Program Options: National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y)

One option for high school students who want to study abroad is the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y). This program is sponsored by the US Department of State to promote critical languages not often taught in American high schools.

The Basics

Students choose their top three language (not country) choices. The choices are Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Persian, Russian, and Turkish.
Summer and year-long options are available.
If your child is accepted, all expenses are paid by the program.
Students must be 15-18 years old at the time of travel.
Students do not need to speak or have studied any of those languages.
There is no guarantee that credits will transfer back to their home high school.

Application Process

Applications are generally due in mid-October of the year preceding the summer or academic year when your child would travel. This means they must begin the application process almost a whole year before traveling. You can sign up for application updates on the NSLI-Y website, but we never received any communication after doing that. Do not underestimate the time it will take your child to complete the application process. The application involves writing multiples essays, getting an official transcript, asking for two teacher recommendations, uploading pictures, and signing multiple forms. If your child is accepted as a semi-finalist, there is an extensive interview process, which took place in January. My daughter was interviewed alone and with me present. The interview is conducted by volunteers who are not evaluating your child but rather writing down his/her answers and submitting them for evaluation. Finalists are notified in late March or early April about their status.

My Overall Impression

My daughter was not chosen as a finalist for this program, so I cannot speak extensively about the quality of experience. From what we were able to gather from students who have gone, the acceptance rate for the year-long programs is higher than for the summer programs (more students are willing to give up a summer than a whole year). Also, certain languages have higher acceptance rates than others. Another trend we noticed is that students who say something similar to "I want to study Chinese because someday I want to be Secretary of State (or work in international diplomacy or translate for the CIA, etc)" seem to be more likely to be accepted. My daughter (at that time) wanted to be a music teacher and study music from different cultures. That career goal did not seem to be a compelling reason to need to learn a critical language. Your child needs a reason to want to learn that language, and "cultural competence or experience" is not sufficient.