Thanks @Knowsstuff I knew it was competitive but I didn’t know how competitive it was. DS did NSLI-Y in high school so I don’t know if that will help at all. His back up plan is to go on his school’s honors program trip to China. It’s only a few weeks and more touristy than language immersion.
My concern is that it might be too late to sign up for the honors trip in March. Do you have any idea how many students make it past the first cut in January and then are cut or listed as alternates in March?