Good evening. My name is Marie Gleason and I'm a Senior Study Abroad Coordinator in the Center for Global Programs and Services. I am also the study abroad advisor for the Gilman Scholarship. Starting out this evening's presentation by just reminding you of what the Gilman eligibility requirements are. You must be a US. Citizen, an undergraduate, and most importantly, a Federal Pell grant recipient. You need to be applying to a credit bearing study abroad or internship program in a country or area with an overall travel advisory level one or two. The great news is that there is no minimum length requirement for the program. If you were considering one of our winter session micro programs, those would qualify. Today's presentation is to go over some tips and tricks For those of you who have started applying for the Gilman scholarship Award for this round, the main thing is to realize that the Gilman application has two parts. First is the student application, and that's where you need to carefully input your study abroad program information. You want to check and make sure that you have the start dates correct all the information about the program that it's a University of Delaware program, for example, there essays, you'll need to upload your unofficial transcripts and you can get those in UDSIS and download your unofficial transcripts and upload them to your Gilman application. Then you'll need to select your advisors. You will need to select a study abroad advisor and a financial aid advisor. Now, this is very simple because once you choose University of Delaware, there will only be two options. Will be myself, Marie Gleeson, as the option for the study abroad advisor. And then there will be other name there, Renaldo Blanco, for the Financial Aid Advisor. Both of us will certify your application. We can only do that after you have submitted, after the deadline passes. And when you have completed and submitted your application, we get about a week after the application deadline. And you'll see that later in the presentation. The very first essay is pleased. Note these essays are first one is a max of 7,000 characters. It's about a page and a half, which is not that long. When you think given in terms of maybe you're working on papers that are 512 pages, 10 pages now, this is much shorter. You really have to filter down your story. The first is a statement of purpose and it's a personal interview. It's the only way the Gilman Selection Committee has get to know you. They want to know who you are. What's your story, why this study abroad program is a great fit for you academically, professionally? Personally, what your goals are, how you expect to be able to meet the challenges of study abroad. But more importantly, up until this point, what challenges have you already faced? Keeping in mind, however, that one challenge that all the applicants for the Gilman Scholarship Award have faced is having very high financial need. It's important that your story incorporates more than that. Here are some things to ask yourself. Are you making a connection between your program and the goals the country? Why is the specific location going to be so important to your overarching goals? How will you be academically successful on your program? Is it because this study abroad program is offering a course in your major that's geared specifically for your academic experience. It keeps you on track. Give examples of your past experiences, your skills, and the knowledge that you will use to meet program challenges. What do they mean by that? For example, maybe you already have experience meeting international students here at UD because you come to the Friday copy hours. That maybe meeting an international student is what sparked you to think about going abroad in the first place. Perhaps you have a mentor, a professor, or perhaps a family member. Their experiences whether it was because they Date abroad. Or perhaps because they come from the region that you wish to study abroad in the future. That they have helped you learn about that culture already. That will help you to know a little bit before you arrive. Maybe you've read maybe just the knowledge of how I know how to balance work and school independent. I know how to take care of myself because I'm living on my own, in an apartment or those kind of things can also help you overcome challenges when you're abroad. Because you're going to have to adapt to the unknown. And maybe you've done that already in your past. Also, they want to know how this study abroad experience will impact your future. Is it not just, well, I'm going abroad and I'm taking a course in my major, but that course is just one little step in my overall academic career. In the end, I'm actually going to take the knowledge that I learned at UD and I'm going to apply for graduate school, or I'm going to become a physician, or maybe it's quite simpler When I graduate I'm going to enter the business world and I need to know how to interact with folks globally. Going abroad will impact me in that way. The second essay is a max of 3,000 characters. It's called the Building Mutual Understanding Essay. Now keep in mind that this is a federally funded US State Department award. With that in mind, they want to know what it means to be a US citizen while abroad. Hell, are you going to seek ways to be engaged with the local community that you're going to become a part of. How are you going to have meaningful interactions? People to people? That's really what they want to know. How are you going to be a good representative of the US while you're abroad? How will you contribute to the goal of building mutual understanding? How are you going to look for opportunities? Perhaps you know that the study abroad program that you are applying to gives you the opportunity. For example, if it's a semester program, perhaps you know that program going to enable you to study with local students at the same institution of higher learning. You're going to be with your peers. If you're going to study abroad in Limerick, Ireland on the semester program, you're not going to be able to avoid the Irish, Irish peers. You're going to learn from them and their approach in the classroom and their perspectives. Perhaps on a short term program, you know that the professor has built in. As part of the course, you're going to visit local farmers to see what their approach is to farming or sustainability. In those encounters, you're going to have a chance to become more culturally engaged. It's important to see maybe, you know, you're going to be staying with the home state family right away. You're going to have a chance to answer their questions about where you come from. And then they'll also be able to help you learn more about where they live and what their everyday life is like, especially if you're in their home for the duration of a program. The third essay is a max of 3,000 characters, and this is the follow on service project proposal. All students who are selected for the Gilman scholarship must complete a follow on service project within six months of the end date of their study abroad experience. This is how are you going to give back? You've been given the privilege of being selected to be a Gilman scholar. How you get back and inspire others to study abroad. The main thing here is that it can be on campus in your home community. You need to be able to come up with a plan of action. You need to decide, first of all, who your audience is going to be, how you're going to reach them, and what your timeline is. You need to think about, well, how are you going to increase awareness of the Gilman scholarship and study abroad? And most importantly, is your project feasible? If you never done, If you're not a videographer, this is not the time to start. But maybe you take beautiful photos while you're abroad. Perhaps you can incorporate that. Maybe you're an elementary Ed major, maybe that's going to be your audience. You're going to make a lesson plan for students within that certain age group. Maybe you can, maybe you have an opportunity while you're student teaching, or perhaps you're going to return to your local high school, middle school. Maybe you're a member of a club organization at UD. And they will let you come in and talk to your peers about your Gilman scholarship and study abroad experience. They want to make sure that it's something doable, something that you can do. And if you have a detailed plan for your project, it's even better because that will help you get organized in advance. They want you, of course, to incorporate your study abroad experience into the project. You just need to step back and say, all right, am I going to do an interactive workshop or presentation? Is there something that maybe I learned a new skill while I was abroad? Maybe that would be fun to teach to my peers and then tell them also about my experience in Spain. Maybe I took up flamenco dancing and that's saying you have to, and you can use that, but maybe you've already have a background in dance, many ways to think about it and to reach your audiences. Again, it does not have to be your U D peers. It could be the local community. Just so that you can get the word out about your experience and also about the scholarship. Now, some of you might be studying a critical need language. You can check out on the Gilman website what those languages are. If you're going on a program and you're going to be studying Arabic, for example, that's one of the critical need languages, then you could apply for the language. First, you got to determine if you're going to be studying language while you're abroad or not. Is it a critical need language? Is it predominantly spoken where you're going to be studying? How does that all relate again to your academic or career goals? What are your motivations for studying and improving your language skills? Now, this Critical Need Language Award essay is just optional. You will go throughout filling out your Gilman application. And then it will come and it'll ask you, are you going to be studying critical need language? Yes or no? If it's no, you just move on. If it's yes, then you have the opportunity to complete the essay. Same with essay number five. It's a max of 1,000 characters. It's brand new, but if you know you're going to be participating in Stem Research Associate with your study abroad program, then you can apply for this additional award. You just describe its contribution to your future academic or career goals, with how this research is going to fit, and also why you're involved in the Stem field to begin with, what are your motivations for standing in Stem and doing research? Again, these are what the selection criteria are, what they're looking for. Does the program and the destination suit your student's academic career? Your academic and career directory. It's not just academics, but overall your overarching goals. What you want to become in the future then, are you going to have an impact on the community while you're abroad? But also upon returning home, you get the interaction with the international community. But also how is that going to be when you return home and your follow on service project? How are you going to have an impact on those around you when you return to let you know about your experience, Get the word out. Study broads, really great opportunity. And here's one way, if you apply for the Gilman scholarship, that you can afford to do so. Also, they want to see your academic preparedness, diversity of your background and experiences. That's where it's really important to tell your personal story. What makes you unique in your background? Are you first Gen? What is it about you that really stands out and it's going to have a big impact? What can you bring, the uniqueness of you to this study abroad experience? Then again, optional, but if you are going to be studying critical need language. And your commitment to that language or your commitment to a stem field, that's what they're looking for. Now, it is important that you meet the deadline. The March 24 deadline are for programs that start from May 2024 through April 2025. The application is already open and the application deadline is March 7 at 11:59 P.M. Pacific Time. And then you see there as an advisor, I have until March 14 to certify your application. If that seems too soon or you know, you're going to your program you're interested in doesn't fall within those time lines. May 20, 24th through April 2025 dates. Then you would apply, wait to the next round for Gilman and you would start that application in mid August when it opens. And you would be applying for programs that start December 2024 through October 2025. And that deadline, you see there, is October 10 at 11:59 P.M. It's worth it to try it. It's imperative that you create a compelling story that it ties together your past, present, and future. To highlight the impact the scholarship is going to have on you. It's important to start working on your application and be authentic. They want to see an authentic application, your truest self, and be confident that you could be selected for this award. We have had many University of Delaware students who apply have been selected as Gilman scholars. It can be you then for your follow on service project. Again, think about your community and local schools. And think of how you learned about Gilman and how you could tell others about it. It's obvious, but if you don't apply, you'll never get it. Give it a try. Gilman has a wealth of resources on their website, but you can stay connected. Look at their Youtube channel. They've got pointers, tips there. If you run into any technical questions, you can contact Gilman that phone number or send them an e mail. If you run into any questions, but check out their website, they have a wealth of resources. Most importantly, as with any application, when you're getting ready to work on any essays, don't forget the resources that you have at UD. The main one being the Writing Center in the basement, memorial hall. They will help you if you do drafts of your essay, you can take them to the writing center and they can help you at the grammar, all of that, so that you know you're on a good path forward by using that resource. It is important that you do read or have someone proofread your essays, and that's where the rating center ties in, that you do take the time to make sure that when you are entering your essays, cut and paste into your Gillman application, for example. That you make sure the formatting is correct, that everything looks good. Don't have all caps or nothing in caps. Be EE Cummings this week but have it all the best that you can. Have all the information accurate. Make sure you check the dates. Double check the dates from the program's website. If you run into any questions about the study abroad process, if you would like more information, you can contact our office at Study Brode. We'd be happy to help you out so that you could become one of the students that has the opportunity to abroad but perhaps be selected to be a Gilman scholar. Thank you very much for your attention and I hope you take advantage of this great opportunity.
Gilman Strategy Workshop
From Marie Gleason February 15, 2024
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This presentation shares lots of helpful tips for students who plan to apply for a Gilman Scholarship. The U.S. Department of State's Gilman Scholarship is an undergraduate scholarship program for U.S. citizens of limited financial means to enable them to study or intern abroad. The program provides awards of up to $5,000 for students who are U.S. citizens, Federal Pell Grant recipients, and studying at undergraduate level at a two or four-year institution.
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