David L. Boren Awards for International Study

The Boren Awards review committees carefully review letters of reference and a weakly written or lackluster recommendation can send up a red flag.  With that said, there are a few things you can do to ensure that the people writing your letters are well-informed and prepared to write a strong, meaningful letter of support. 

Obviously, you first need to select people to complete the letters.  Boren Scholarship applicants are required to submit two academic letters of reference, but may submit three.  Boren Fellowship applicants are required to submit three letters via the online system.  Two of the letters must be from academic sources.  When considering who to ask, you should look at more than just who gave you good grades.  The best references are written by people who can also speak to your attitude, motivations, maturity, and independence and who can highlight your specific skills and academic abilities.  Boren Fellowship applicants who are proposing to do research should have references written by advisors who can address the feasibility of their proposal.  

The third letter can come from another professor or from a non-college level language instructor, such as a high school language teacher or a private tutor.  Students who have relevant work or internship experience can also ask a supervisor to write the third letter.  Since this person will be writing from the perspective of interacting with the applicant in a practical manner outside of the classroom, it will add an additional perspective to the application.   Regardless of who you choose to write your letters of reference, you should:

• Give the person adequate time to complete the letter.  Referees who do not have ample time may neglect valuable details when writing the letter.
• Explain what the Boren Awards are and why you have decided to apply. 
• Visit potential referees during office hours to discuss the award.  If that’s not possible, set up a phone meeting.
• Provide a resume or short biography along with the Boren Awards statement of purpose or essay.   This will give your referees a clearer picture of you and your goals.  Plus, they may have feedback or questions that can help you revise your essay. 
• Send a friendly reminder about the competition to referees, if necessary, in order to ensure that letters are completed on time.
• Boren Fellowship applicants: Verify that they have received the username and password necessary to complete the reference.
• Boren Scholarship applicants: Present the signed, sealed, original reference letters to your campus representative.  If you don’t have a campus representative, send them directly to IIE.