I am currently a rising junior interested in applying for the NSLI-Y summer program in Russia, what should I be sure to look for in the application that could help me along the way? Should I make sure to include certain things in my essays (what the admission reviewers like to see)? Also, can anyone who has already completed the program explain what it’s like, and what the hardest aspect of it was (including the summer immersion program itself and the application as well).
THANKS!!!
Hi! I’m actually heading to Korea in two weeks for NSLI-Y, but if you’re interested in following along with what a day in the life of a NSLIY student is, blogs are the way to go. A great tip is just googling “NSLIY blog” and going through all the blogs that pop up. Most of the people who tend to blog usually hit all of those questions you’ve asked. I’m actually doing a blog myself lol
Of course, if you have any specific questions or need help, go ahead and ask alumni. We don’t bite! 
There’s a Facebook group (Ask NSLI-Y Alumni) where anyone can post questions, plus usually there’s a CC thread when applications open up in August.
I highly recommend the NSLI-Y FB groups and taking advantage of offers from Alums to answer questions/read essays/etc. Also, consider reading through past years essay questions so you can start thinking about how you’ll present yourself (I think my DD started doing that last summer and the essays that came out with the App in Aug were very similar to previous years). My DD is a rising Junior and is a little over a week into her NSLI-Y Arabic Summer in Jordan. The application process is long and involved, but so far it’s been an amazing experience. Her host family situation seems ideal and she’s loving the country, but the language classes are intense and a little overwhelming (she’s and the rest of her group are novice level and while she worked pretty hard on the pre-departure language course, it’s still tough to learn a new language with a new alphabet). Luckily her host Dad is a professor and likes to help and he’s serving as an extra tutor for her each evening, but compared to French (which she’s studied for 5+ years), Arabic is a whole new level of difficulty.
Definitely read the blogs - many kids keep them (my DD has just started hers and it only has a few posts so far, but it’s abbiemcadams.blogspot.com)
Good luck!