Sorry to join the chat a little late, but I applied for the Korea year program as my first choice and China/Taiwan year program as my second choice. I applied last year and was rejected, but ended up receiving a scholarship from another organization. I’m hoping for the best this year, I think my essays were a lot more thought out and I found that I could write each essay in less than the word limit. I’m a little worried about the fact that my previous study abroad(summer) and scholarship may hurt meet, but we’ll see!
@ShrimpBurrito don’t worry about the recommendation. Your daughter is still eligible whether or not a teacher submits a recommendation and if the teacher didn’t submit one they will still evaluate your daughters application without it.
Thanks @mcdudley The teacher submitted the rec in time.
Hey guys, this is my first year applying for NSLI-Y and I’m going for Korean program and Chinese as my second, I’m so excited! Does anyone know of any other summer language study abroad scholarships I can apply to just in case?
@neonerudite I went to study abroad one summer with CIEE high school summer abroad and they gave a me a partial scholarship that covered about 80% of the cost based on merit and financial need.
Hello~ I recently applied for the Korean summer as my first choice and Korean year as my second. I am curious as to if one essay is stronger than the other does that effect your chances of getting into one program or the other? For example, say that my Korean summer essay is good, but my Korean year essay is stronger. Would that change anything? Also is selecting only two choices a recent change? I’ve been going through old threads and they had the opportunity to chose three?? Thx~ :^)
@QummieBearQQ
I’m not sure about your first question, though I’m assuming they view your application holistically (including the interview) and gauge where you’d be a better fit. For the latter, I think that so few people were being selected for their third choice that they just removed it entirely. I know that even now getting picked for your secondary preference is pretty rare.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Only 7 more days until December.
Hi! I applied for Arabic Summer and I’m glad I found this board, I just had a few questions
- I currently take Arabic as my language in high school, WILL that help my chances.
Is Arabic one of the harder programs to get into
When are semi finalists usually announced?
I originally planned to save up money from my job- anticipating the additional costs of the program but now I am hearing there is a stipend? How does that work is it just a very miniscual amount that is meant for food or?
Thanks for the help!
I’d assume taking Arabic doesn’t help nor hurt your chances. It’s your passion and dedication for it that’ll ultimately be a key factor of being picked or not.
The programs are equally hard to get into-- the acceptance rate is about 15% overall. Arabic has the second most spots (~100) for summer but it also has one of the highest # of applicants. Meanwhile, Persian still has the 15% b/c it only has 15 spots but less applicants. Thus, overall is 15%.
Semifinalists are announced usually at the beginning of December. Last years were announced on the 1st and 2nd.
I don’t know for the Arabic programs, but for the Korean, the stipend is given for transportation only, and the host family/program is expected to provide meals. However, if you want to eat, for example, at a restaurant or buy souvenirs/snacks, then you have to pay for it yourself. I hope that helps somewhat despite it not being specific for Arabic!
When do we hear if we are a semi finalists? From past results I’ve seen no later than December 5-7th, so should expect the emails then?
Last year I got my semifinalist notification on December 2nd. @neonerudite
@Faultystart
I remember you from last year’s blog, did you get past Semi’s? 
@neonerudite
You can likely expect it this Thursday/Friday!
@Ruzzen Unfortunately, no. Hopefully I’ll be a finalist this year though!
@Faultystart
Same here fingers crossed.
This Thursday/Friday? Oh boy
Does anyone know if there is an order (such as location, language, etc.) to how the results are released?
From previous year threads, it appears that semifinalist announcements are done at once. Announcement of finalist appears to be done based on the timing necessary to obtain a visa for travel and other logistical requirements (e.g., Russia announced before Korea). Hesitant to speculate as I suspect it can also depend on the implementing organizations involved for each language.
@saxophonewizard I could be wrong but last year it seemed like semifinalist announcements were done almost randomly. I’m pretty sure people received their e-mails at different times because people on last year’s thread were saying they had been accepted as semifinalists but other people I knew still hadn’t gotten the message.
Wow, feels like yesterday that I was pouring over my essays and working myself up into a frenzy over them! Just a few days…
I applied to the Turkish program as my first choice, and Arabic as my second. Any other Turkish enthusiasts biting their nails out there?
Best of luck!