CBYX
CBYX is a scholarship program that sends American high school students to Germany. It stands for Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange and was started after the cold war ended to help foster better relations between America and Germany. Everything is covered except spending money and domestic travel to a gateway airport. For this one, the US is broken down by region and implemented by different organizations. Being in Indiana, mine was Youth for Understanding. The application is online, and YFU sent a former exchange student to my house to interview me. I had a horrible cold at the time and struggled to talk audibly for the later half of the interview, but apparently it went well. I was notified in late March that I had gotten the CBYX scholarship and started to get excited about exchange. It's a great opportunity for anyone that wants to go abroad.
www.usagermanyscholarship.org
www.usagermanyscholarship.org
YES Abroad
This scholarship was started sometime after 911 with the hope of creating understanding between cultures through exchange. The scholarship sends around 60 kids to countries with significant Muslim populations. For 2015-2016 the countries were Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Macedonia, Malaysia, Morocco, Oman, Philippines, Senegal, Thailand, and Turkey. The online application is due sometime in early January and over 100 semifinalists are picked for the in person selection event, or IPSE. The organization flies kids from all over the country, free of charge, to Washington DC for a weekend to interview everyone and educate them about the program and host countries.
I was selected as a semifinalist, and everyone at IPSE was wonderful. I met tons of cool people and we've been able to stay in touch as all of us prepare to go abroad. In early April, I was notified that I'd been selected as a finalist for Bosnia and Herzegovina. I had a couple of weeks to think it over before I had to officially accept or decline, and I spent most of that time waiting nervously for NSLI-Y's decision to see if I had more options. I was notified of my finalist status with NSLI-Y Turkey about a week later and had six days to decide what country I would live in for the next year. Although I decided not to go to BiH, all of the people I got to meet through YES are doing amazing things and I would absolutely recommend applying.
http://www.yes-abroad.org
I was selected as a semifinalist, and everyone at IPSE was wonderful. I met tons of cool people and we've been able to stay in touch as all of us prepare to go abroad. In early April, I was notified that I'd been selected as a finalist for Bosnia and Herzegovina. I had a couple of weeks to think it over before I had to officially accept or decline, and I spent most of that time waiting nervously for NSLI-Y's decision to see if I had more options. I was notified of my finalist status with NSLI-Y Turkey about a week later and had six days to decide what country I would live in for the next year. Although I decided not to go to BiH, all of the people I got to meet through YES are doing amazing things and I would absolutely recommend applying.
http://www.yes-abroad.org
NSLI-Y
This is the scholarship that I'm going to Turkey with. The acronym stands for National Security Language Initiative for Youth and the program focuses on rapid language acquisition for high school students. Summer and academic year programs to study Arabic, Hindi, Mandarin, Korean, Russian, Persian (Tajiki), and Turkish are available for US high school students and gap years. There are around 620 scholarships given every year. The initial application is online and semifinalists (usually around 1200 kids) are given interviews. You can apply every year for as long as you're eligible, and finalists are notified sometime in April. No previous language study is required The program's broader point is to teach American students languages that will be important in an increasingly global world.
I ended up choosing this program because of its commitment to language. While I'm sure I would've left Bosnia and Herzegovina or Germany with greatly improved language skills, that's not the main purpose of those programs. NSLI-Y sends you materials to study before you depart and makes sure that you study your target language while in country through advanced classes and tests. Besides that, Turkey was my first choice country for NSLI-Y and the one I had gotten excited about in the first place.
http://www.nsliforyouth.org
I ended up choosing this program because of its commitment to language. While I'm sure I would've left Bosnia and Herzegovina or Germany with greatly improved language skills, that's not the main purpose of those programs. NSLI-Y sends you materials to study before you depart and makes sure that you study your target language while in country through advanced classes and tests. Besides that, Turkey was my first choice country for NSLI-Y and the one I had gotten excited about in the first place.
http://www.nsliforyouth.org
EXCEL Abroad and CLS
While ExCEL Abroad is funded by private donors, it is the reciprocal of a program created by the US embassy and Lithuanian government to send students to the US. It was brand new last year and I didn't apply, but they take several students to study in Lithuania for an academic year.
http://www.americancouncils.org/programs/excel-abroad-program
CLS is like NSLI-Y but for college students. It is funded by the US Department of State and offers summer programs to study a variety of less common languages.
http://www.clscholarship.org
http://www.americancouncils.org/programs/excel-abroad-program
CLS is like NSLI-Y but for college students. It is funded by the US Department of State and offers summer programs to study a variety of less common languages.
http://www.clscholarship.org