Boren 2012-2013

[riverguide]

Msafiri, I had you confused with Mr. Jones and I apologize to you. You are correct. If you think the rest of my advice was misplaced then that is your choice. I know several Boren recipients who received the ALI and was sharing their insights but you are entitled to your opinion about that as well. The rest of my advice is generic and not directed towards you. The fact that you received a Fulbright is very, very impressive. BTW, have you made ANY decisions yet ? Or are you still kicking the tires this late in the game ? The rest of my advice is yours to take -or not. If you haven't made a decision yet or you haven't started your essays or LORs yet, then perhaps you should consider becoming an Internet Moderator, because you certainly seem to have a talent for that. However, its always good to hear from my fans. There is a camaraderie among the successful recipients of the Boren and we try to help others but there are some who don't need anyone's help. You have to have a thick skin in this competition and those that I know who have received the Boren have done so with help and feedback and support and constructive criticism from others. I am sorry I have offended you and I truly wish you the best. This isn't the Fulbright, however, and you still haven't even applied. Why don't you prove to the rest of us that you're worthy and then perhaps your condescending and thin-skinned reaction will carry more weight...

Edited December 1, 2011 by riverguide

[msafiri]

In response to your edit:

I just want to say that I don't have to prove anything to you or anyone else on this forum. That's not how this works. I, like everyone else, appreciate thoughtful advice and comments. But, nothing you've offered is anything beyond what is readily available by reading the Boren website thoroughly. Just because I don't find your advice helpful to my particular situation does not mean that I need to grow a thicker skin. It also does not mean that others won't find it helpful. I have a great deal of experience applying for and receiving grants beyond just having received a Fulbright. And, like you, I try to offer advice to others but I never say that if someone doesn't do things my way they are "condescending and thin-skinned" as you did. Switching to insults is a cowardly way of dealing with things. I would much prefer to stick to the matter at hand. When I offer advice, I say, "This is what worked for me but YMMV." You offer(ed) no such caveats in what you have written. I'm also now wondering if your advice varies at all for people applying for Fellowships, rather than Scholarships, since those two pools of applicants are often at very different places in their lives. One of the problems with making blanket generalizations is that you over-assume things that may not be true.

The real condescension I see is in your reply to me. At no point did I ever say that the Fulbright and the Boren are the same. They are similar in that they are both nationally-competitive awards funded by the U.S. government and administered by IIE. While the application processes differ, they have many commonalities and look for some of the same things (according to what they have written on their websites).

My original response, written before I saw your edit:

riverguide, I think that you should realize that what worked for you may not be what works for me. I know many people that started that Fulbright statements six months in advance. I am not one of those people but, that did not prevent me from getting a Fulbright. I know how I work, I know how to write proposals, and I know who to ask for feedback on them. Writing the Boren proposal will, in all likelihood, take less than a month, even to go through 10-12 drafts. I know this because I know me. You don't know me so it's not really fair for you to tell me that I'm screwed if I'm not on a second draft already. You also don't know my LORs or how long they need to write a letter. I do. I know that they can and will write letters for things like the Boren with two weeks notice (so, if I ask them 5 weeks from now). Obviously, this may not apply to everyone but it is my situation. There is nothing particularly unique or demanding about the Boren requirements so it seems like my past experience will serve me well when it comes to preparing my essays. Your advice is likely better for those with less experience with the process of applying for funding. That's really all I was trying to point out to you before.

To answer your question, yes, I am still trying to decide whether or not to apply. There are other things to consider, aside from just the application, which I know I can complete. It's not as simple as apply and go have fun and learn a language or don't (as it is for many Scholarship applicants) in my case because I am considering the shape of my graduate career. I am already at the dissertation research stage so, for me, it is important to decide exactly how any funding would fit with what I have already done before I apply for it. And, really, you don't have to understand my reasons or think that they are valid because, as I pointed out earlier, you are not me.

Here's my take-home point: I'm not thin-skinned. I also don't think that making a blanket statement "if any of you haven't started your essays and requests for LORs yet, you aren't taking the process seriously." You do realize that people can start their essays and not really take the process seriously, right? There are countless people who start applications for things like the Boren, NSF GRFP, Fulbright, etc. and never finish them for various reasons, only one of which is not taking the process seriously. I am taking the process incredibly seriously which is why I am taking the time to decide if and how having a Boren Fellowship fits with my graduate career before I go around asking people for recommendation letters. To me, it is incredibly rude to ask for a letter and then not need it because it wastes another person's time. You may not see it that way but, as someone who has written rec letters for my students, I do see it that way.

I guess what I'm really saying, riverguide, is that you shouldn't jump to conclusions about other people based on what you see here. There's a lot more going on in my life and in my thought process than I've indicated here. I don't apply for anything on a whim. I make sure it's the right thing for me, personally and professionally, before pursuing it. I am still looking to hear more about the overseas component of the African Languages Initiative from anyone that has participated.

---

Also, I just want to clarify that the numbers I gave in my earlier post are those for Boren Scholarships, not Boren Fellowships. The numbers for fellowships are available here.

[riverguide]

When you receive a Boren Fellowship, your self-esteem issues on this thread will probably be resolved and I might listen to what you have to say or write. Until then, you're just another wannabe with a really bad attitude. Maybe you're somebody or maybe you're not. Who cares?

And just think, all of that time you took to reply to and belittle my suggestions could have been spent researching your options, making a decision and writing your essays...here's some advice you can use: Stop whining, start writing and go for it. Success cures all. You'll never be a winner if you keep acting like a loser. Believe or not, there's nothing I'd like more than to see you prove me wrong and become a Boren Fellow.

Not to deprecate your very impressive receipt of a Fulbright, BUT 7500 people annually receive a Fulbright and only 151 people annually receive a Boren Scholarship and only 117 people annually receive a Boren Fellowship. The Boren is for a different breed; so, why don't you get the show on the road and join us...

[msafiri]

riverguide, I just want to say four things.

1) You have been nothing but rude to me in your past few posts on this thread, though I have been polite to you. I do not understand your hostility towards me but can only assume that it comes from your own self-esteem issues. There really is no need to be hostile or condescending in a forum that exists for people to provide support to one another. There is no need to belittle someone else's accomplishments. I do not understand why you have chosen to act in this way. If you feel threatened in some way, then I apologize. But, it is worthwhile for you and others to know that your way of doing things is not the only way. Holding everyone to your standards is a path to depression and being miserable. With time, hopefully you will see this and take this advice to heart.

2) Your numbers about the Fulbright program are wrong. Please do your research if you are going to spout statistics. Failing to do so makes you look careless and results in an extremely weak argument. The figure you cite of 7500 is not only wrong but also incredibly vague. From the Fulbright Program website: "Awarded approximately six thousand grants in 2010, at a cost of more than $322.3 million, to U.S. students, teachers, professionals, and scholars to study, teach, lecture, and conduct research in more than 155 countries, and to their foreign counterparts to engage in similar activities in the United States." I assume this is what you were trying to get at in your comment. But, as you'll note by reading carefully, those include grants awarded to teachers, professionals, and scholars from both the U.S. and other countries, not just students receiving Fulbright grants. There are numerous parts of the Fulbright program, designed to help an array of people. Here's the figure you were probably looking for (assuming you wanted to make an accurate comment about the program I received a grant from): "Supports approximately 1,700 U.S. citizens to engage in study, research, or teaching assistantships abroads via the U.S. Student Program."

Moreover, even those general figures are inaccurate because applicants are evaluated at a regional or country level. For the region I was in, approximately 13% of applicants were funded (the same goes for the other grants considered at the regional level), a figure which is lower than that for the Boren Fellowship as I stated earlier. If you are going to make such crass, brazen statements, you should make sure they are accurate.

3) I am sure you have heard of the concept of free time. I choose to use some of mine to participate in the forum. I don't watch TV or movies, so it probably replaces the time that most people spend doing those things. It does not serve as a distraction from conducting research for my degree, on funding opportunities, or on future career possibilities. It does not distract me from writing articles and conference papers, from writing grant proposals, or from staying current in the literature in my field. If you lack time management skills, you should take the time to acquire some now, before it's too late. If you lack a work-life balance, you will quickly find yourself burnt out.

4) I am not sure why you assume that I am not successful or that I am not a winner. Clearly, I am a winner if I have won multiple grants and fellowships in the past. Or, are you suggesting that not winning a grant I have not applied for makes me a loser?

I wish you the best of luck as a Boren award recipient (still don't know at what level) and in your future career. I sincerely hope that you show more maturity while representing the U.S. government than you have shown here on this forum.

Edited December 1, 2011 by msafiri

[riverguide]

Msafiri:

Let's see what I've have right about you and the Boren:

1) The deadline is approximately 60 days away, depending on your university's deadline. The Boren deadline and your university's deadline are different. Your university's deadline is sooner because they need adequate time to evaluate and process your application and decide on whether to recommend it and what recommendation they will make with regard to your application and the others that are submitted;

2) With 60 days before the deadline, you have not chosen a language, nor a country, nor a program, nor your proposed employment/career. You have also not chosen a back-up program. In your own words:" I have no idea what kind of research project I would do along with that though."

3) You have not interviewed any prior students from the programs in which you may have an interest and hence, you know nothing about the specifics and experiences from the point of view of others who have gone before you;

4) You are applying for a fellowship which requires three essays; one of which is your compelling and authoritative research proposal and you have not started any of them;

5) Because you haven't done any of the above, you cannot request LORs because you don't have your proposal essay completed as well as the other two essays to show them so that they can incorporate them in their LORs;

6) You believe that 30 days are adequate to prepare all of this. In your own words: "Writing the Boren proposal will, in all likelihood, take less than a month, even to go through 10-12 drafts. I know this because I know me." That is incredibly naive and sophomoric -and I hope that others don't take solace from your lack of seriousness and planning;

7) The time period you have left will fall across the Christmas and New Year holidays when many people may be unavailable and many offices are closed or operating at half-speed;

8) You have obviously not listened to all of the Webinars for the fellowship or you wouldn't be posting the naive and sophomoric comments in response to my advice. I listened to all of the Webinars for both the scholarship and the fellowship and the successful applicants I know did the same;

9) You have not requested nor obtained prior essays and proposals from successful applicants;

10) You are clearly indecisive; again, in your own words:" I have no idea what kind of research project I would do along with that though."

11) "The Fulbright Program awards approximately 8,000 new grants annually." http://fulbright.state.gov/about.html;

12) The Boren is NOT for applicants who don't plan on making a Herculean effort to submit the best application that they can put together.

13) Life is short and handling ambiguity is much more difficult than the ability to make a decision.

Here's what I think you have partially right: "But, I'm worried that having had a Fulbright for a different region and language will make me look flaky to the reviewers." and "I'm glad it won't make me look to flaky or unfocused." "Flaky" and "unfocused" are terms that characterize your efforts and approach so far.

I'm not normally this critical but your approach, attitude and lack of decisiveness probably indicates that this is not the fellowship for you. I hope you prove me wrong but those are some major headwinds and you haven't even made a decision to apply yet.

I'm glad you have other options. BTW, would you advise your students to wait until 30 days before the deadline to begin writing their Boren application ? If so, then you would be doing them a terrible disservice...

Edited December 1, 2011 by riverguide

[collegemom82]

I have some questions regarding the essay portion of the Boren application.

Who can I get feedback from on my essays? Are there past Boren scholars that I can get into contact with? Unfortunately my study abroad coordinator will be out of town until the week before my application is due, and I do not want to put it off that long

Thanks!!!

[riverguide]

I can and would be happy to help and can also provide some good examples. Send me a pm.

Edited December 14, 2011 by riverguide

[collegemom82]

Thank you Riverguide! I PM'ed you!

[Dynamom]

sigh! Sorry, guys - I'm just here to pout. This looks like an amazing opportunity. I was thinking about applying for Chile and have drafted the first 2 essays. I like my proposal, and the competitive side of me wants to go for it, but my practical side says NO because:

1. I've already applied for the Fulbright and an NSF grant. In the event that I win either, I would withdraw from the Boren (can't double up on federal fellowships)

2. I could only go for 12 weeks in the summer, as I have school age kids and the South American school system runs Mar-Dec (they would lose a year of schooling if I stayed longer).

3. Upon my return, we'd have to shack up with my parents until I got a new job on campus and then got a full paycheck from that job.

4. I live on the West Coast and wouldn't be thrilled about committing to work for federal agencies which are primarily based in DC.

5. Given all of the above, the application is really quite an investment of time and energy.

So why is it still so hard for me to let it go???

Edited December 20, 2011 by dynamutt

[collegemom82]

Dynamutt -

I also have dependents - I will be studying abroad with or without the Boren and will be taking my school age kids with me. I know taking them out of school for a year seems like it would put them behind. However, if I do not enroll them in a local school, I will homeschool them with an online charter school. It should be a great learning experience for them.

Goodluck!

[collegemom82]

Just checking in with all the Boren applicants to see how the application is coming along!

Are you finished with your essays yet?

Do you have your LOR?

When is your campus deadline?

My essays are not finished - but I am working feverishly on finishing them.

I do not have all of my LOR but should by the end of the month.

My campus deadline is the third week of January.

Dee

[collegemom82]

Thanks Ryan for the article.... it was a good read.

Also, for those not finished with their essay (part I and part II) Boren is having a webinar on the 10th regarding the essay portion of the application.

[ztowens12]

Thanks to the former recipients for the advice! Very helpful.

I'm applying for the Boren scholarship, and have I have completed a fair number of applications for other programs/scholarships years prior but I'm surprised to see the scholarship application doesn't ask for employment history, or academic honors/activities, volunteer experience, etc. Does anyone else find this odd? (BTW I think the fellowship app. asks for top 3 relevant jobs/volunteer work). I think this is a testament to how important the essays are.

At this point I'm constantly re-editing my essays and trying to incorporate some past work and volunteer experience relevant to what I'm applying for. Any helpful tidbits past Boren scholars/fellows or current applicants can provide regarding this would be much appreciated!

[eec]

hi all! regular listener, first-time caller.

i have a quick question about formatting, and wondered if someone could offer an opinion or two.

i'm applying for the fellowship (to conduct an anthro-based study in lebanon). the employment history/relevant activities sections of the application allow for a lot of extrapolation, but i am more inclined to list bullet points that describe my previous jobs/activities (akin to a CV format). thoughts on this, or suggestions of what to include in this section?

thanks so much, in advance!

eec.

[collegemom82]

EEC - I do not have the answer to your question. Riverguide and some of the others would be able to help you out.

[collegemom82]

I am submitting my application today, and will be turning in the supplemental materials to my campus tomorrow. I am really excited yet nervous! I have went back over my essays with a fine tooth comb what seems like a hundred times. I have revised them and revised them to the point that I feel I am finally finished!

Goodluck everyone!

[collegemom82]

I do have one question about the essays.... with the alternate program essay, do I just copy and paste it below the first essay?

[wagarb09]

I am excited for this cycle for the Boren Fellowship! I am putting the finishing touches on my research proposal which is exciting! I just got accepted into my graduate school Middleburry College MA Russian. I love the structure of the Middlebury program and if anybody studying a critical language has yet to hear of this school please research it. I am a triple major as well. Either way I have my dissertation and methods of my research all planned out before actually going. I have experience in Russia as well with the CLS program. Just apply to this Fellowship has been extremely rewarding. Good luck to all!!! Only about 10 days left!

[riverguide]

I am excited for this cycle for the Boren Fellowship! I am putting the finishing touches on my research proposal which is exciting! I just got accepted into my graduate school Middleburry College MA Russian. I love the structure of the Middlebury program and if anybody studying a critical language has yet to hear of this school please research it. I am a triple major as well. Either way I have my dissertation and methods of my research all planned out before actually going. I have experience in Russia as well with the CLS program. Just apply to this Fellowship has been extremely rewarding. Good luck to all!!! Only about 10 days left!

Good luck! I've participated in two programs with Middlebury (Summer Intensive Arabic and Middlebury Alexandria) and it is truly the best! The friends I made there and their level of ability and commitment were extraordinary. It should be a great feather in your cap. I still attribute my receipt of the Boren to my experience and the development of my language skills in their programs!

[collegemom82]

Does anyone know if the 6000 character limit is with or without spaces (for the Statement Of Purpose/Essays)???

Thanks!

[wonkish]

Without.

[collegemom82]

Thank you :-) I ended up seeing the answer to my question on the application. DUH

[Monica Bowcut MacDonald]

I just submitted my application, and have to get my other supplementary materials in by Friday. Can I just say aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

[collegemom82]

Doesn't it feel great having it done!!!! I have everything done except the suplemental materials, which I will drop off to my advisor on Thursday.

Goodluck!

Delecia

[collegemom82]

Fellowship deadline today! Scholarship deadline about a week away!!! Everyone ready?

My application is submitted! I am so nervous, and so excited at the same time!