Critical Language Scholarship 2018

[Rivai]

30 minutes ago, RJB36 said:

Called the CLS office today to ask about the 'early March' post, and they said that semi-finalists will be emailed of their recipient status "this week or next week, but most likely before the end of February." My guess is next week, but still praying for this week. Rivai, did you know if that section of the FAQ page about "preference may be given to students who have never studied abroad before" was recently posted or if has been there for some time? Really hope that this 'preference' is not given too much weight. 

To be honest, I don't know but I don't remember it and people in the facebook applicant group don't either. I don't think we should worry too much about it because of the wording, "preference MAY be given" rather than "preference WILL be given." Plus, there are people who have won CLS twice for different languages in the past years including the last, and two months is not a limited studied abroad experience. I'm a first time applicant but it seems to me that this would affect the Intermediate level applicants the most, it would be extremely unlikely (realistically speaking) for you to have an advanced level of a language unless you're rich and can afford private tutoring. Seems like a lot of us here who got to the second round have studied abroad judging from this thread. If I'm honest, I would see having studied a language before abroad as a sign of commitment to a language, I know people who have taken student loans to study abroad because they just did not have the resources to continue to progress in a language. This should be seen as a sign of commitment rather than being played against applicants. You just can't compare a person who has studied arabic/russian/mandarin in the states for two years, has excellent resources including tutors and advisers who help tailor his/her application for a prestigious scholarship with a person who is willing to get themselves into debt in order to study a language due to lack of resources. I'm going to choose to have a little faith.

Edited February 21, 2018 by Rivai

[TwentyNine]

I'm constantly lurking this thread lately, so I thought I may as well register and post. Did anyone else here apply for Japan?

My undergraduate career will end in May, and I'm also waiting on word from Fulbright, so CLS might be my last formal classroom experience for quite a while. The anticipation is killing me.

For anyone who has gotten CLS before - when is the pre-departure orientation for June-July programs? I have some plans I'm making for May, but I don't know if they overlap with CLS.

Edited February 23, 2018 by TwentyNine
Adding question to end

[orangelrc]

Anyone think results will be out before March?

[Jess2323]

Patiently waiting.... 

[orangelrc]

4 hours ago, Jess2323 said:

Patiently waiting.... 

I'm betting on tomorrow 

[TwentyNine]

7 hours ago, Jess2323 said:

Patiently waiting.... 

I'm waiting, but can't go as far as to say "patiently". I'm checking my email every half hour or so these days, even at night >_<

[woshimeiguoren]

Any day now....hopefully sometime today.

[iamnotme]

Anyone else refreshing their email every 2 minutes? It's becoming a problem...

[TwentyNine]

11 minutes ago, iamnotme said:

Anyone else refreshing their email every 2 minutes? It's becoming a problem...

It's all I did in my classes this morning. If CLS doesn't pan out, I need to set up my summer internship plans ASAP. Late February/early March is cutting it dangerously close for my decision dates :s

I wonder how long they've had an Excel sheet of finalists just waiting for the program dates to finalize and emails to be written?

[emopeacock]

Oh man. I have been so composed this entire process, and now that it’s so close I am losing. My. Mind. Like most everyone else, I just want answers so I can go forward with planning my summer. 

[iamnotme]

5 minutes ago, emopeacock said:

Oh man. I have been so composed this entire process, and now that it’s so close I am losing. My. Mind. Like most everyone else, I just want answers so I can go forward with planning my summer. 

I feel that. Every time I see a random email or a FB notif, my heart starts beating a million miles an hour thinking its CLS

[TwentyNine]

33 minutes ago, iamnotme said:

I feel that. Every time I see a random email or a FB notif, my heart starts beating a million miles an hour thinking its CLS

And now they just retweeted something from @ECAatStatem. Every notification puts me on high alert; the tension is real.

[woshimeiguoren]

Well if they don't send out the emails by Fri, then I'm going to sign up for summer classes so I can knock-off a few extra classes for next semester.....I have to register by Wed.

[TwentyNine]

I also have to make a decision on a short class in May by Wednesday. I might be able to do both, but it depends entirely on when the pre-departure orientation is if I get CLS.

I have plans for either response if I can just get the response on time, haha... It'd be nice even if they could say that they are not sending announcements today.

Time to get a grip on myself and study.

[orangelrc]

called the CLS office and they said they're sending out notifications "by the end of the week"

[Jess2323]

4 hours ago, orangelrc said:

called the CLS office and they said they're sending out notifications "by the end of the week"

I hate the way that sounds -- Tuesdays and Wednesdays have been popular announcement days in the past maybe we'll get lucky and they won't make us wait much longer. Word for the wise, wine helps.

[TwentyNine]

I don't drink, but I might by the end of this.

[woshimeiguoren]

I feel like they'll send out the emails later this afternoon. If not then I can't accept the scholarship if I do happen to get it, mainly because I have to finalize and register my classes for the summer by tomorrow evening. 

[TwentyNine]

I shot a message to them this morning on Facebook Messenger, asking whether it was unlikely that we would receive a notification today. In spite of asking specifically about today, I still got a vague answer

"Hi Nick! We have not determined an exact date for notification yet. We hope to notify all semi-finalists of their status by the end of this week. We appreciate your patience!"

I wonder what is holding them up in such a way that they can't even give a minimum wait time.

Edited February 27, 2018 by TwentyNine

[emopeacock]

2 hours ago, TwentyNine said:

I shot a message to them this morning on Facebook Messenger, asking whether it was unlikely that we would receive a notification today. In spite of asking specifically about today, I still got a vague answer

"Hi Nick! We have not determined an exact date for notification yet. We hope to notify all semi-finalists of their status by the end of this week. We appreciate your patience!"

I wonder what is holding them up in such a way that they can't even give a minimum wait time.

They’re vague to be vague. Every study abroad scholarship I’ve ever encountered does the same thing. They’ll never tell you a direct answer regarding when things will be sent out. 

[BigBoi]

Semifinalist for Japan here joining in to freak out with everyone else. I called in and they said later this week for me as well. This is agonizing and taking up my whole week lol.

[sdb12014]

So then when they say later this week they mean not today? I’ll try to be positive since they have consistently sent emails out on Tuesday around this time. Also I’m a semi finalist for Korea by the way

[TwentyNine]

I'm starting to get the feeling that they'll say "later this week" right up until the moment they hit "send", or until 4:59:59PM on Friday... when they'll say "sometime next week" :s

[TwentyNine]

The office is closed, we get to relax until tomorrow morning.

[BigBoi]

I'll still be freaking out over here x)