Y Korean Summer is enough to get me in as intermediate! I've created a Kakao group chat for applicants that consists of a few applicants and a few alum that answer any burning questions. Although the deadline is coming up in a week, I thought I'd still advertise it here as it'll (most likely) just turn in to the semi-finalist group chat when notifs come out as it did with NSLI-Y. My Kakao ID is Chancyy if you're interested! Good luck to everyone!
emopeacock Posted November 17, 2019 Posted November 17, 2019 On 11/12/2019 at 9:28 AM, InssaKimAnna said: Hello everyone! It's my first time applying to CLS; I'm applying to the Korean program and hoping my NSLI-Y Korean Summer is enough to get me in as intermediate! I've created a Kakao group chat for applicants that consists of a few applicants and a few alum that answer any burning questions. Although the deadline is coming up in a week, I thought I'd still advertise it here as it'll (most likely) just turn in to the semi-finalist group chat when notifs come out as it did with NSLI-Y. My Kakao ID is Chancyy if you're interested! Good luck to everyone! Are you part of the facebook group? There's probably a lot of people there who would appreciate being a part of this too. Although admittedly people aren't as active this year as they were in the past it seems.
undefined Posted November 17, 2019 Posted November 17, 2019 I'm applying for intermediate Japanese this year. I've spent basically every waking moment since I heard about the program daydreaming about actually getting the scholarship, so here's hoping I haven't pointlessly hyped myself up. ? I'm very nervous.
sowon Posted November 17, 2019 Posted November 17, 2019 Hi all! I'm applying for advanced Korean this year, after being rejected for CLS once and NSLI-Y once. Hoping this will be my year. I realize my essays last year were trash and I feel like I have some good stuff this time. I'm a sophomore CS/Korean major. Also, I would like to share resources collected from previous years' threads as we approach the application deadline. https://aisforms.s3.amazonaws.com/ais/CLS/2019/CLS_Evaluation_Rubric_2019.html#Rubric (2019 rubric for evaluation, which seems to be the same as the 2020 one-- change the year to see) another document that has numbers of participants by program (last year's cohort I think): https://eca.state.gov/files/bureau/fy_19_cls_pogi.pdf I also made a list of the previous years' notification dates for round 1 and round 2 -- thinking I'll wait until December for that. LBJArcher 1
jingle Posted November 19, 2019 Posted November 19, 2019 Just submitted my application for intermediate Korean. This is my first year applying, so I was super nervous, but I worked really, really hard on my application. It really helped that the advisors at my school were very encouraging but didn't hold back on their critiquing. Looking forward to seeing this thread become more active so I can freak out alongside other applicants!
Relly Posted November 19, 2019 Author Posted November 19, 2019 (edited) On 11/17/2019 at 6:20 PM, sowon said: Hi all! I'm applying for advanced Korean this year, after being rejected for CLS once and NSLI-Y once. Hoping this will be my year. I realize my essays last year were trash and I feel like I have some good stuff this time. I'm a sophomore CS/Korean major. Also, I would like to share resources collected from previous years' threads as we approach the application deadline. https://aisforms.s3.amazonaws.com/ais/CLS/2019/CLS_Evaluation_Rubric_2019.html#Rubric (2019 rubric for evaluation, which seems to be the same as the 2020 one-- change the year to see) another document that has numbers of participants by program (last year's cohort I think): https://eca.state.gov/files/bureau/fy_19_cls_pogi.pdf I also made a list of the previous years' notification dates for round 1 and round 2 -- thinking I'll wait until December for that. Thanks for posting that all here! In retrospect, I should have reposted my findings from last year in my initial post, but by the time I realized that, I could no longer edit the post (...and then forgot about CLS almost entirely because of a very busy October oops). That said, just submitted my application for Advanced Russian (a little less last minute than last year, haha). Hope everyone is feeling good about their applications! (So far it seems that you are!) I'm hoping to get finalist this year, but I won't be as devastated this year if I miss the mark again. As you guys stress while waiting, I really recommend joining the official Facebook group for applicants! That way you do not have to stress alone Edited November 19, 2019 by Relly
abacaxi Posted November 19, 2019 Posted November 19, 2019 Hey everyone! Just submitted my application today for Portuguese, second year in a row. I wish I found this forum before submitting! But I feel a bit more confident about my application this year than last year. I’m also studying abroad in Portugal and have received a Gilman Scholarship with an additional Critical Need Language Award, so hopefully that can bolster my application as well. Does anyone know from other pst applicants if these help your application?
jingle Posted November 20, 2019 Posted November 20, 2019 7 hours ago, abacaxi said: Hey everyone! Just submitted my application today for Portuguese, second year in a row. I wish I found this forum before submitting! But I feel a bit more confident about my application this year than last year. I’m also studying abroad in Portugal and have received a Gilman Scholarship with an additional Critical Need Language Award, so hopefully that can bolster my application as well. Does anyone know from other pst applicants if these help your application? This is my first year applying so my opinion might not be as valid, but: 1.) I think it's beneficial to your application in that it shows your dedication to learning the language, HOWEVER 2.) They state on their website that they give preference to those who have limited or no study abroad experience I'm not sure what weighs more though.
sowon Posted November 20, 2019 Posted November 20, 2019 They expect that most people who reach intermediate or advanced levels may have had study-abroad experience. On one hand, it shows that you have experience dealing with the stresses of being abroad and that you have a dedication to the language. I'm hoping that this will translate into a big advantage for me -- advanced Korean, never have been abroad (or to Korea). I think study-abroad experience would be a benefit in most cases, though. :)
Hip Priest Posted November 24, 2019 Posted November 24, 2019 infrequent lurker on grad cafe and first time poster: I applied for beginning Hindi
woshimeiguoren Posted November 29, 2019 Posted November 29, 2019 Hey!!! I applied for the advanced Chinese program for CLS for summer 2020. Btw if anyone wants to, you can follow me on insta at https://www.instagram.com/castnervirgil/
InssaKimAnna Posted December 5, 2019 Posted December 5, 2019 On 11/17/2019 at 12:47 PM, emopeacock said: Are you part of the facebook group? There's probably a lot of people there who would appreciate being a part of this too. Although admittedly people aren't as active this year as they were in the past it seems. Yes, I posted on there twice; latest on the day applications were due. We've got a pretty nice sized group of 26 and a total of 5 languages; would love to see both those numbers go up!
bazigaar Posted December 8, 2019 Posted December 8, 2019 Hey y'll, I'm a grad student who did CLS Urdu last summer and now I'm applying for CLS Persian. I'm wondering how they weigh previous CLS experience when evaluating the application?
MasonMorr19 Posted January 4, 2020 Posted January 4, 2020 Hi all. I don't really post on these forums, but i'm a Sophomore International Relations major. I applied for NSLI-Y (Russian) a couple years ago and was a semi-finalist, was gonna apply for CLS Turkish but didn't end up applying last year. I applied for Russian this year because it used to be at least two years of study(not one) and I will have a year of Russian before the program start date. I'm aware that its competitive but I gave my essays a lot of thought but still thought they were average. I ended up submitting but felt like I could have done more. Considering I work almost full-time and a full-time student I probably put it off too much, but we'll see in a month or so.. Any other Russian applicants?
electricsquirrel Posted January 8, 2020 Posted January 8, 2020 I applied for CLS Japanese. My application was rushed and definitely not as well thought out as I would've liked, but still hoping that somehow I can make it to the semi-finalist round.
Definol Posted January 10, 2020 Posted January 10, 2020 (edited) I applied to advanced Japanese. Last year I also felt the same as you do. Hopefully we both make it. Seems like we'll be getting emails probably by next Thursday (assuming no unexpected delays), good luck to everyone! Edited January 10, 2020 by Msf1997 insert link Relly 1
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