Critical Language Scholarship 2016

[zephyri]

I know the application deadline isn't until tomorrow, but I wanted to start a thread for all of us applicants.  I attended last year (Arabic) and am applying to do a second round. I hope the selection schedule is the same as it was then- if so, we have less than two months until notifications for the 1st round! 

 

[hobakie]

I attended last year for Chinese and while I am not applying again this year (I am likely applying again next year though) I would be happy to answer any questions!

[mrs12]

I'm applying for Turkish! 

I've applied before but never been accepted. I hope that this year my application will be more competitive because there's no other program I could do for my current level of Turkish if I don't get into CLS.

[archimon]

3 hours ago, hobakie said:

I attended last year for Chinese and while I am not applying again this year (I am likely applying again next year though) I would be happy to answer any questions!

Hey! I am going to be submitting my application for Advanced Chinese within the next few hours, and was wondering if you might answer a few questions -

1) What was the composition in terms of Undergrad/Grad of the group you were with? Did you have any trouble getting along with fellow students? Also, did most students keep the language pledge? Was there a great deal of variance in language ability at the outset?

2) Do you have any idea which essay is the most important, or what image most people tried to affect in their application essays? I don't want to sound like I'm trying to game the system or anything, but I'm interested in revising my essays to ensure my application is as strong as it can be! Feel free to ignore this question if you feel answering it might be an ethical violation.

3) What was the program like in your experience? How helpful was it as far as improving your Chinese is concerned? What did an average day look like for you and your classmates? 

I appreciate any feedback you can offer - thanks!

Edited November 23, 2015 by archimon

[hobakie]

1. There were a good amount of grad/PHD students to undergrads, most of the students in my city were in some type of graduate/phd program and only a handful of us were undergrads. It was never a problem though and with the exception of 1 or 2 people (this will happen anywhere tho) we all got along great, even going out to drink on weekends  Everyone is very supportive of learning the language and just being in china doing an intensive program. It's EXTREMELY tiring but everyone is a great support system. 

 

2. In my honest opinion all are important in painting a picture of why Chinese is and how it has become useful for you and your endeavors. Each one asks a pretty different question and I do not think that was for no reason, each essay is your chance to show a different aspect of yourself that will give the judges an overall feel for how well you will do in the program and whether or not it will be worth the 16,000 dollars they spend on you.

3. IT WAS HARD and I loved every min. of it. I had studied Chinese for the min. number of years required and to be honest couldn't speak a word aside from the basics. Being on the program definitely improved my speaking enough to where I can express myself with just about anything and even if I do not know exactly how to I can still use Chinese to get my point across so that the other person can help me figure out what I want to say. It also improved my listening abilities by literally so much.(A lot of this had to do with my host 阿姨 who was from Beijing and I literally could not understand her at first so I made myself focus anytime someone spoke ) I am still learning ,but once I came back to my university was allowed into some of the more advanced classes. I have noticed even for words/phrases I do not know because my listening has improved so much I am starting to figure them out through context clues something I wasn't really able to do before. Also I think my accent become much more fluent. An average day monday-friday was around 7 or 7:30 wake up eat breakfast at 8 then try to get to class by 8:50 mine was only a 10 min. walk so I literally would be finishing up homework or chatting with my 阿姨 about what ever was on the news since that is what we watched every morning. Classes ran from 9-3 with one on one classes for about an hour once a week. You also had to meet language partners twice a week(yall coordinated schedules) and you still had homework every night and dictation every morning with an essay due weekly and big exam on friday. Fridays I also had martial arts class (some had calligraphy) and all weekends except maybe 2 we went on cultural excursion to different areas. So as you can probably tell it is pretty exhausting ,but honestly the best way to improve your chinese, A lot of times I found myself in emergency situations such as getting lost on the bus or messing up my cell phone ,but those the times when I realized "I can actually speak this language" since I seemed to solve what ever emergency myself. The language pledge I stuck too pretty strictly until it became weird for us to use english at first I was like I cant wait to be able to speak it ,but it was like that less and less. Most people did the same and for those that decided they didnt want to stick to it I only answered back in Chinese and eventually they would start replying in Chinese too. My skills were poor so I didnt want to waste any time and regret not following the pledge later. 

[archimon]

6 hours ago, hobakie said:

1. There were a good amount of grad/PHD students to undergrads, most of the students in my city were in some type of graduate/phd program and only a handful of us were undergrads. It was never a problem though and with the exception of 1 or 2 people (this will happen anywhere tho) we all got along great, even going out to drink on weekends  Everyone is very supportive of learning the language and just being in china doing an intensive program. It's EXTREMELY tiring but everyone is a great support system. 

 

2. In my honest opinion all are important in painting a picture of why Chinese is and how it has become useful for you and your endeavors. Each one asks a pretty different question and I do not think that was for no reason, each essay is your chance to show a different aspect of yourself that will give the judges an overall feel for how well you will do in the program and whether or not it will be worth the 16,000 dollars they spend on you.

3. IT WAS HARD and I loved every min. of it. I had studied Chinese for the min. number of years required and to be honest couldn't speak a word aside from the basics. Being on the program definitely improved my speaking enough to where I can express myself with just about anything and even if I do not know exactly how to I can still use Chinese to get my point across so that the other person can help me figure out what I want to say. It also improved my listening abilities by literally so much.(A lot of this had to do with my host 阿姨 who was from Beijing and I literally could not understand her at first so I made myself focus anytime someone spoke ) I am still learning ,but once I came back to my university was allowed into some of the more advanced classes. I have noticed even for words/phrases I do not know because my listening has improved so much I am starting to figure them out through context clues something I wasn't really able to do before. Also I think my accent become much more fluent. An average day monday-friday was around 7 or 7:30 wake up eat breakfast at 8 then try to get to class by 8:50 mine was only a 10 min. walk so I literally would be finishing up homework or chatting with my 阿姨 about what ever was on the news since that is what we watched every morning. Classes ran from 9-3 with one on one classes for about an hour once a week. You also had to meet language partners twice a week(yall coordinated schedules) and you still had homework every night and dictation every morning with an essay due weekly and big exam on friday. Fridays I also had martial arts class (some had calligraphy) and all weekends except maybe 2 we went on cultural excursion to different areas. So as you can probably tell it is pretty exhausting ,but honestly the best way to improve your chinese, A lot of times I found myself in emergency situations such as getting lost on the bus or messing up my cell phone ,but those the times when I realized "I can actually speak this language" since I seemed to solve what ever emergency myself. The language pledge I stuck too pretty strictly until it became weird for us to use english at first I was like I cant wait to be able to speak it ,but it was like that less and less. Most people did the same and for those that decided they didnt want to stick to it I only answered back in Chinese and eventually they would start replying in Chinese too. My skills were poor so I didnt want to waste any time and regret not following the pledge later. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to type all of this out! I'm really glad you thought the program was worth it! Special thanks for the answer to question 3 - I'm glad to hear that most followed the pledge and that you feel you improved substantially during the time you were there. I'm also right on the edge as far as the amount of class time required to apply for advanced, so this is all quite encouraging! Now all I have to do is get in!

[zephyri]

Does anyone know when the summer institute dates and locations will be posted?

[pdh12]

I hope CLS applicants find/use this thread! Maybe it can be a commiserating-comfort space...  I'm applying for intermediate Hindi, and applied for the '14 program as an undergrad but only reached the semi-finalist level.  That's the worst, let me tell ya!

 

[archimon]

Best of luck to everyone that's applying - looks like they've extended the app deadline due to a technical glitch, just until tomorrow evening. 

To those who've applied unsuccessfully before: What do you think held your app back during previous attempts?

[pdh12]

archimon, i'd love to hear people answer that! Especially those that succeeded after previously 'failling'....when I got cut as a semi-finalist, I had written all the essays in a stream-of-consciousness, without much reflection...I was working on a huge thesis at the time and applying to grad school. I wish I knew what precisely changed their minds about me at that point. Maybe it was hard to gauge my willingness to commit? ...I really hope I've fixed that, though it's all pretty abstract, in the end...

[archimon]

I agree, many of the questions did require somewhat abstract answers, but I think I made a fairly successful effort to provide concrete evidence for the abstract points I made - such as relating a story from my previous stay in China when responding to how I respond to different cultural environments. I imagine that good abstract AND concrete arguments, combined with a solid career track that demands the language you're applying for together make for a strong application, though I still worry slightly that my response to the question regarding the uniqueness of my background failed to really make a case for any true uniqueness. I kind of just flipped the question on its head and said that, at least as far as religious, ethnic, and socioeconomic background go, I'm fairly ordinary, but that that's a good thing! Can't have America without the white middle class. I tried to argue that I was intellectually open-minded and more than prepared to encounter new people and situations as well, so hopefully that will make for a solid attempt.

[pdh12]

That's a great way to reconcile that question--honest and open!   Have you ever applied before? If so, do you sense a difference between your applications, then and now?

I'm currently a grad student in literary translation, and was fortunate enough to work with a Pakistani poet and his work. I wonder how many applicants are more humanities-based...

[archimon]

I'm currently still an undergrad - I'll finish my Junior year before the start of the program. My interests are nicely related to my language - I'm looking to pursue a Ph.D. in premodern Chinese history, so reading secondary research and, to a lesser extent, doing primary research each require Mandarin. You can actually check the list of alumni to see what prior applicants studied and which university they attend[ed] if you're curious - there seems to be a healthy mix of STEM and Humanities/Social Sciences, with a bit of a bias towards the latter two, at least for Chinese. Your research interests sound spot on though, and prior experience certainly can't hurt. 

Edit: Here's the link to the alumni page - just enter a search term such as language, university, subject of interest, etc.

http://www.clscholarship.org/alumni

Edited November 24, 2015 by archimon

[archimon]

Sorry - I just realized that I didn't respond to your question! No, I've never applied to CLS before, but hopefully some others can chime in with their experiences.

[E.marina5]

Hi guys! Best of luck to everyone. I'm applying for the Advanced Beginner's Hindi. I have learned Hindi on my own and got to study abroad in Delhi and entered the course at an intermediate level. But I chose the Advanced Beginner's to be safe, since I haven't taken a formal class since then. I hope to return and use my Hindi to work with migrants from Rajasthan to Delhi at a women's health NGO to help women with advocacy over their own reproductive health. ugh I hope I get this and get to go back to India... Hindi is BAE.

Edited November 24, 2015 by E.marina5

[pdh12]

haha! what a qualifier for Hindi!

Good luck E.marina...I wonder if that means we're 'competing' against each other. I chose intermediate, but I've only ever done independent study...have you ever applied to CLS before? Your reasons sound really good/viable

[mrs12]

I wonder about that too pdh12, I know a few other people applying for Turkish and I don't know if there's a limited number of overall slots or if it's slots per level? Do any past CLS recipients know about that? 

[zephyri]

They don't know for sure which level we'll place in, but in my Arabic institute in 2014 we had a good mix- enough students for 5-7 people at each level (advanced beginning, intermediate, and then there were three advanced classes).
  For languages with no prereqs, it's probably different. Arabic requires at least one year of study.  Anyone from a non-pre-req language here who can attest to the mix in  their CLS institute?

[E.marina5]

phd2 Thanks!! Why did you choose to learn hindi?

I guess we might be competeing, although we're applying for different levels I have a feeling they group all the levels together.. because my friend who went for Turkish was tested on proficiency when he arrived, then later he was placed in his respective level. Who knows?

I haven't applied for CLS before... but it would be a dream to study my fave language in India my fave place so yeahh.  It was something I started learning on my own bc I thought the script was so neat, and took tutoring at a native speaker's house, and now I can read and write in Devanagari. very motivated to keep it up..

 

[mrs12]

I hope everyone got things in on time! The website seems to be fixed for LOR and everything else now. 

I'm a little worried my last letter of recommendation will be rushed because of the site issues, but I can't control that so I'm just trying not to think about it.

[Yanders]

Hey guys! I did CLS in Korea in 2011, and unless the program has changed, they go for overall number rather than students per level. @mrs12 the Turkish CLS had two locations last year, so I would assume you're better off numbers-wise than those applying for countries with one location. Although with the recent Ankara bombing and overall sketchiness of Turkey now, we'll have to see if they scale it back to just one place (especially since Ankara was one of the placements). Also if you're trying to apply for a Turkish Fulbright, having done CLS helps A LOT. In my cohort there were at least like 20 people who had done CLS. I'm not sure about the Hindi program though!

[philosonista]

Wooh! Can't wait until January to hear back about Beginner Korean!

[pdh12]

Has anyone ever been cut as a semifinalist (like me)??   I have a sense of foreboding like none other for this round! I wonder why they let people know that they're semi-finalists when ultimately half of them will be cut...it's brutal.

[mrs12]

Is that about the number? They accept a bunch of people and half of them eventually get a full acceptance?

[philosonista]

2 minutes ago, mrs12 said:

Is that about the number? They accept a bunch of people and half of them eventually get a full acceptance?

A poster from the 2012 thread said the CLS website at that time indicated 1/3 of applicants make it through the first round.