FLAS essay - edit SOP or new essay?

[AnthroPerson]

I was contacted by a department I applied to and encouraged to apply for one of the school's FLAS fellowships.  OK, no problem.

But now I'm stressing/over thinking the essay.  Can I tweak my SOP to fit their purpose, or will they see my SOP (even though it would be2 different groups of people deciding my admission and the fellowship) and know I used the same one? 

Does anyone who's applied/gotten a FLAS fellowship before have any advice?

[Murklins]

I wish I could tell you--I'm in the same boat! So far, I'm recycling bits and pieces of my SOP, but I'm mainly trying to focus on my experience with the language and how I will use it in the future. There's actually not *too* much overlap for me.

 

Which language are you applying for?

[mf2232]

i think different people will be reading it, so i wouldn't worry too much about recycling parts from the sop...

[cm125]

I had the same situation a little while back. In my experience, no they will absolutely not care that it is the same as your SOP. They know that you are just applying and perhaps have never even heard of FLAS until they requested you apply for it.

 

The thing that I wish I knew was this: if your SOP and the interests that you listed in there are multi-regional, then I would re-craft the SOP to focus on the area/region that aligns with your FLAS application. For instance, if you're applying to work with Professor X to study relations between the U.S. and Japan, make sure the essay that you hand in to the area studies center/FLAS committee is focused heavily on Japan. They are not going to care about the U.S. stuff, or any other country outside of East Asia. Unlike applying to your professor, this application is not solely about your exciting ideas and potential projects, but rather about your exciting project and specifically how this language and study of that area is vitally important to your studies.

 

My advisor wasn't on the FLAS committee and I had the problem of the FLAS committee labeling me not a specialist in their region because my project was multi-regional. So, delete any material that is overly specific about your discipline (so if you admire anthropologist Y, and they don't work in that area, it's not worth mentioning) or other regions. And make sure to replace it with region specific information.

[Wemayet]

BMR716 has some good advice, I think.

 

Like the OP, I too was told by a department to which I applied that I should go for FLAS.  I also discovered I could do the same at another University to which I had applied (fairly obscure language, only 2 of my 9 schools teach it).  So bang for buck, I figured I'd make a new SOP, since I could use it for two schools.  Good thing I did.  Turns out my POI at one University sits on the FLAS Committee.  Having two very different SOPs is giving me a chance to double dip his attention.  My PhD SOP and FLAS SOP dovetail nicely, so in my opinion, this gives me a chance to impress someone who could make or break me in both funding and acceptance.  Just a thought to send along!

 

Best of luck!

[mambeu]

I just submitted my own FLAS applications. My FLAS statement and the statement of purpose I submitted with my graduate application covered the same topics, but I tried to write the FLAS statement from a slightly different perspective:

• I went into more detail about the personal significance of the target language to me (since it's my heritage language).
• I didn't describe my research interests in as much detail as I did in my SOP, because I figure that a FLAS statement will be read by a wider audience than the specialists in the department I applied to. Instead, I concentrated more on summarizing my interests and relating them to a more general academic discourse.
• I also articulated several specific ways in which my research will benefit from knowledge of the FLAS language.

I didn't copy-paste anything from my SOP; I wrote a new FLAS statement. I figure that if there is any overlap between the FLAS committee and the admissions committee, those individuals will just get to gain an even better understanding of my background and academic goals.

Edited January 30, 2013 by mambeu

[riverguide]

I just submitted my FLAS essay. I completed one for another school about a month ago. They are completely different. They are also different from my

SOPs. My FLAS essays were geared towards the evolution of my language acquisition. Without mentioning the term diglossia, I discussed the diglossic journey I have taken in my target language. I mentioned how I studied my target language and its unique dialects in three different countries. I explained how I developed my language skills in my content courses as well as outside of class. I described how I expanded my vernacular skills through the different independent projects I completed in each country during my years abroad. I discussed how I developed my dialect skills through exploring the culture and politics of each country. I also mentioned how I wanted to move from the advanced level to the superior level and how I was going to use the FLAS to do it in each particular program. Finally, I tied it all into my government service goals. For my summer supplement I mentioned that I wanted to learn a new dialect. I reviewed the recommended summer programs abroad at several top FLAS schools and chose the one I thought would be the best. I emphasized how the content courses, in the program I chose, were taught solely in the target language. I mentioned how this new dialect and target country would augment and complete my regional expertise. Good luck to all!

Edited February 2, 2013 by riverguide

[riverguide]

Does anyone know when they make the FLAS award announcements? I was accepted into my program and was curious as to when we receive the thumbs up or thumbs down on the FLAS...

[cm125]

Early April is my memory.