Critical Language Scholarship 2020 Applicants

[jingle]

3 hours ago, Msf1997 said:

Seems like we'll be getting emails probably by next Thursday (assuming no unexpected delays), good luck to everyone!

I don't have facebook so thanks for posting this update. Good luck everyone!

[Relly]

Notifications are rolling out everyone!

 

I am a semi-finalist for Russian again

[hkshopefullol]

Just got my email. Semifinalist for Swahili!! So excited! Fingers crossed for finalist!! For anyone who did not get selected as a semifinalist on their first try, please do not feel discouraged. I got rejected from the first cut in 2018 when I first applied. I strongly urge you to reapply and I am more than happy to help future applicants!

Edited January 13, 2020 by Abéy IV

[Hip Priest]

I have a friend who got semi for Turkish. Nothing from Hindi yet. I won't be able to think about anything else all day!

[emopeacock]

Turkish semi-finalist :)

[matchamonster]

applied to intermediate Japanese and haven't heard back yet ? kinda worried now

[Relly]

For those of you who didn't hear back on the 13th, if you still haven't I would really contact CLS! There may have been a mistake with your email address and I am sure they would be happy to fix the issue

[radar11]

Hi all- I am a semi-finalist for Arabic. Congrats to all the others! While I'm very excited to have made it this far, I am trying to plan my summer and it is challenging to have a big question mark looming over everything. Does anyone have any information on chances to be selected as a finalist?

Edited January 27, 2020 by radar11

[sutures]

Russian semi-finalist. Congrats everybody!

[abacaxi]

Semi finalist for Portuguese! I think my previous study abroad experience and learning more advanced Portuguese in the end helped boost my application. 

[abacaxi]

On 1/26/2020 at 10:11 PM, radar11 said:

Hi all- I am a semi-finalist for Arabic. Congrats to all the others! While I'm very excited to have made it this far, I am trying to plan my summer and it is challenging to have a big question mark looming over everything. Does anyone have any information on chances to be selected as a finalist?

I’ve heard that the selection rate between all applications and semi finalists is like 1/5, which semi finalists to finalists is 1/2.

[sutures]

1 hour ago, abacaxi said:

I’ve heard that the selection rate between all applications and semi finalists is like 1/5, which semi finalists to finalists is 1/2.

That's what I've heard as well. The idea is that they narrow down from ~5000 applicants to ~1000 semifinalists and from those semifinalists, they have 500 finalists. I think that (ideally) leaves 250 alternates and 250 nonrecipients? I'm not quite sure how they decide alternate status

[Relly]

On 1/27/2020 at 8:11 AM, radar11 said:

Hi all- I am a semi-finalist for Arabic. Congrats to all the others! While I'm very excited to have made it this far, I am trying to plan my summer and it is challenging to have a big question mark looming over everything. Does anyone have any information on chances to be selected as a finalist?

It's been a year since I looked up the numbers, but essentially 20-25% of applicants get semi-finalist status and only 10% of applicants get finalist status. That means, you have about a 50/50 chance of being a finalist after reaching semi-finalist. I do not think alternates are included in those numbers and I have no idea how many people get alternate status (and last year I was selected as an alternate for Russian; did not get bumped to finalist).

[sous45]

Any idea of when in March acceptances will come out? Is there a spreadsheet like with Fulbright and Boren?

[Relly]

1 hour ago, sous45 said:

Any idea of when in March acceptances will come out? Is there a spreadsheet like with Fulbright and Boren?

I posted the following in the Facebook group (as well as something similar in last year's CLS thread). I did forget that we have a leap year this year, so there is always the chance they will send out notifications on the 29th and not the 28th.

 

2019: Thursday, Feb. 28 (44 days)

2018: Thursday, Mar. 1 (44 days)

2017: Tuesday, Mar. 7 (48 days)

2016: Tuesday, Mar. 8 (39 days -- note that the semi-finalist announcement was delayed this year due to weather)

2015: Thursday, Feb. 26 (44 days)

2014: Sunday, Feb. 23 (38 days)

2010: Monday, Feb. 15 (36 days)

IMPORTANT: The current trend appears to be that finalist notifications are sent out between 40 and 50 days after the semi-finalist notifications.

40 days after this years semi-finalist date (Jan. 13) is Friday, Feb. 22

50 days after this year’s semi-finalist date (Jan. 13) is Monday, Mar. 4

Also, looking at the language used in the semi-finalist email, we should be receiving notifications before the beginning of March (“You will receive notification via email... *by* the beginning of March.”)

I propose that we will be updated on the 26th, 27th or 28th of February. (44, 45 and 46 days after the semi-finalist notification).

[sous45]

6 minutes ago, Relly said:

I posted the following in the Facebook group (as well as something similar in last year's CLS thread). I did forget that we have a leap year this year, so there is always the chance they will send out notifications on the 29th and not the 28th.

 

2019: Thursday, Feb. 28 (44 days)

2018: Thursday, Mar. 1 (44 days)

2017: Tuesday, Mar. 7 (48 days)

2016: Tuesday, Mar. 8 (39 days -- note that the semi-finalist announcement was delayed this year due to weather)

2015: Thursday, Feb. 26 (44 days)

2014: Sunday, Feb. 23 (38 days)

2010: Monday, Feb. 15 (36 days)

IMPORTANT: The current trend appears to be that finalist notifications are sent out between 40 and 50 days after the semi-finalist notifications.

40 days after this years semi-finalist date (Jan. 13) is Friday, Feb. 22

50 days after this year’s semi-finalist date (Jan. 13) is Monday, Mar. 4

Also, looking at the language used in the semi-finalist email, we should be receiving notifications before the beginning of March (“You will receive notification via email... *by* the beginning of March.”)

I propose that we will be updated on the 26th, 27th or 28th of February. (44, 45 and 46 days after the semi-finalist notification).

Amazing, thank you! I received it in 2016 and remember waiting forever, so it will be a pleasant surprise if notifications arrive this week!

[yallabye]

Hey, does anyone know if placements are based on language ability? For example, I applied for Advanced Arabic and am curious to know whether the more advanced speakers are usually sent to Jordan or Morocco as opposed to Oman? 

[Relly]

7 hours ago, yallabye said:

Hey, does anyone know if placements are based on language ability? For example, I applied for Advanced Arabic and am curious to know whether the more advanced speakers are usually sent to Jordan or Morocco as opposed to Oman? 

I want to say that that each program site has a healthy mix of each language level. I believe I have read that somewhere, but correct me if I am wrong.

[Violetyoung]

Hi! I am a semi finalist for the advanced Chinese program and was curious if anyone knew what the state is of the program with the impact of coronavirus? Do you think they would send out finalist emails or just cancel the whole thing? 

[Relly]

9 minutes ago, Violetyoung said:

Hi! I am a semi finalist for the advanced Chinese program and was curious if anyone knew what the state is of the program with the impact of coronavirus? Do you think they would send out finalist emails or just cancel the whole thing? 

I do not think there has been an official statement as of yet. That said, Peace Corps China was pulled and apparently NSLIY AY students were also pulled recently.

However, you are placed by language and not a country. There is a very good chance that they will find another Mandarin-speaking country or region that is safe for travel for the Chinese program. CLS Chinese is one of the two largest cohorts CLS has, so it would be a disaster to outright cancel the program.

[radar11]

The website seems to be down right now (and was also down last night) maybe they are preparing for notifications??

[radar11]

10 minutes ago, radar11 said:

The website seems to be down right now (and was also down last night) maybe they are preparing for notifications??

could be possible that they are updating the website to include new sites/other relevant info before sending out notifications, as well as preparing for an influx of people filling out finalist forms

Edited February 25, 2020 by radar11

[Umenohana]

Anyone else spends all day refreshing their email, the Facebook page, this forum, travel advisories, etc for updates?

Starting to really worry about delays or even cancellations. I'm sure nobody will be going to China this summer, so it may take time for them to keep making alternative plans in different regions for such a big program. This may make all of our notifications late. Korea and Japan are also getting much worse. My university is already pulling out people who are studying abroad in Korea. Japan is cancelling all sorts of events internally - not just in Tokyo and not just major ones. And you can't really place programs anywhere else for those two languages, so this is concerning. 

[Violetyoung]

1 hour ago, Umenohana said:

Anyone else spends all day refreshing their email, the Facebook page, this forum, travel advisories, etc for updates?

Starting to really worry about delays or even cancellations. I'm sure nobody will be going to China this summer, so it may take time for them to keep making alternative plans in different regions for such a big program. This may make all of our notifications late. Korea and Japan are also getting much worse. My university is already pulling out people who are studying abroad in Korea. Japan is cancelling all sorts of events internally - not just in Tokyo and not just major ones. And you can't really place programs anywhere else for those two languages, so this is concerning. 

Hi! I actually called CLS a couple days ago and they said that they weren’t canceling the Chinese program but would be making alternative arrangements for location as mainland China wasn’t going to be an option. they also said we should be hearing by early March and it seemed like a blanket statement overall and that the Chinese/Japanese programs were included in that. I feel the refreshing email thing. I check ALL the time.

[Umenohana]

37 minutes ago, Violetyoung said:

Hi! I actually called CLS a couple days ago and they said that they weren’t canceling the Chinese program but would be making alternative arrangements for location as mainland China wasn’t going to be an option. they also said we should be hearing by early March and it seemed like a blanket statement overall and that the Chinese/Japanese programs were included in that. I feel the refreshing email thing. I check ALL the time.

Oh that is good news! My impatience got the best of me and I emailed them a few hours ago as well. In addition to the timeline question, I asked if it is possible anything may be cancelled after finalist notifications are sent out. 

It's strange how they told you "by early March." Does that mean by the beginning of March? Or sometime in the first week of March? I know it's not a huge difference, but many of us are applying for other summer opportunities, so having a peace of mind ASAP would be nice.