2010 Department of State Critical Language Scholarship

[Current Korbel Student]

Just curious - is anyone else applying for this scholarship and if so - in what language? I will be submitting my application soon for the beginning Turkish language scholarship.

[Lauren the Librarian]

Just curious - is anyone else applying for this scholarship and if so - in what language? I will be submitting my application soon for the beginning Turkish language scholarship.

I'm not (never even heard of it), but the info on the website looks awesome. Good luck!

[ColorlessGreen]

I applied last year for Intermediate Arabic study in Jordan - didn't get it. I think my application failed because Arabic was so popular that year, and because, more importantly, I didn't intend to use my language skills in any long-term, career-related way - my interest was more scholarly. Neither of these problems should hamper you, since you're not studying Arabic and you intend to go into something related to International Security. Best of luck to you on your application!

[usagi]

I applied last year and attended the Bangla Program in Dhaka, I was originally wait-listed but got bumped on after a few people dropped out. It's a great program, I hope you are accepted Good Luck!

[GSG]

Just curious - is anyone else applying for this scholarship and if so - in what language? I will be submitting my application soon for the beginning Turkish language scholarship.

I have applied as well for a beginner's language- Korean. I'm assuming it is not as competitive as Arabic was last year. I heard about those acceptance rates.

[zachidacki]

I got the CLS for Beginning Arabic last year in Cairo. I think this program is really hit or miss. I actually explicitly stated in my application that my language skills were for scholarly pursuits, not security. There were people in the program doing film studies, archaeology, anthropology, linguistics, and of course security studies, political economy, etc. Last year Arabic was extremely competitive, but I really have no idea how they selected people for this program. I hope you put together a flawless application and had stellar recs because, really, that is the only way to know you put your best foot forward. It is a great program, and the weekly stipend is way more than enough. Good luck!

[mmclean0260]

Hey,

I applied to the beginner program for Urdu in Lucknow, India. Anyone else? Also, does anyone know when we will be hearing? Is it dependent on the program you applied to or is everyone notified at the same time?

Thanks,

Mike

[GSG]

Hey,

I applied to the beginner program for Urdu in Lucknow, India. Anyone else? Also, does anyone know when we will be hearing? Is it dependent on the program you applied to or is everyone notified at the same time?

Thanks,

Mike

I got an e-mail saying that applications are currently under review and that notifications should be sent out by mid-March. The e-mail was signed "CLS Program" as opposed to CLS Korea so I am assuming that is the case for all the institutes. I am hoping to get good news over Spring Break.

[zachidacki]

I got an e-mail saying that applications are currently under review and that notifications should be sent out by mid-March. The e-mail was signed "CLS Program" as opposed to CLS Korea so I am assuming that is the case for all the institutes. I am hoping to get good news over Spring Break.

Last year they notified us via e-mail in mid-March, by language. For example: I applied for Beginning Arabic, which was offered in three different countries. All accepted applicants got the e-mail, and we were later notified about which country we would be studying in.

[mmclean0260]

Hey,

Just curious if anyone else received an email this morning informing them that a decision has been made and to go to your application profile to view the results? well, I went to my profile and it says nothing about a decision and actually states that I never submitted my application. I am assuming that it is a technical problem, it looks like they just redid their site. This totally sucks because its the weekend and obviously no one would be in the office to help, guess Im just gonna have to wait until monday.

-mike

[kyjin]

Hey,

Just curious if anyone else received an email this morning informing them that a decision has been made and to go to your application profile to view the results? well, I went to my profile and it says nothing about a decision and actually states that I never submitted my application. I am assuming that it is a technical problem, it looks like they just redid their site. This totally sucks because its the weekend and obviously no one would be in the office to help, guess Im just gonna have to wait until monday.

There should be a link under your application on that page for the decision. I don't understand why they didn't just send the decisions directly in the email.

Sadly, I didn't get through. :/ I applied for Advanced Japanese, but no program for me it seems. *shrug*

[srj508]

Hey,

Just curious if anyone else received an email this morning informing them that a decision has been made and to go to your application profile to view the results? well, I went to my profile and it says nothing about a decision and actually states that I never submitted my application. I am assuming that it is a technical problem, it looks like they just redid their site. This totally sucks because its the weekend and obviously no one would be in the office to help, guess Im just gonna have to wait until monday.

-mike

The same happened for me but then I realized that I had to re enter my application's information and not start a new application. My browser remembered info from other applicaiton susing the same system (i.e. Harvard). I had to have my password resent. The info's there and I imagine exciting if you got (I didn't), disappointing if you didn't (not me, either), and brings mixed-feelings when you find you're an alternate (Bingo!). Good luck.

[llirevs]

Hey,

I applied to the beginner program for Urdu in Lucknow, India. Anyone else? Also, does anyone know when we will be hearing? Is it dependent on the program you applied to or is everyone notified at the same time?

Thanks,

Mike

Have you checked today? I just looked up my status and I was accepted to the Urdu program.

[GSG]

Have you checked today? I just looked up my status and I was accepted to the Urdu program.

I wasn't accepted. A little disappointed but that's the way the cookie crumbles. Congratulations to those who were!

[mmclean0260]

Have you checked today? I just looked up my status and I was accepted to the Urdu program.

well I finally figured out that I was using the wrong pin, I was using the one for my Gtown app. Unfortunately I was not accepted into the program. You win some you lose some.

[Ben]

well I finally figured out that I was using the wrong pin, I was using the one for my Gtown app. Unfortunately I was not accepted into the program. You win some you lose some.

Does anyone know how many applicants there were this year?

[hermux]

Um, is anyone else having trouble getting to the website? I don't know how many times I've tried to access the CLS page, but every time I get a "Server not found" message from Firefox. I just read the email about 15 minutes ago and I'd really like to know if I was accepted into Beginning Korean or not...

[darthzaphod]

I applied for the beginning Turkish program and was accepted. I honestly credit my acceptance with the fact that I have something quite specific in mind, a scholarly pursuit, that I want to use the language for and made the case that essentially, nobody else is doing what I want to do and *someone* should be.

In other words, I made it sound urgent. I'm very pleased to have been accepted, though I'm curious if anyone has anything to say about the whole "beginning" title. I literally know NOTHING about Turkish right now. Nothing. Surely that's OK if I want to do beginning Turkish?

[Snydrism]

I too was accepted for Beginner's Azerbaijani. I agree with darthzapod, I made my application very very specific and I think that helps. I applied last year for Beginner's Turkish and got rejected and it's absolutely dejecting, but reflecting back on that I didn't really have much specific that made me a good match for Turkish. I took a course on Azerbaijan's foreign relations (the whole South Caucasus actually) and I believe that I wrote my CLS Application right after I had finished my final paper so all these ideas were very fresh in my head. I think many students write about the exotic or romantic appeal of beginning a new language but that really does little to enhance an application because it's not anything specific about why you're a better candidate than somebody else. I plan on keeping a blog, I've seen that a few students kept them in the past but didn't really do a good job of keeping them updated. There's not much information on the student experience or advice for the application on the internet so I'd love to help students just like those here who are looking for some guidance.

Another thing I'd point out is that the 10% admittance rate can be misleading. I would imagine that the admittance rate is much lower for beginners languages because there are fewer students who have experience with Critical Languages and are applying to the advanced and intermediate programs and they're stronger candidates. It probably also varies program to program. I would guess that Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Turkish and Indic languages have the most competition. Azerbaijani, based on its obscurity, probably had much fewer applications which helps.

I'll be sure to come back and post a link to the blog when I start it.

Stephen

[ungu]

It seems like we've all chosen different languages! I was accepted to the program in Indonesia.

[ungu]

Have any of you received more information about your program and who is in your group? I haven't yet, but I guess it's still March.

[mhus]

Has anyone that has been waitlisted for a language been accepted yet? Or do we just wait with bated breath until April 16th?

[ungu]

mhus - I think they will would notify alternates as soon as spots become available. The following was part of my acceptance e-mail: "Though you have until April 16, 2010 to accept or decline, the sooner you do so will improve our ability to inform alternate candidates of an opportunity to participate in the CLS program." Good luck!

Edited March 31, 2010 by ungu

[hellokitty99]

mhus - I think they will would notify alternates as soon as spots become available. The following was part of my acceptance e-mail: "Though you have until April 16, 2010 to accept or decline, the sooner you do so will improve our ability to inform alternate candidates of an opportunity to participate in the CLS program." Good luck!

Thanks a lot! That helps a lot actually...since I actually assumed that the longer you wait the lower your chances are on getting admitted (and it's been almost a month >___<")

I too was waitlisted and has been anxiously checking email since March 6...-____-

[mhus]

Thanks for the info! I know what you mean - every day that goes by, I feel like I have less of a chance. But that's probably just in my head. I did call them, and they told me that the people on the waiting list are not ranked. They picked people based on the waiting list based on who drops out. So, for instance, if a grad student drops out, they may stick to another grad student. They are trying to keep the group well rounded.

What language are you on the waiting list for?