<p>My sophomore daughter is interesting in applying for this program for the summer of 2013. She wants to learn Arabic. Has anyone had a child participate? Or know more about the program and how hard it is to get in? I know it's a rigorous application process that starts next fall.</p>
<p>National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y)</p>
<p>The State Department’s National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) provides merit-based scholarships to U.S. high school students and recent graduates interested in learning less-commonly studied foreign languages overseas.</p>
<p>My kid was a semi-finalist last year but didn’t make the final cut. A boy from her HS went to Russia with NSLI-Y the summer before. There’s a Facebook group and some online forums specifically for it where you may get better answers about it from current and former participants than on CC. Some of the countries have space for only about 20 students and others have a lot more spots available. That definitely affects which languages/countries are tougher to get matched for.</p>
<p>Thanks Woody. What language was your daughter going for?</p>
<p>We have a close friend who is doing Arabic this summer. He did the foreign service academy this past summer. He really enjoyed the Foreign Service Academy and is very much looking forward to this summer.</p>
<p>lastminutemom, is the foreign service academy the same as NSLI or a different program altogether? if it’s different, do you know their web address? I’d love to look at it.</p>
<p>PS lastminutemom, just did a search online and couldn’t find it. Could you get me a link?</p>
<p>Hi! I have a child accepted for this coming summer’s program to Russia. I saw the application statistics a month or so ago…believe it was around 2800 applicants for 500-600 scholarships. I’ve heard the number of scholarships to each country is adjusted based on interest level for the country. For example, if more people apply for China, more scholarships will be offered to China. From the starting application point, the acceptance rate seems to be around 15-20%.</p>
<p>google north georgia college federal service language academy. (I can’t get my cut and paste to work to attach a link).</p>
<p>It says the deadline has been extended until April 30th.</p>
<p>PS lastminutemom, thanks!</p>
<p>When is your child accepted to NSLI-Y Russia summer program?</p>
<p>runnergnv: The acceptance notice for the summer program was sent in mid-March.</p>
<p>NSLIY becomes more competitive every year. Chinese summer and Arabic summer are the most competitive programs. If your child hopes to participate next summer, they need to demonstrate commitment to the language. A good way to do that is to do a StarTalk program in the U.S. this summer. Google StarTalk to find free or inexpensive residential StarTalk programs in the target language. My D made semifinalist but was ultimately turned down last summer for Korean because she had no background in Korean and did not demonstrate a long term commitment to Korean. She was studying Chinese at school. She did a free 2 week StarTalk Chinese program last summer and even though she was not able to continue studying Chinese at school this year, she was still able to articulate a strong desire and commitment to study Chinese. She won one of the summer Chinese scholarships this year.</p>
<p>^^ I echo the warnings about extreme selectivity for this program. My son applied to this program his Junior year in high school (you can apply for several languages, you just rank your preferences). He ended up being a finalist, but was not ultimately selected. He was highly, highly qualified, already being fluent in one additional language (not offered through this program) and definitely demonstrating a strong aptitude for learning languages. He ended up being admitted to Yale EA the following December, so that kind of gives you an idea of his qualifications, but NSLI-Y didn’t apparently appreciate his strengths the way Yale did, lol.</p>
<p>The one factor I’m guessing he didn’t exhibit was a prior demonstrated interest in the specific language, so the advice above about focusing on one of the languages offered prior to applying might be helpful in preparing to apply for 2013 summer. Good luck!</p>
<p>I applied for the program this fall and was accepted, I will be going to Morocco this summer with AMIDEAST through NSLi-Y. The program is competitive but worth applying. I am a Senior with a gap of 3.7 with honors and AP classes and I took spanish through my school for 5 years. I have no background with Arabic but I think it helped that I had the connection that my neighbors are from Egypt. During my interview and in my essays I really emphasized my interest in world issues and my excitement and openness towards new cultures and experiences. I am really excited for the opportunity and I hope your daughter the best of luck!</p>