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Information For:

Boren Scholarships

Deadline NYU internal deadline - December 1, 2017
Final deadline - February 8, 2018
Eligibility US citizen
Duration 8 weeks - 1 academic year
Website http://www.borenawards.org/
Contact scholarships@nyu.edu

Candidate must

  • be a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior
  • be a U.S. citizen who is matriculated in an accredited undergraduate program located within the US
  • apply to a study abroad program with a language study component in a Boren-supported country/language, and plan to continue language study after your return
  • be a college student during the Boren-funded abroad program, i.e. you cannot receive your bachelor's degree beforehand
  • have academic and career goals which resonate with Boren's emphasis on U.S. national security and/or international affairs

Outline

Boren Scholarships provide funding for US undergraduate students to study less commonly taught languages critical to US interests. The length of the program ranges from 8 weeks to a full academic year. Boren recipients are committed to work in the federal government for at least one year.

NYU Endorsement Process

Please note that all Boren Scholarship applicants must be in contact with the Boren Scholarship NYU Campus Representative well in advance of the final deadline so that the Campus Representative can both provide advice and have the time to produce a formal evaluation of all applications prior to the final deadline.

Advice from NYU Boren Recipients

Nahyun Brianne Yoo (Japan, 2014-15):

Advice: Prepare as if you are going for a job interview before you speak with advisors on potential scholarship/fellowship opportunities. To prep these meetings, you need to have a deep understanding of not only on the scholarship/fellowship of your interest but also yourself. Have your strengths and weaknesses, personal, academic, and professional experience and skills, and goals clearly organized, all of which should be relevant to your scholarship/fellowship of interest. Once you have them under your belt in a succinct manner as if you are on a job interview, you can explain exactly where you are coming from and what you would like to achieve with this valuable opportunity.

 

K. Suzanne Hatcher (India, 2010-11): 

Advice: APPLY. Seriously, take one night, sit down, and do it. Particularly for those who have been studying or are interested in languages that are less popular, but critical to the U.S. national interest, there are innumerable and life-changing opportunities out there, and not that many people applying for them. The year I applied for the Boren in Urdu, I was one of only a handful of applicants in the entire country. Yes, the process can seem arduous, and is probably designed that way to discourage large numbers of applicants; but one scholarship opportunity generally leads to another, and your life will then take unforeseen paths and possibilities.