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Fulbright 2017-2018


jenrd

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29 minutes ago, ibette said:

Should we wait for 5:30PM? I am so confused, how can they release ETA and not Research for the same country? FFS what is going on :(

Bulgaria did the same thing this year and I think it's to torture us.

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5 minutes ago, mckenna81 said:

As someone who was responsible for admissions for a very large university program, maybe I can help shed some light on the notification gaps.

Granted, I was working on a much smaller scale than Fulbright in terms of people to notify, but I was responsible for sending 600-800 notifications each year via email. This also involved multiple emails to those accepted, sort of like the emails to principal candidates.

It is an excruciatingly slow process, even when you're using automated mail merges and things like that, which I'm sure the Fulbright coordinators are. Each letter has to be checked, and often the emails have to be individually crafted. If I was in charge of sending the emails, I would separate the awards (student/ETA/scholar/etc) in order to ensure that the work was being done in batches and that people weren't being unnecessarily kept waiting. 

Someone mentioned that maybe it means that they're deliberating more about the ones that haven't gone out. I doubt that's the case. I would imagine it's more organizational than anything and - though I understand people's instincts - the coordinators are likely slowed down by all the people calling. 

Like I said, I was an admissions coordinator, not a Fulbright coordinator, so I'm sure they have different processes. But I want to encourage people not to try to prognosticate too much based on the order or timing of notifications. It's probably got nothing to do with us. I also understand the instinct to call (I, too, am going nuts waiting to hear) but really the best thing is to let the coordinators do their work, particularly since we've seen that calls rarely yield useful info.

Thank you for your input, it brings me some peace of mind. I definitely don't plan on calling them just because I am sure they are already flooded with calls which might delay their work. I think what throws some people off (or at least in my case) is that in previous years, and even some countries this year, they have released both Research and ETA at the same time. I am sure you are correct about the batches since there were some slight differences in e-mail times for the general notification released in January. 

 

In other news, I am about to go lecture and one of my students sent me an e-mail asking a question about class. I almost threw my computer keyboard across my graduate office when I heard the e-mails ding at 5:35PM...seems like Colombia Research is a no for today :(  

Ugh.

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7 minutes ago, ibette said:

Thank you for your input, it brings me some peace of mind. I definitely don't plan on calling them just because I am sure they are already flooded with calls which might delay their work. I think what throws some people off (or at least in my case) is that in previous years, and even some countries this year, they have released both Research and ETA at the same time. I am sure you are correct about the batches since there were some slight differences in e-mail times for the general notification released in January. 

Right, I totally understand why people are trying to use any prior information in order to figure out when they might hear. Human beings are terrible at waiting when they don't know how long the wait will be! This is why the DMV is so excruciating. :) But I encourage everyone to keep in mind that every email is sent by a person, not a machine - it would be almost unsettlingly creepy if the emails went out on the same general day at the same general time every year. Ultimately I think this is the natural outgrowth of very smart people put into a high stakes position. No judgment - I'm stalking this board and the spreadsheet right along with y'all! But really, we're trying to read tea leaves about what it means that an email was sent on one day and not another, and meanwhile the person who's responsible for sending the email is probably, like, trying to figure out when to schedule a dentist appointment and wondering if there's still cake in the break room. Not to mention that since they work for the State Department, they're literally working under a guy who's like "I've been on this job 40 days and North Korea still won't back down, guess it's war time!" This is not a normal year.

Edited by mckenna81
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9 minutes ago, ibette said:

Eight e-mails during Fulbright's holy hour, if it wasn't for Drake's mixtape I am listening to I would have gone ham. #thanksDrake

 

same. #thanksKendrickLamar

I actually caved and ended up spending $20 for a shot of laphroaig 10 at a hotel bar (ugh) and theres' still no notification :(
since UK always notified either on monday or tuesday for the past 10 years, is anyone else thinking that this means we're waiting till next week?

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3 minutes ago, minswho said:

same. #thanksKendrickLamar

I actually caved and ended up spending $20 for a shot of laphroaig 10 at a hotel bar (ugh) and theres' still no notification :(
since UK always notified either on monday or tuesday for the past 10 years, is anyone else thinking that this means we're waiting till next week?

I hope not. At this point it seems like anything is possible...

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21 minutes ago, minswho said:

same. #thanksKendrickLamar

I actually caved and ended up spending $20 for a shot of laphroaig 10 at a hotel bar (ugh) and theres' still no notification :(
since UK always notified either on monday or tuesday for the past 10 years, is anyone else thinking that this means we're waiting till next week?

 

I really, really, really hope not....but...we most likely will have to wait a week considering how consistent they've been in the past about announcing on a Monday or Tuesday. :unsure:

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Hi! Any other Brazil research grant recipients here? Would love to hear where my fellow finalists are conducting their research! Congrats to everyone who has found out so far, and sending good thoughts to everyone still waiting. :)

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5 hours ago, Horb said:

idk. I've kinda of given up getting it. I shot myself in the foot discussing far-right politics, so I worry about final stages of approval and even just approval in general...At this point, I just want to know :)

If you shot yourself in the foot, I might have as well. I kind of implicitly dissed the far-right RE: refugees in my application. The application was due in September, and at the time, it didn't seem controversial at all. My general sentiments are the same; just having an idea of what I will or won't be doing after graduation would make the idea of the future less daunting.

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Just got done with an interview with Korvia, which made me realize my best shot to even teach English in Korea will be the Fulbright. *sigh* 

Korea ETA better be announced this week or I might go crazy from not knowing. Having almost no teaching experience really is gonna bite me in the butt, huh T_T 

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8 hours ago, Tera said:

Just got done with an interview with Korvia, which made me realize my best shot to even teach English in Korea will be the Fulbright. *sigh* 

Korea ETA better be announced this week or I might go crazy from not knowing. Having almost no teaching experience really is gonna bite me in the butt, huh T_T 

The last three years, notification for Korea ETA has gone out on a Wednesday. Definitely reading tea leaves here but I'm hoping today's the day!!! 

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Did anyone who received an acceptance also apply to the CLEA? 

If so, does the acceptance email let you know when you will be starting the CLEA program? Or do you get to negotiate that? 

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