Critical Language Scholarship - 2017 Cycle

[UnawareInGeneral]

The CLSChinese people sent out the decisions on which city we would be going to already, anyone else headed to Suzhou?

[Ganny]

Anybody for Korean? I am an alternate... I'm happy to have made it this far though since it was my first time applying! Plus there's hopefully still a chance for me!

[p10124394]

Hi! Been lurking on this thread for a while but finally signed up. I am also a finalist for Advanced Chinese in Suzhou! I'm looking for travel buddies for the weekend/especially directly after the program so it'd be nice to get to know everyone. Anyone know if there is a Facebook group for Chinese finalists?

[UnawareInGeneral]

25 minutes ago, p10124394 said:

Hi! Been lurking on this thread for a while but finally signed up. I am also a finalist for Advanced Chinese in Suzhou! I'm looking for travel buddies for the weekend/especially directly after the program so it'd be nice to get to know everyone. Anyone know if there is a Facebook group for Chinese finalists?

There is a Chinese language CLS group, and another one that's an alumni group, just toss out a search on Facebook. 

Have grand plans for the weekends yet? I only just looked up Suzhou on the map. 

[p10124394]

3 hours ago, UnawareInGeneral said:

There is a Chinese language CLS group, and another one that's an alumni group, just toss out a search on Facebook. 

Have grand plans for the weekends yet? I only just looked up Suzhou on the map. 

Hmm in terms of cities we can get to easily by train, I definitely want to visit Hangzhou, Shanghai and Nanjing on the weekends (seems like we already have an overnight trip to Nanjing built into our program anyways). Shanghai is only 30 minutes away by train! Wuxi looks like it might be worth checking out as well. Thoughts?

[hobakie]

36 minutes ago, p10124394 said:

Hmm in terms of cities we can get to easily by train, I definitely want to visit Hangzhou, Shanghai and Nanjing on the weekends (seems like we already have an overnight trip to Nanjing built into our program anyways). Shanghai is only 30 minutes away by train! Wuxi looks like it might be worth checking out as well. Thoughts?

You only have 1 free weekend on the program. Every other weekend besides that one it dedicated to mandatory outings with the group. Classes also run from about 8:30-4pm plus time with language partners and whatever time your host family requires that you come home by.

[UnawareInGeneral]

9 hours ago, p10124394 said:

Hmm in terms of cities we can get to easily by train, I definitely want to visit Hangzhou, Shanghai and Nanjing on the weekends (seems like we already have an overnight trip to Nanjing built into our program anyways). Shanghai is only 30 minutes away by train! Wuxi looks like it might be worth checking out as well. Thoughts?

As Hobakie said, most of the trip is mandatory outings. But with a free weekend, I have heard really good things about Hangzhou, a few of my friends went there last year while I was in Guilin studying and they loved it. I was too busy to go at the time. Shanghai is the easy option, but every time I've ever been to Shanghai I always felt like I should've gone somewhere else. It's Shanghai, but IMO Shanghai is basically just a huge financial sector surrounded by pollution and suburban sprawl. 

[ladyswitters]

On 12/6/2016 at 11:34 AM, emari5 said:

I've been looking for a forum for this cycle of CLS applications! I applied for beginning Indonesian. If anybody else applied for Indonesian or knows someone who has, I would love to hear from you! I'm so nervous, hopefully I'm not the only one. 

Hi! I just was accepted for beginning(ish?) Bahasa Indonesia, and I certainly hope you were a recipient of that good news as well. I'm just now checking out the forum since the whole thing seems a lot more real after the "congrats" email. 

[ladyswitters]

So I've been accepted for Bahasa Indonesia, which is great; unfortunately, now I'm in a bit of a mess trying to sort out my priorities, as I've already been offered an FSI internship this summer (which I might be able to defer until Autumn) and am also waiting to hear back from Boren, which will be some time mid- to late April. If I am accepted to Boren (which would begin in September), the program I chose for my studies is through American Councils also, at the same uni as CLS in Indonesia and everything. Literally all the same, but 8 months instead of 8 weeks and with a mandate for government service after the fact (yay!). 

So, that's probably all unnecessarily prolix, but hopefully provides sufficient context...has anybody out there withdrawn from CLS after accepting, or known someone who has? If so, what were the consequences? The terms and conditions are a bit vague, and though I've emailed student services I'd prefer hearing from somebody with personal experience.

Any opinions at all on my conundrum are also welcome, as the stress of gambling on scholarship acceptance is...not great. 

[hobakie]

7 hours ago, ladyswitters said:

So I've been accepted for Bahasa Indonesia, which is great; unfortunately, now I'm in a bit of a mess trying to sort out my priorities, as I've already been offered an FSI internship this summer (which I might be able to defer until Autumn) and am also waiting to hear back from Boren, which will be some time mid- to late April. If I am accepted to Boren (which would begin in September), the program I chose for my studies is through American Councils also, at the same uni as CLS in Indonesia and everything. Literally all the same, but 8 months instead of 8 weeks and with a mandate for government service after the fact (yay!). 

So, that's probably all unnecessarily prolix, but hopefully provides sufficient context...has anybody out there withdrawn from CLS after accepting, or known someone who has? If so, what were the consequences? The terms and conditions are a bit vague, and though I've emailed student services I'd prefer hearing from somebody with personal experience.

Any opinions at all on my conundrum are also welcome, as the stress of gambling on scholarship acceptance is...not great. 

I'm a bit confused? Why aren't you able to do both? From what I know all CLS programs do not run past august, so you'd just be able to continue the program at the same uni if you get boren. Or are you saying if you get boren then you'd want to do the summer internship? 

I believe by April they have already started the visa process as well as host family process so there could be penalties ,but I'm not positive. Check with your program officer and ask when is the latest to accept or decline other than March 15th. They are used to people juggling boren and CLS all the time so it wouldn't be a problem of you asked.

[_KITE]

I was selected as an alternate for advanced Japanese, so I'm pretty bummed out about it because I don't foresee myself getting promoted anytime in the near future. I'll update you guys if I have any updates but it looks like this is the end of the line for me

Edited March 10, 2017 by bbuddhab1213

[ImagineHagens]

God damnit I got alternate for Chinese. Still waiting to here back from TISLP. Does anyone know about the stipend for CLS??

[hobakie]

1 hour ago, ImagineHagens said:

God damnit I got alternate for Chinese. Still waiting to here back from TISLP. Does anyone know about the stipend for CLS??

Its different for every site and dependent on of you have a host family or not.

[screel45]

I'm an Arabic finalist going to Ibri, Oman  - anyone else for Oman?? 

[sapphireblue]

Congrats to everyone selected as a finalist! I'm an alternate for Korean (same as you, @Ganny!) at the Intermediate level.

It's been interesting reading what you all have heard about how alternates are moved up off the waitlist. To be honest, though, I don't have much hope. I was a finalist last year for Advanced Mandarin in Tainan, Taiwan, so I'm thinking that might have counted against me. I can definitely understand prioritizing candidates that haven't received a scholarship before, but I went in thinking that perhaps applying for a different language would mitigate that factor somewhat. 

I'm also under consideration for a Fulbright to China this year - @hobakie, you mentioned that you expected your result in part because you're applying for Fulbright. I'm curious whether being under consideration for multiple Department of State grants likely does affect CLS decisions? I hadn't considered that before, but I suppose it would make some sense if they know that dates for the mandatory Fulbright PDO or Mandarin CLEA grant programs would conflict with CLS and there's a chance people who receive both would decline CLS anyway.

@ImagineHagens, in answer to your question, the CLS Chinese students at the Taiwan program site last year received a $960 stipend. I think we had an unusually generous amount though, and from what I heard, that's more than the stipends for students at Mainland China sites. Food and transportation is really all I spent money on in Taiwan and both are cheap, so I think I only spent ~$300 of that money over the summer. Other students put their stipends towards travel, which we actually had 2 completely free weekends for as far as I remember. My guess is that since Taiwan was a new program site in 2016, CLS just overbudgeted how much they thought we'd realistically need to cover essentials, and they might lower the stipend this year.

[KiraKira96]

we should make a wechat for each of our languages, I'm going to be in Tainan this year as a finalist for Advanced Chinese 

[hobakie]

2 hours ago, sapphireblue said:

Congrats to everyone selected as a finalist! I'm an alternate for Korean (same as you, @Ganny!) at the Intermediate level.

It's been interesting reading what you all have heard about how alternates are moved up off the waitlist. To be honest, though, I don't have much hope. I was a finalist last year for Advanced Mandarin in Tainan, Taiwan, so I'm thinking that might have counted against me. I can definitely understand prioritizing candidates that haven't received a scholarship before, but I went in thinking that perhaps applying for a different language would mitigate that factor somewhat. 

I'm also under consideration for a Fulbright to China this year - @hobakie, you mentioned that you expected your result in part because you're applying for Fulbright. I'm curious whether being under consideration for multiple Department of State grants likely does affect CLS decisions? I hadn't considered that before, but I suppose it would make some sense if they know that dates for the mandatory Fulbright PDO or Mandarin CLEA grant programs would conflict with CLS and there's a chance people who receive both would decline CLS anyway.

@ImagineHagens, in answer to your question, the CLS Chinese students at the Taiwan program site last year received a $960 stipend. I think we had an unusually generous amount though, and from what I heard, that's more than the stipends for students at Mainland China sites. Food and transportation is really all I spent money on in Taiwan and both are cheap, so I think I only spent ~$300 of that money over the summer. Other students put their stipends towards travel, which we actually had 2 completely free weekends for as far as I remember. My guess is that since Taiwan was a new program site in 2016, CLS just overbudgeted how much they thought we'd realistically need to cover essentials, and they might lower the stipend this year.

Did yall have host fam's in Tainan. Yea our stipend was about 800? maybe a little less for Dalian but even that was alot because host families provide 2 meals a day (according to the rules) but my host aunt fed me hourly even when I was full. transportation was unnecessary because I lived 5 min. from the school and I occasionally went to the mall but everything was within walking distance. 

But from what I understood sometimes it does affect decisions, I know for sure previously doing the program affects decisions since they want to give others a chance (I asked during my year since I knew I wanted to reapply) but as a former recipient to make it this far is still pretty good. What is your research project on for Fulbright? Also for CLEA which program did you choose? I chose CET Harbin special summer term, and then I would start the grant that October which would be perfect. I am grateful for CLS alternate ,but the dates are really Early so I won't have any time to relax at home after graduating. 

[3sparky]

I'm new to this thread, and have been accepted as an alternate for Swahili. I haven't seen anyone else here posting about it, so I have no idea about my chances for being moved up to a finalist, but please keep your fingers crossed for me!

[p10124394]

 

On 3/8/2017 at 6:12 PM, hobakie said:

You only have 1 free weekend on the program. Every other weekend besides that one it dedicated to mandatory outings with the group. Classes also run from about 8:30-4pm plus time with language partners and whatever time your host family requires that you come home by.

 

On 3/9/2017 at 2:48 AM, UnawareInGeneral said:

As Hobakie said, most of the trip is mandatory outings. But with a free weekend, I have heard really good things about Hangzhou, a few of my friends went there last year while I was in Guilin studying and they loved it. I was too busy to go at the time. Shanghai is the easy option, but every time I've ever been to Shanghai I always felt like I should've gone somewhere else. It's Shanghai, but IMO Shanghai is basically just a huge financial sector surrounded by pollution and suburban sprawl. 

Ah, that makes sense, thanks for clarifying. I know it is a pretty intense program, but I'm not entirely sure what to expect quite yet. On a side note, some other questions that came to mind: Do either of you know if the classes are taught in simplified or traditional Chinese? And how many hours of homework were there were on average per night (I know this depends on your current proficiency level)? Also, I am interested in staying in China past the scheduled program date. Is it possible to postpone my return flight? 

Honestly I would be pretty excited to explore any city, and I've heard good things about Hangzhou as well! While I would like to visit Shanghai (mostly because, well, it's Shanghai and I've never been there before), I'm pretty flexible in terms of the free weekend. Since I am graduating this year, I'm saving up to take a few months off after CLS to travel anyways and will hopefully check more than a couple places off my bucket list. 

[UnawareInGeneral]

58 minutes ago, p10124394 said:

 

 

Ah, that makes sense, thanks for clarifying. I know it is a pretty intense program, but I'm not entirely sure what to expect quite yet. On a side note, some other questions that came to mind: Do either of you know if the classes are taught in simplified or traditional Chinese? And how many hours of homework were there were on average per night (I know this depends on your current proficiency level)? Also, I am interested in staying in China past the scheduled program date. Is it possible to postpone my return flight? 

Honestly I would be pretty excited to explore any city, and I've heard good things about Hangzhou as well! While I would like to visit Shanghai (mostly because, well, it's Shanghai and I've never been there before), I'm pretty flexible in terms of the free weekend. Since I am graduating this year, I'm saving up to take a few months off after CLS to travel anyways and will hopefully check more than a couple places off my bucket list. 

Classes are taught in simplified

no idea how much homework, the amount of work per night from what I understand is 3-4 hours per night

It is not easy to delay your return flight, pretty sure that if you do that you pay for the return flight. Just staying beyond the end of the program requires more than I'd like to travel from what I understand. However you can ask these questions of the program contacts you were given in the email from CLSChinese. They can tell you the answers to that kind of thing. They won't drop you from the program just for asking, but I will say at least from what I have read that we are going over on a very specific kind of visa (possibly just a student visa or a modified version of it) that does not allow for any kind of overstay. Staying longer would involve getting your visa switched while you are in country and the flight over and flight back is all booked by the program, set dates not terribly flexible. 

But, you don't ask you don't get... so go for it, 

[hobakie]

3 hours ago, UnawareInGeneral said:

Classes are taught in simplified

no idea how much homework, the amount of work per night from what I understand is 3-4 hours per night

It is not easy to delay your return flight, pretty sure that if you do that you pay for the return flight. Just staying beyond the end of the program requires more than I'd like to travel from what I understand. However you can ask these questions of the program contacts you were given in the email from CLSChinese. They can tell you the answers to that kind of thing. They won't drop you from the program just for asking, but I will say at least from what I have read that we are going over on a very specific kind of visa (possibly just a student visa or a modified version of it) that does not allow for any kind of overstay. Staying longer would involve getting your visa switched while you are in country and the flight over and flight back is all booked by the program, set dates not terribly flexible. 

But, you don't ask you don't get... so go for it, 

It depends on what you are comfortable with. Some of my classmates only learned in traditional so our exams and textbooks had both or were altered to fit their needs.

 

Its not that hard to delay your flight many people in my program did so, the problem you may run into is your visa tho. Homework was about 4+ hours most of it was prepping for the next class though since you learn one new lesson per 1-2 days so you'd have to prep vocab and grammar ahead of time and then go over it thoroughly in class otherwise you'd fall behind. Exams were every other Friday.

[susurrus]

so getting a passport is turning out to an adventure -.-

[Hoover9]

Hello! I'm a finalist for Persian in Tajikistan (most likely intermediate). Any other Persian finalists out there?

I also have a question: I'm working through the forms and am wondering why someone would turn down the academic credit instead of applying for it?

[rallison]

Hi guys. I was accepted to Mandarin in Xi'An. Currently living in Virginia, anyone else in the Xi'An program out there? 

[CLS student]

On 3/13/2017 at 6:45 PM, Hoover9 said:

Hello! I'm a finalist for Persian in Tajikistan (most likely intermediate). Any other Persian finalists out there?

I also have a question: I'm working through the forms and am wondering why someone would turn down the academic credit instead of applying for it?

I'm a Persian finalist as well! I have only taken a year of Persian so I will most likely be at the advanced beginning level.