CSC Scholarship - 2012 American/EU Applicants

[lorenz]

Mr Ke just answered my email!

"The deadline is set by CSC ..." = I'm sorry, no chance for you!

=(

[icebear]

FYI, an email with several dozen recipients was just sent to confirm that application materials had been received, the review process has begun and that a decision could be expected in July. They also solicited applicants to fill in a questionnaire regarding CSC. Presumably this email is just for the US applicants.

[kenner116]

I got the email as well. Looks like about 88 applicants from the US. It says that final results should be in by late June or early July.

Edit: It was only 52 email recipients, not 88. My email program counted most of them twice.

[basilofbakerst]

I'm in the US and didn't get the email. I submitted my application well before the deadline. Does that mean I didn't make the shortlist?

[ZhangKaiRong]

I still can't believe that I was able to get everything set for the EU Window. It seems that failing a bilateral scholarship has a good effect, I have a spare one from every goddamn document.

I am wondering how many people will apply for this one, due to the not-too-friendly deadline. I hope I can get one of the scholarships!

[paotale]

icebear and Kenner:

Did the two of you apply directly to the embassy in the USA or through a Chinese school? Also which programs?

I applied direct through BNU for MTCSOL, was notified by the school that I had been awarded the full scholarship/application forwarded to someone.

[kenner116]

I applied to the embassy in DC for Chinese language study. According to FedEx, they received my application on February 28. My school choices were BFSU, Minzu and BLCU, all in Beijing.

[ms.foo]

I also got the email and questionnaire yesterday. The recipient list was very close to--if not exactly--fifty people.

@basil... Don't despair. This seems to be a new thing this year, so I'm not sure we should speculate much on what it all means, especially based on only a handful of posts.

[icebear]

I applied directly to the embassy.

[cnel144]

Good luck everyone. Not much longer to wait now

[smossey]

I also didn't receive an email

[basilofbakerst]

@smossey For what are you applying? I just applied for one-year language study.

[cn27]

Hi all,

I applied directly to PKU, which had accepted me. But after receiving minimal communication from PKU, it seems that PKU may not even have processed my application! I am awaiting further clarification about the matter. This is frustrating because PKU's International Students Department had directed me to apply directly to the university given that I had been accepted by the respective department of the school prior to submitting my CGS application. Has anyone ever heard of something like this happening? I will provide an update once I receive more information.

[smossey]

@basilofbakerst I applied for a two year Master's program in International Relations. From what I've heard I have a low chance of getting the scholarship, but I'm still gonna have hope .

@cn27 I also applied directly to PKU, and I have had no word from that whatsoever. Can I ask how you found out you were accepted? I applied to the MIR program and not the language program, but still I had hoped to get some word from them on if I was accepted or not .

For the record this is one hell of a process! I am so grateful for these forums

[cn27]

@smossey

Yes, this application process is a disaster. In retrospect, I maybe should have applied via the P.R. China embassy in D.C. I didn't do so based on the guidance from PKU and my desire to cut out as much of the bureaucracy as possible.

In short, PKU's ISD has not provided much support to me in this process. I was accepted by GSM for MBA study (I already have a grad degree in IR so I do intend to spend quite a bit of time hanging around PKU's IR school, although it will not be my formal field of study) and had to work via GSM staff because Ms. Li of the ISD never responded to any of my e-mails about PKU's procedures for processing applications. I had initially written Chinese and English e-mails to obtain clarification of whether to apply via the school or via the embassy. Later on, I asked some simple questions about when I should complete the medical exam to have its tenure still be valid in regard to registration requirements once I arrived. I never received any responses so I had to request that GSM staff assist me. The GSM staff then said that Ms. Li told them to have me just mail my application to her at the ISD. I did so.

The day I mailed my package, I sent her and GSM staff an e-mail requesting a confirmation of the package once it arrived. I never got any response although I knew that it had been delivered. Then just yesterday, after nearly 7 weeks, I followed up with GSM staff and they told me they didn't know anything about the matter. They contacted Ms. Li and she told them that my application had been submitted to the proper bureaucrats in Beijing but that I had not been selected as a finalist. It seems that the list of finalists has already been determined and that PKU is moving ahead with contacting the proper departments to confirm the registration of those selected students within the respective departments.

So if you haven't heard anything by now, it might not be good news. I would contact the MIR department and have them speak to the ISD people to ascertain the status of your application. Coincidentally, after the GSM staff cleared this matter up and apologized for the lack of communication and the problems, they informed me that I'd been awarded a small scholarship by GSM. While this is certainly good news, I couldn't help but be suspicious if this was actually more of a "face-saving, consolation prize" given the potential problems in processing and revieiwng the application that I'd mailed in.

There's no way to prove this but I have a hunch that the lack of communication may have resulted from ISD mis-placing and/or not processing my application! Before receiving this clarification from GSM, I'd actually written to Ms. Li once more yesterday to seek some status update on my application. However, it was a bit troubling that no direct response came from ISD to my inquiry yet I was able to secure some sort of clarification via GSM within less than an hour after they became aware of my situation.

In sum, I can only hope that PKU's ISD processed the applications that were mailed to it directly and that these materials were shared with the proper decision makers at the CSC. Nonetheless, the lack of response to my inquiries, including a confirmation of receipt, nor the lack of at least a generic "you were not selected for a CSC scholarship" status update, leaves much to be desired.

I hope the above anecdote sheds some light on things. Do let me know what you discover. Best of luck. I hope to meet you on campus this autumn!

[smossey]

@CN27 I'm sorry the process went so terribly for you, and I truly hope I get to meet you on campus. Like you I have tried to contact them by phone and email, but haven't heard anything. It does seem to me that ISD may have misplaced a number of applications, and I will try and contact the MIR program this week and see if they can shed some light on what the status of my application is. In any case it seems they should receive my application twice once from the CSC and once previously from my initial application. It would be nice as you stated to simply receive some sort of answer from the department. I could at least begin to give thought to whether or not I could afford attendance without the CSC scholarship if I am accepted, or if I'm not accepted to prepare for attending my home State's school.

I suppose only time will tell...two months at the most I suppose!

[Brian US]

The 2012 CSC Scholarship is coming to an end. We have a new topic started for the CSC Scholarship Results - 2012 to discuss scholarship results. Thanks to everyone who participated this year and I hope all the lurkers will join us in the next couple months. If you still have questions about the application process you may post it in the new topic.