How competitive is the CASA fellowship (Center for Arabic Study Abroad)?

[SpearmintFeldmore]

I aspire to use the Arabic knowledge to aid in Syrian refugee resettlement/English language acquisition in my community (a big resettlement hub). I spent two years as an AmeriCorps teaching English to refugees here. I may want to start my own ESOL nonprofit here as well.

By the time I apply for CASA, I will have achieved the required Arabic proficiency (through 2 years of undergrad study, a summer intensive, and Natakallam tutoring through grad school) and earned an MA in Applied Linguistics/TESOL. None of my schools were prestigious (or CASA consortium schools), and I won’t have any big honors (except hopefully a summer FLAS from my school).

Would it even be worth the application fees for me to apply? All of the fellow bios I’ve read were so impressive, with many prior awards/honors, Ivy League alma maters, international work experience, etc. I also don’t come from an underrepresented background.

I’m just hoping my passion for the Arabic language/refugee resettlement will shine through. This would be an amazing opportunity to bolster my language skills (and super valuable, since I’ll never make a lot of money in my field haha).

Thank you!

Edited July 21, 2022 by SpearmintFeldmore