Boren 2021-2022

[machinecloud]

On 4/15/2021 at 9:42 AM, Umenohana said:

They kind of allowed us to defer...

Wait, so you won last year but you're an alternate this year? 

[Umenohana]

1 hour ago, machinecloud said:

Wait, so you won last year but you're an alternate this year? 

Yep, that's right

[machinecloud]

4 minutes ago, Umenohana said:

Yep, that's right

Oh man! So sorry! That must be frustrating. Did you apply to a Flagship?

You really never know with these things. 

[envirostudent21]

Oof, was rejected as a Boren Fellow -- not surprised though, I don't have a research-based grad program. For those of you who have been accepted (congrats!!!) do you mind sharing some info on your profile/what program you're part of/how Boren will fit into your plan for the next few years?

[Umenohana]

1 hour ago, machinecloud said:

Oh man! So sorry! That must be frustrating. Did you apply to a Flagship?

You really never know with these things. 

Nope, just the regular Fellowship program to Japan

[Furby]

17 hours ago, machinecloud said:

Wait, so you won last year but you're an alternate this year? 

Me too! It's really frustrating being given a cookie and then someone saying jk maybe I'll give it to you this next time. MAN I JUST WANNA KNOW ? I've been waiting for a year to leave and I still haven't been able to and fall semester is the last chance we have to go under a 2020 scholarship. And if I don't get bumped up It's as if I was never awarded one in the first place given travel in the fall isn't possible for my 2020 award 

[Umenohana]

1 hour ago, Furby said:

Me too! It's really frustrating being given a cookie and then someone saying jk maybe I'll give it to you this next time. MAN I JUST WANNA KNOW ? I've been waiting for a year to leave and I still haven't been able to and fall semester is the last chance we have to go under a 2020 scholarship. And if I don't get bumped up It's as if I was never awarded one in the first place given travel in the fall isn't possible for my 2020 award 

I totally get your feeling! It's awful that there's now this whole other level of uncertainty added to our already mess of a situation.

[roshni]

21 hours ago, bruh said:

Hey yall. I just made facebook group for finalists if you're interested 

Here it is 

 

Hi I just sent a request to join. Looking forward to connecting!

[Tomsand]

To those that were finalists in 2020 and applied again for 2021, did you choose not to attend your program or were you unable to due to Boren Awards telling you you couldn't go?

[Person1234]

5 hours ago, Tomsand said:

To those that were finalists in 2020 and applied again for 2021, did you choose not to attend your program or were you unable to due to Boren Awards telling you you couldn't go?

Barely anybody was able to go, even the few countries that were green-lit you still had to manage to get a visa. We got to defer to this fall, but have to be back by 12/31/2021. Only way to do an actual full Boren year was by reapplying, and  as this thread shows there were people like me who didn't get it after reapplying.

[Furby]

On 4/19/2021 at 4:13 PM, Person1234 said:

Barely anybody was able to go, even the few countries that were green-lit you still had to manage to get a visa. We got to defer to this fall, but have to be back by 12/31/2021. Only way to do an actual full Boren year was by reapplying, and  as this thread shows there were people like me who didn't get it after reapplying.

Exactly!

[Umenohana]

On 4/15/2021 at 8:52 PM, Umenohana said:

It's hard to tell, but I'm pretty sure it would be for the entire Boren program. They don't really have spots per country and some countries may have only one or two finalists without any alternates or even applicants behind in the line. They might take the country or part of the world into consideration, but I'd think in general, it would not matter too much. Just my opinion based on the data I've seen.

So apparently I was not quite right on this. My campus Boren advisor says that when Boren promotes alternates, they generally try to choose someone who is a close match based on the application package. This goes for amount of funds requested and country/language (or at least the region). He didn't say it, but my guess is that academic background and career aspirations could also play into this. 

This was also hinted at by the Boren Asia advisor's email I recently got. So looks like alternates are not really taken from a general pool and your country choice matters more than I thought.

[Furby]

When can alternates most likely expect to hear back? 

[Umenohana]

50 minutes ago, Furby said:

When can alternates most likely expect to hear back? 

Hard to tell. There may be a wave of notifications after the May 2 deadline. Possibly one more in around July, when they announce which countries are a no-go. But otherwise, it could be at about any time.

[machinecloud]

On 4/26/2021 at 2:52 PM, Umenohana said:

Hard to tell. There may be a wave of notifications after the May 2 deadline. Possibly one more in around July, when they announce which countries are a no-go. But otherwise, it could be at about any time.

See this is what I don't understand about the award with COVID. If people accept by May 2nd but then decline knowing their country is a no-go (there will likely be many...) I'm wondering whether the funding frees up. 

[machinecloud]

On 4/21/2021 at 4:56 PM, Umenohana said:

So apparently I was not quite right on this. My campus Boren advisor says that when Boren promotes alternates, they generally try to choose someone who is a close match based on the application package. This goes for amount of funds requested and country/language (or at least the region).

Yes to this! I also reached out a bit and gathered the same especially for Flagship programs. Someone needs to drop out of a Flagship program for a Flagship alternate to get an offer. 

[Umenohana]

1 hour ago, machinecloud said:

See this is what I don't understand about the award with COVID. If people accept by May 2nd but then decline knowing their country is a no-go (there will likely be many...) I'm wondering whether the funding frees up. 

From what I understand, this is how it works. Person A and person B accept by May 2nd. In July, they're told that their country is a no-go for the fall. Person A decides to hold out and wait to see is maybe they can go in winter/spring/or even summer. So they are just deferred, but still considered to be a recipient, so nothing changes. Person B decides it's not worth it due to conflicting plans or something, and declines their award at that time. This means that an alternate of a similar profile will get promoted. (Whether they take into account approved vs non-approved for the fall countries when deciding which alternates to promote is another question! Maybe they'd like to be able to send more people abroad, as opposed to making sure to promote people for similar countries).

Now, from the wording of the email we got as alternates, it seems that if person B decides to keep the award for the time being, but then declines any time after September, that funding is just gone and no alternates will be promoted. Which seems like a bit of an arbitrary deadline. Especially considering that the 2020 cohort has been deferring forever and something similar might happen this time around as well. But what can you do..

[machinecloud]

1 hour ago, Umenohana said:

(Whether they take into account approved vs non-approved for the fall countries when deciding which alternates to promote is another question! Maybe they'd like to be able to send more people abroad, as opposed to making sure to promote people for similar countries).

I absolutely think they will think about this if someone declines. Otherwise they will likely have similar issues. It will be easier to promote someone who can go without issues.

Edited May 3, 2021 by machinecloud

[Tomsand]

Is anyone else's portal appearing empty? Where it used to state that I was an alternate is now blank. Tried it on three different browsers.

[Umenohana]

2 hours ago, Tomsand said:

Is anyone else's portal appearing empty? Where it used to state that I was an alternate is now blank. Tried it on three different browsers.

I haven't checked the portal since submitting the application, but yeah, mine is empty as well. I think that's normal though. My previous year's application on there is also empty. 

[Definol]

Where's the log-in for Boren? I haven't been able to access it since getting results.

[machinecloud]

6 hours ago, Umenohana said:

I haven't checked the portal since submitting the application, but yeah, mine is empty as well. I think that's normal though. My previous year's application on there is also empty. 

Yeah if any alternates are promoted it'll likely be done through email. Not the portal. Always nice to have a proof of the app though. 

[Furby]

Yeah I sent an email, and for those as flagship alternatives.. yall will be first to hear back since there is a domestic portion of the program starting on June 1st. Other scholarship recipients are mostly going to wait until July to see if fall 2021 is a go or not. Then, it is most likely that some alternates will get moved up. I'm glad I still have a 2020 award I might get to use in the fall, but certainly was looking forward to a whole year abroad. That's the info I got! Looks like most of us will be waiting until July some time to see what the deal is with travel eligibility, alternate status, etc. Covid is a bummer ?

[machinecloud]

5 hours ago, Furby said:

 yall will be first to hear back since there is a domestic portion of the program starting on June 1st

Is this because Flagship people have pressure to decide? That's a really good point I hadn't considered. I guess most people probably won't attend the summer portion and then drop out. 

[Person1234]

6 hours ago, Furby said:

Yeah I sent an email, and for those as flagship alternatives.. yall will be first to hear back since there is a domestic portion of the program starting on June 1st. Other scholarship recipients are mostly going to wait until July to see if fall 2021 is a go or not. Then, it is most likely that some alternates will get moved up. I'm glad I still have a 2020 award I might get to use in the fall, but certainly was looking forward to a whole year abroad. That's the info I got! Looks like most of us will be waiting until July some time to see what the deal is with travel eligibility, alternate status, etc. Covid is a bummer ?

Ah I see, did they say anything about how they might choose people to bump up in July? I know they have tended to match the profile of who dropped, but I wonder if they are going to bump up alternatives whose country gets approved for fall travel rather than someone whose country hasn't been approved. Im guessing most who will drop in July will be the countries not approved, so would it really make sense to bump up a similar profile if it means they know they cant go in the fall?