Application Materials

This January 2012 we migrated to a new online system that should resolve previous difficulties.
All applications are available online via the links on this page. Send us an email at onlineapps@osea-cite.org if you encounter any troubles..

Online Applications
Please note that this system does not support "save and resume (later)". You must complete the entire application at one sitting. Please click on the BOLD RED Heading to go directly to the online application.

OSEA Intensive Spanish 7-Day Immersion Courses

OSEA Heritage Ethnography Field School
To prepare answer to the Ethnography Field School Application questions go here.

SELT Teaching English Service Learning
To prepare answer to the Teaching English Service Learning Application questions go here.

OSEA Maya Language Immersion
Please have ready: contact information for your letter of recommendation; contact information for your FLAS representative if applicable (that is, if you are a graduate student and at a university with a Title VI National Resource Center in Latin American & Caribbean Studies); a max.. of 500 word statement on your interests in Maya language and culture, including your research needs, motivations, expectations, and goals in studying Maya.

Additional Application Materials

Supplementary Online Application Forms that ALL Applicants must fill out and submit:

• Spanish Self-Assessment Proficiency Form for all applicants, all programs
• Homestay Request and Preference Form for all Ethnography participants. Optional for Spanish, Maya, and Teaching English participants who would like to request homestay experience

Online Letters of Support Forms filled out and submitted by Third-Persons.
Applicants send your letter writers the link to this page :

• Evaluation of Applicant's Spanish Proficiency, required for all programs except Maya Immersion

• Letter of Recommendation Form, for OSEA Field School and SELT Teaching English Programs

• FLAS Fellowship Eligibility Form, required only for Maya Language Immersion program

Transcripts
Transcripts are required for Ethnography Field School and Teaching English Service Learning, but these need not originate directly from your university. While you may have your school send the transcript directly to us, we would actually prefer if you were to scan a copy of current official transcripts that you have in your possession and send it as an attachment to onlineapps@osea-cite.org.

Letters of Recommendation
OSEA requires only one letter of recommendation for each of its programs. A second letter is optional and at the discretion of the applicant. Letters of Recommendation are not required for either language programs, that is, the Intensive Maya Immersion or the Intensive Spanish Immersion.

Spanish Proficiency Forms: Who Needs to Submit Them?
Every applicant to every program is required to submit the Self-Assessment Spanish Proficiency Form. Every applicant to every program, with the exception of the Intensive Maya Immersion, to also submit a third party Spanish Evaluation Form or letter of recommendation about the applicant's level of Spanish and suggested target areas to prioritize in learning.

Participants in Intensive Maya Immersion need not have a Spanish evaluation. So long as the Self-Assessment Spanish is submitted we do not need a third-person evaluation. Be aware: A little Spanish for this program helps, but high proficiency in Spanish might actually be detrimental to the immersion learning as it could provide an easy escape route or option to pushing oneself to master Maya in all contexts!

Troubleshooting Application Problems
If you have any questions or difficulties with this system please contact us as soon as possible by email at onlineapps@osea-cite.org. If you have an urgent concern you may also reach us by phone at 812.669.1369. Thank you for your interest in OSEA!

OSEA Heritage Ethnography Field School Application Short Essay Questions
OSEA is interested to know about your unique individual skills, experiences, strengths and weaknesses. The questions below help us to better understand who you are and how you will fit into the program of cultural immersion, language learning, and field research. It makes little difference whether you have extensive or no experience traveling abroad, or whether you have skills that derive from non-academic employment or not. OSEA welcomes a diversity of applicants and accepts students with a WIDE range of life experiences, skills and motivations. We benefit from knowing about your unique attributes in order to create a learning, training, and personal experience that is more attuned to your individual needs and life histories. Thus, the questions below are intended as a means for you to help us create a more vibrant and relevant program. Please address the questions below to the extent that you wish in this spirit.

1. Short Narrative Answer, Max. 500 Words.   Why do you want to participate in OSEA's programs? In your answer you may find it useful to address your interest in the subject matter of the OSEA programs and how your participation in OSEA will contribute to the realization of your own long-or short-term educational, career and/or personal goals and development.
2. Max. 250 Words:   Describe your participation in any collaborative projects that may have involved research, teaching, or community involvement. If you have participated in such activities, we are interested to know such things as: What did you do? What roles did you assume and why? What did you get out of your participation? What did you contribute to the project? How do you work with others?

3. Max. 250 Words: Describe any experiences you have had living or traveling outside of the USA or any other cross-cultural experiences and personal history that may help to enrich your participation in and contribution to the OSEA Program.
4. Max. 250 Words:  If you find it relevant, please describe those aspects of your work history or background that may have provided you with technical or other skills, tools, aptitudes, and or personal qualities that will contribute to a more rewarding participation in the OSEA Program.

Teaching English Service Learning Application Questions
Max 300 Words. Tell us about your interests, motives, and goals in learning Maya. In particular let us know why you seek an intensive program that is based on linguistic and cultural immersion in rural Maya communities as well as your expectations about the results of your participation in the OSEA program.

OSEA Downloadable Application Materials (hardcopy to be mailed, see instructions below)
Letter of Recommendation (PDF), for All Programs
Spanish Proficiency Form (PDF), for Applicants to All Programs
FLAS Eligibility Form (PDF), Only for Maya Immersion Program

Hardcopy Application Instructions
All of our PDF forms are designed with text fields for you to input your information directly into the document and then print the final copy. Click here to download a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you have a complete version of Adobe Acrobat, you may save your file as a PDF and email it to onlineapps@osea-cite.org. If you opt for this, please name according to the model below, with the year, OSEA-App, your first name, your last name. Use underscore to separate each of these sections of the filenamele: “20XX_OSEA-APP_MyFirstname_Lastname.pdf"

USA Mailing Address for all OSEA materials (including checks)
Quetzil Castañeda
Director, OSEA
2244 Martha Street
Bloomington, IN 47408

If you have any questions, regarding the application process, please contact us at onlineapps@osea-cite.org. If you require technical assistance, please email web@osea-cite.org. We will make every effort to assist you as soon as possible with your application process or any questions you might have.


Application and Processing Fee
Please see our Payment Process for instructions.