Boren 2018-2019

[mockingjay634]

17 hours ago, Heidi Olsen said:

Is this for the south Asian flagship program? Or a different one? I didn't get that email.

AFLI = African Flagship.

12 minutes ago, Cheshirecaitt said:

It seems like those who applied for fellowships are getting more involvement with budget emails. We learn next week (yikes),  best of luck to you all!!!

I'm applying for a fellowship and only have received the initial budget email so I don't know where I stand right now. My budget was pretty detailed so IDK but I was also significantly over budget too. 

My friend who is applying for one in Eastern Europe also hasn't gotten a second budget email so IDK what is going on.

[GoCParis]

So I just found this forum and wish I'd looked for something like this earlier! I'm an undergrad French/Wolof AFLI applicant...received the budget confirmation email yesterday and sent that in this morning...

Anyone else applying for Senegal? All the best!

[InGrad]

20 minutes ago, mockingjay634 said:

AFLI = African Flagship.

I'm applying for a fellowship and only have received the initial budget email so I don't know where I stand right now. My budget was pretty detailed so IDK but I was also significantly over budget too. 

My friend who is applying for one in Eastern Europe also hasn't gotten a second budget email so IDK what is going on.

So in previous years for fellowship applicants, the Boren people would send out budget confirmation emails to the top tier applicants, and give them a change to amend their budgets. And if no changes were made cool-They would still give you the award and just cut your budget if/how they saw fit. No muss, no fuss, and certainly no negotiation! But because there are new administrators this year everything is so confusing and 10X more stressful for us! But it maybe that your application just got fast-tracked like last year!

Edited April 13, 2018 by InGrad

[CollegeSkiBum]

1 hour ago, InGrad said:

Yeah i understand why everyone thinks that having this attention towards your application is a great thing. But with the length and detail of correspondence i had with the SAFLI person i'm scared they're evaluating me as an alternative. But you're right, nothing to do now but WAIT

What type of correspondence was it? I received an email asking me to ensure the accuracy of my program dates, costs and financial aid yesterday, but the correspondence has been brief. 

I responded and received an additional email today asking for confirmation of my edits. The email was sent with "high importance" according to Outlook. 

Trying not to read into it too much, but man being an alternate at this point would be a let down. I don't know why they would still be asking if I wasn't at least in contention, and the last second checking seems like unnecessary hastle for an alternate.

Gahhh, this is KILLING me. 

Edited April 13, 2018 by CollegeSkiBum

[InGrad]

6 minutes ago, CollegeSkiBum said:

What type of correspondence was it? I received an email asking me to ensure the accuracy of my program dates, costs and financial aid yesterday, but the correspondence has been brief. 

I responded and received an additional email today asking for confirmation of my edits. The email was sent with "A high degree of urgency" according to Outlook. 

Trying not to read into it too much, but man being an alternate at this point would be a let down. I don't know why they would still be asking if I wasn't at least in contention, and the last second checking seems like unnecessary hastle for an alternate.

Gahhh, this is KILLING me. 

Yeah the first email I received was also asking me to confirm all of those things, the dates, and all the different components of my budget, etc. I didn’t make any changes, and got another email of them pointing out a specific part of my budget (not the insurance lol) and from there we emailed back and forth like 2-3 times, till we finally stopped this morning. And yeah anything but an acceptance would be really disappointing after the effort that we’ve all put into our applications, plus the daily stalking on this thread, and the general torture of waiting for the past 3 months lol

[hawk_eye1956]

Late in the game but did anyone apply for Kyrgyzstan or a Russian speaking country?

Best of luck to everyone! Next week is the week we've all long anticipated! 

[coco5512]

Does anyone know if everyone gets a mailed letter? Or is it just for selected finalists?

[Cheshirecaitt]

46 minutes ago, coco5512 said:

Does anyone know if everyone gets a mailed letter? Or is it just for selected finalists?

I’m pretty sure everyone gets an email, but only finalists get an actual physical letter. I could be wrong, though. 

[sleepyficteer]

Not today I guess...I would love to be put out of my misery already...

[Heidi Olsen]

17 hours ago, InGrad said:

I applied for Urdu under the SAFLI fellowship! I also received several budget email's from the SAFLI people, even when my first response was to not change anything about my original budget. They kept on reaching out and basically negotiating the budget with me lol Are you Fellowship or Scholarship?

I am applying for the fellowship to learn Hindi in Jaipur. I don't expect to get it since I literally applied last minute with spelling mistakes and all in my letter hahah but at least I tried. I want to study informal labor economics in India to work on policy that economically empowers women. I just got into the university of denver and I'm waiting to hear back from American university. I did not apply for longer than the 6 months, so again might not get it, but you never know! I heard the SAFLI is not as predictable as to who gets it and who doesn't. Fingers crossed for all of us!

[Heidi Olsen]

If I dont get it it might actually be better, then I can write a proposal to go to Nepal which is my real dream. What are all of you studying? Majors? School?

[CollegeSkiBum]

@Heidi Olsen I'm a senior at the University of Idaho. My major is journalism, with minors in international studies and anthropology. I was originally a broadcasting major, then switched to journalism after being recommended to by a few teachers and re-evaluating what I wanted out of a career. 

I heard about the Rangel Program early last September, and started becoming very intrigued by a career as a diplomat type. I have always wanted to travel and am passionate about foreign languages, and being able to pursue both whilst spreading U.S. values/promoting development jumped out as something that I would find incredibly fulfilling. I had originally been thinking about foreign correspondence when I switched to journalism, but realized that I didn't want to write about issues around the world and hope that someone would be motivated enough by said writing to take action. I wanted to take action myself. 

So, now I am hoping to get the Boren and with it jumpstart my path toward a career in international development, with a possible specialty in international emergencies.

[Sarahpennies]

This is the longest weekend of my life. 

[CollegeSkiBum]

58 minutes ago, Sarahpennies said:

This is the longest weekend of my life. 

Preachin' to the choir. 

[schoolcat]

Does anyone know if your major(s) affect Boren's decision? I'm an English and music double major, and I saw that only one English major received the scholarship in 2017, and there were no music majors. Is it because Boren prefers students with majors related to international studies/politics or is it because people with majors in the arts simply don't apply to Boren as much? Or both?

I'm majoring in English because I believe that good writing and communication is critical for government work and that not enough people are good at it, and I'm studying music because I have a departmental scholarship that requires me to be a music major and I need that money lol. I already studied abroad for a year in Japan in high school and I've done a lot of extracurricular activities relating to my interest in Japan and government, and in my second essay I explained my reasons for deferring my studies in international relations and public policy until graduate school. I also talked about my situation during my campus interview, so I know that they explained it in their end of the application as well. I also know that the campus representatives probably explained my passion for government too since I've spent tens of hours in their office talking about various government scholarships and discussing my future career goals. But someone on here said that they didn't think Boren really cared that much about campus representatives' evaluations, so I'm just worried that Boren will see my majors and think that I'm not "serious enough" about government or something...

Edited April 15, 2018 by schoolcat

[CollegeSkiBum]

@schoolcat It will place you outside the preferences in that category. Early in the process of applying, I found an info session on Youtube in which the presenter provided a thorough explanation of the evaluation process as it relates to the preferences, and I have watched it borderline religiously over the last three or four months (helped with the application and has been strangely useful for calming the nerves during the wait). 

Basically, the gist of the presenter's explanation was this:

The committee will look to see if the application falls within the preferred fields of study, and if it doesn't, then that application is marked as "Not preferred" in that particular box. Now, this won't kill an application, as many applicants will fall outside one or two of the boxes, but the applicant must include a compelling argument regarding whichever preferences they miss. So, for example, if you are an English major, the committee is going to wonder "Why is an English major applying for this scholarship?" You can still be completely in contention, but it is predicated on convincing them either that your current study of English is critical to national security, or that your future study of some other field is a solid enough reason for them to justifiably forget about your current one. 

As a journalism major, I'm in kind of the same boat as you, although journalism is perhaps a bit easier to connect to international relations than English. My minors are international studies and anthropology, so I fall into the preferences regardless, but I still included some discussion of journalism in both my essays, as well as an explanation of my pursuing a degree in international development with a somewhat unrelated major.

I wrote about how journalism has allowed me to both hone my writing and to interact with international students from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Nepal and Tunisia, and I told them that I moved from foreign correspondence to a career with the federal government because I wanted to directly impact lives whilst spreading values for which I am passionate. Also, my discussion of utilizing my journalism skills to write profiles about local community members took up a nice chunk of my second essay. 

As long as you explained it well enough in your essays, I bet you'll be fine. 

Here are a couple of helpful pages from Boren's site: 
https://www.borenawards.org/scholarships/thinking-applying/program-preferences/boren-scholarship-preferences

https://www.borenawards.org/scholarships/thinking-applying/selection-process/boren-scholarship-selection-process

And here is a link to the info session: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRBP5IJc22E&t=2964s

Discussion of fields of study begins at 37:08

Edited April 15, 2018 by CollegeSkiBum

[Cheshirecaitt]

Do you guys think they’ll send the emails out in rounds? Like accepted, then waitlist, then rejected?

[coco5512]

 

45 minutes ago, Cheshirecaitt said:

Do you guys think they’ll send the emails out in rounds? Like accepted, then waitlist, then rejected?

I’m not sure, but they could also do it the other way around (rejected, waitlist, accepted) and or send them out in sets based on the location of study you applied for I guess.

[coco5512]

I’m assuming results come out in 2 days or sometime this week, and they have already sent out physical mails by now?

good luck everyone~!

[Cheshirecaitt]

27 minutes ago, coco5512 said:

I’m assuming results come out in 2 days or sometime this week, and they have already sent out physical mails by now?

good luck everyone~!

I hope so, my mailing address is closer to DC but also not my school address lol, and my mom has a bad habit of opening my mail.

I just really want to get this wait over with. They haven’t updated any social platforms.

[GoCParis]

7 hours ago, Sarahpennies said:

This is the longest weekend of my life. 

Has anyone else been having nightmares? My waking dreams have just involved me checking my email and the IIE insulting me about my application...I'd then wake up in a cold sweat to actually check my email...it's bad.

[borenwannabe]

13 minutes ago, GoCParis said:

Has anyone else been having nightmares? My waking dreams have just involved me checking my email and the IIE insulting me about my application...I'd then wake up in a cold sweat to actually check my email...it's bad.

Oh for sure; I can't remember ever being this stressed about an application! I'm just ready to hear either way. The anticipation is driving me crazy, but we are so close! Hopefully we'll get the emails early tomorrow. Does anyone know what time they usually send the emails out?

[persona_in_foro]

If this would help anyone to feel better, I live in DC, within a few miles of the Boren office, and can report no letter from Boren in my mailbox this weekend. (Though I understand that such close proximity to the Boren office does not translate into quicker delivery of mail, because that's not how USPS works)

[Sarahpennies]

2 hours ago, Cheshirecaitt said:

Do you guys think they’ll send the emails out in rounds? Like accepted, then waitlist, then rejected?

Not that I'm totally obsessing or anything, but in last year's thread people started posting their acceptances around 7am PST and people who got rejected/alternated posted at the same time. Another round went out at 10am, but that also contained a mix of everyone.

Maybe they stagger it by time zones?

[Cheshirecaitt]

17 minutes ago, Sarahpennies said:

Not that I'm totally obsessing or anything, but in last year's thread people started posting their acceptances around 7am PST and people who got rejected/alternated posted at the same time. Another round went out at 10am, but that also contained a mix of everyone.

Maybe they stagger it by time zones?

Perhaps....either way they are slowly killing me. I’m also having stress dreams (not exactly nightmares), even though I’m mentally preparing myself.

 

if we don’t actually get it tomorrow I will scream. This is worse than when I was waiting to hear about my acceptance into my program abroad. They said “yoi’lll here by 3pm on x day” and it was 5 and I heard nothing (luckily I got in.)

Strangely, I’m super stressed but also still optimistic. I’m gonna go watch a quiet place and chill.