On March 23, 2017, I was notified by NSLI-Y that I would be spending six weeks in China this summer to study Mandarin Chinese, and I nearly cried.
I have wanted to go to China since I was in the fourth grade, but it wasn’t ever feasible because my family is not made of money, and plane tickets are expensive. I was hoping I could go as a graduation present, but then my Chinese teacher presented me with an amazing opportunity.
My junior year of high school, my teacher told me about NSLI-Y; when I found out it was free, I knew I had to apply. I made it to semi-finalist last year, but was rejected as a finalist. I was initially crushed, because I thought I had just missed my last opportunity to travel to China for free.
Being the masochist I am, when applications came out for the 2017-2018 program, I logged on to the website to see what I was missing. I was under the impression that only high school students were eligible for this program–I am going to be a college freshman this fall–which is why I assumed I wouldn’t be able to participate. It turns out, you just have to be in high school to apply and be between the ages of 15-18 when the program starts.
And so, I filled out the application for a second time.
After months of waiting and losing sleep over whether or not I was actually going this year, I opened my email to the most exciting news of my life. I got the scholarship, and the trip dates won’t interfere with my college orientation. (I wouldn’t be allowed to go if I wasn’t back in time for college which would have SUCKED.)
You know when you have gut feelings about something? Well, after my interview last year, I just felt like I wouldn't be going to China, but this year i felt like I had a chance. And for some reason, I felt extremely nervous all day. I guess I just knew I would be getting a notification today whether good or bad news.
After I found out I was going, I posted it to the “Ask NSLI-Y Alums” Facebook page and found three other people who are going with the same program as me, and we started a group chat. We mainly just talked about our excitement for the trip and gave basic introductions, but it’s still really exciting. I’m so glad to finally have people to talk about this stuff with.
And, to any future applicants, here are some questions that were rolling around in my head that I could never find a straightforward answer to.
WHAT DOES AN ACCEPTED EMAIL ACTUALLY SAY???
Dear [YOUR NAME], please see the attached PDF regarding your application status.
WHAT WILL THE EMAIL SUBJECT BE?
If your applied for the Summer program, and you receive an email before April, you have gotten in the program. All rejection letters are sent out at the same time. I’m fairly certain that all acceptances for China are sent out before March is over. But to actually answer the question, the email subject will say “NSLI-Y [YEAR] Application Status”
OKAY BUT WHAT TIME ARE EMAILS SENT??
I received mine at 3:52 PM central time zone, but they can be sent out as early as noon I believe. Office hours are between 9-5 EST, so I wouldn’t count on getting an email before or after those times.
WHEN ARE ACCEPTED CHINA SUMMER APPLICANTS NOTIFIED????
I got my notification on March 23, but I’ve heard that notifications for the summer program can be sent out as late as March 28. Despite popular belief, it seems that rolling admission means PER COUNTRY and not the same country gets notified on different days. I.e. All of Russia summer gets notified on February 28, all of China summer gets notified March 23, and all of Korea summer gets notified March 31. This also goes the same for alternate notifications; they come out the same day as finalist notifications. And this is not to say that you can’t be notified a day or two later, but from what I’ve seen with the 2017 application, it’s extremely rare. Don’t lose hope until you get the rejection letter, but if you don’t hear when everyone else first hears, it might be a good idea to start making alternate plans the summer.
DID I GET REJECTED OH MY GAWD HOW WILL I KNOW WHAT DOES THE EMAIL LOOK LIKE ASDFLKL;
All rejection emails are sent out at the same time and generally come out once all the summer finalist have been notified. I got my rejection email on April 1st (ngl i thought it was an April Fool’s joke that’s how desperate i was).The subject on the email will be “NSLI-Y [YEAR] Selection Notification."
DO I HAVE TO LIVE WITH A HOST FAMILY THE ENTIRE TRIP?
It depends on which implementing organization you get placed in (I.E. who is sponsoring your trip: American Councils, SISSC, AFS, etc.) I’m traveling with the American Councils, so I will be living with a host family for the entire duration of the trip. Other organizations do a combination of both dorm living and host family living.
WHAT ARE YOUR TRIP DATES?
For my trip specifically, pre-departure orientation is from June 21-23 and the actual program date is from June 24-August 7. From what I’ve read, I think this could be the earliest China date, but I could be wrong. The latest I’ve seen is like July 1st.
OKAY SO I’M A SENIOR. WILL TRIP DATES INTERFERE WITH MY GRADUATION/COLLEGE ORIENTATION???
Unfortunately there have been some cases where NSLI-Y trip dates interfere with graduation, and to top it off, you will have to make a choice. Trip dates are absolutely non-negotiable. I would recommend checking the NSLI-Y site under FAQs. Unless your graduation takes place in June, you should not have to worry about this. As for college orientation, I can’t give a solid answer. In your application, you do put your current grade, so my thought process was: surely they’ll let seniors go on the earlier trip dates. Once again this is just pure speculation.
Hopefully this was helpful, and if not, feel free to contact me!
(yes this may seem slightly obsessive, but i was losing sleep over these minute details so rip me.)