HOW TO APPLY 

How we evaluate your application

Scholarship award recipients will be selected on the basis of merit with consideration for:

• Boren program preferences: languages, countries, fields of study, commitment to study for a full academic year, and plans for a career in federal service;
• academic record and potential to succeed in the proposed study abroad program;
• commitment to international education to fulfill academic and career goals;
• language interest and aptitude; and
• the quality and appropriateness of the proposed program and its relevance to the National Security Education Program.

The study abroad proposal you submit, along with your references and transcripts, will be included in the assessment process.

Screening committees and evaluators will consider each applicant in terms of the following positive attributes.

1. The student is academically prepared to benefit fully from this overseas experience.
2. The student has prior experience in language training and/or demonstrates serious commitment to acquiring the target language overseas, and continuing to study that language upon return home.
3. The student’s proposal indicates high motivation to study abroad based on evidence of interest in using the experience to support his/her academic and federal career goals.
4. The student’s proposal presents a plan for applying overseas studies (e.g., language and cultural studies) to his/her academic or professional program in the United States.
5. The student is mature and flexible and possesses the common sense needed to succeed in the proposed study abroad program.
6. The student is knowledgeable about the study abroad program he or she intends to pursue, including its formal (classroom) and informal instruction, the quality and scope of the program’s language component, and the administrative structure of the program.
7. The student’s proposal addresses U.S. national security, based upon the student’s academic and professional perspective. More on national security here.
8. The student’s professional goals are international in scope and support U.S. national security interests.
   The student’s proposal expresses a commitment to pursue a career in federal service.

These qualities will be evaluated by IIE-organized screening panels and the national nominating panel. The panels will be comprised of college and university faculty leaders. The national nominating panel will designate scholarship finalists to the National Security Education Program Office.

Selection panels will also seek wide geographic and diverse institutional representation among candidates, as well as ethnic and gender diversity and distribution among academic disciplines related to national security interests.