Application Process
I first heard about NSLI-Y in an email sent out during my freshman year. Over the summer I looked it up and signed up for a notification when the application was released. I got an email in August then ignored it until September and October when I wrote my essays.
Essays
The application included numerous short prompts plus a longer "letter to your host family." I wrote initial drafts, then ignored them for much longer than I should have. I had a couple of people give me feedback in the last few days before the deadline, including a student who was currently on a state department exchange program and my boss. The shorter prompts focused on language choice, which I struggled with a bit due to the very short word count, but it forced me to think about what was important to emphasize.
Other Parts of the Application
The application included numerous demographic questions, a brief area to describe medical conditions, and questions of language ability and experience. Even though my mom's side of the family is Iranian, I have no experience with Persian, let alone the Tajik dialect or Cyrillic script. They also asked you to rank your top choices. I listed Arabic summer as my first choice and Persian summer as my second.
They also asked for a teacher recommendation, which I asked my Latin teacher to complete.
Interview
In early December, I received an email that I had been selected for semifinalist, this meant I had made it past the first round of applications, but I still had an interview ahead of me along with a boatload of medical forms. I didn't get my email to schedule the interview until about a month later. It was at the BPL with a super nice alum of both NSLI-Y and CLS (the college version), which was good because I was pretty nervous. I didn't prepare very much for the interview aside from running through a few questions I thought they would ask based on the blogs I had read. The interview lasted about 40 minutes, and the kid who was going after me walked up as I left. My interviewer was also able to answer a couple of my questions about the program and made the process very smooth and comfortable, including repeating questions and giving me time when I needed it to formulate my answer. There was a mix of typical questions about me and language choice as well as how I would handle various scenarios in a host country.
Medical Forms
Part of being a semifinalist also meant I had to submit a bunch of medical forms, but they don't look at them as part of the application and will only be looked at them once you have been selected. Apparently for the academic year program, you even need to have forms completed by your dentist.
Finalist Notification
I got my finalist notification in March while I was on spring break. The email included that I had been selected for the Persian program, which I was surprised (but very happy about) since I had read that students getting their second choice was rare. The notification came right before my family was going to see all my Iranian relatives to celebrate Nowruz (Persian New Year, which interestingly enough is also celebrated in Tajikistan), so of course, all my relatives were told that I would be learning Persian and going to Tajikistan over the summer. They were almost more excited than me. I hadn’t even accepted my place yet when they were told!
Essays
The application included numerous short prompts plus a longer "letter to your host family." I wrote initial drafts, then ignored them for much longer than I should have. I had a couple of people give me feedback in the last few days before the deadline, including a student who was currently on a state department exchange program and my boss. The shorter prompts focused on language choice, which I struggled with a bit due to the very short word count, but it forced me to think about what was important to emphasize.
Other Parts of the Application
The application included numerous demographic questions, a brief area to describe medical conditions, and questions of language ability and experience. Even though my mom's side of the family is Iranian, I have no experience with Persian, let alone the Tajik dialect or Cyrillic script. They also asked you to rank your top choices. I listed Arabic summer as my first choice and Persian summer as my second.
They also asked for a teacher recommendation, which I asked my Latin teacher to complete.
Interview
In early December, I received an email that I had been selected for semifinalist, this meant I had made it past the first round of applications, but I still had an interview ahead of me along with a boatload of medical forms. I didn't get my email to schedule the interview until about a month later. It was at the BPL with a super nice alum of both NSLI-Y and CLS (the college version), which was good because I was pretty nervous. I didn't prepare very much for the interview aside from running through a few questions I thought they would ask based on the blogs I had read. The interview lasted about 40 minutes, and the kid who was going after me walked up as I left. My interviewer was also able to answer a couple of my questions about the program and made the process very smooth and comfortable, including repeating questions and giving me time when I needed it to formulate my answer. There was a mix of typical questions about me and language choice as well as how I would handle various scenarios in a host country.
Medical Forms
Part of being a semifinalist also meant I had to submit a bunch of medical forms, but they don't look at them as part of the application and will only be looked at them once you have been selected. Apparently for the academic year program, you even need to have forms completed by your dentist.
Finalist Notification
I got my finalist notification in March while I was on spring break. The email included that I had been selected for the Persian program, which I was surprised (but very happy about) since I had read that students getting their second choice was rare. The notification came right before my family was going to see all my Iranian relatives to celebrate Nowruz (Persian New Year, which interestingly enough is also celebrated in Tajikistan), so of course, all my relatives were told that I would be learning Persian and going to Tajikistan over the summer. They were almost more excited than me. I hadn’t even accepted my place yet when they were told!
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