sunbean8

All of your expenses for the orientation in DC will be paid for by Fulbright; they will book your hotel room and you will reserve your plane ticket through them. So while waiting to hear on the orientation details is annoying, booking later is not going to lead to greater costs on your part. Given that you already know the dates and can plan for them, I'd not worry too much about when Fulbright sends you the orientation information. Lovely series of waiting games, this whole thing.

I did the same thing. Called the doctor's office from the post-office vaguely panicked, but she still had the address.

To the best of my understanding (and I've been doing this 5 years now), the tuition waver is not considered income and is not taxed. At least, I've never payed taxes on it nor have any of my friends, and one of them was randomly audited and the auditor found nothing wrong. Your living stipend, however, IS considered income and is taxed. Your school should know what aid it has given you and adjust that accordingly; the dean's office for your school will have to fill out a form attesting to what aid/income the university is giving you. The financial aid office then decides how much you are eligible for in terms of loans to cover additional tuition costs AND cost of living. So unless that $30K cost of attendance includes reasonable cost of living estimates, you can expect to be offered more than $10K in loans, from a variety of sources (Stafford, subsidized and unsubsidized; and , in some cases, private loans although I would avoid those like the plague if you possibly can). Also, I'd advise you to do a self-screening online for public assistance eligibility. It's not glamorous, but a lot of grad students actually do qualify for some forms of public assistance, depending on their stipend rate. I am fully funded for tuition and have a reasonable stipend (~$15,000 for the two semesters), and qualify for a low-income heating assitance grant every year, which allows me to keep my apartment at a reasonably warm temperature without worrying about the gas bill. A friend of mine who is married with one child qualified for the heating assistance and food stamps. Again, it's not glamours, but it takes the edge off.

Also, mkurti, keep your chin up as an alternate -- one of my friends was recently moved from alternate to principle status, and we're reading about the same thing happening to lots of people on this board everyday. And it is possible to get a Fulbright for research that they consider potentially sensitive or controversial -- I have a friend who got a Fulbright 2 years ago to study street children in Brazil, and I have just been funded to study community activism in a red-light district in India. Obviously, they think there is something to your research, or you wouldn't be an alternate, so I don't think reapplying next year, if necessary, means you won't get it. I would suggest tempering the potentially sensitive nature of your proposal with clear statements, particularly in the personal essay, about enjoying the culture of Albania and wanting to spend time there as a respectful representative of America. Given the importance of this 'cultural ambassador' part of the Fulbright, a good way to go about this is to say "I love Albania and want to spend time there getting to know local people and sharing/comparing our cultural experiences, and while I do that I am going to conduct this very important, significant research project about domestic violence" (of course, dress up the language a bit ). It keeps your project intact, as you want it, while highlighting the ways in which your goals and the goals of Fulbright overlap.

Mkurti, with all respect, I think pushing them on this is a bad idea. You've asked them why you were an alternate and they have told you -- while your goals and Fulbright's goals are not mutually exclusive, they are not 100% in alignment. The primary goal of the Fulbright comission is cross-cultural understanding and exchange, not only what you consider important research. (And your research does sound important; I do not mean to imply that it does not; but Fulbright is clear that it is not out to address controversial issues.) I personally think that having professors write letters to the embassy and Fulbright asking for additional funding is a bit foolish, in that it implies disrespect for those making the decisions at Fulbright. I do applaud your desire to make this happen, one way or another -- that will serve you very, very well in conducting research in a foreign country. But blatantly questioning the decision-making of a funding agency is not going to put you on their good side, and is unlikely to result in their requisitioning additional funding for you. Just my two cents. I do wish you luck in completing your research.

There are campus ratings -- the interview committee gives each application a score (I believe on the scale of 1-5). I do not think the campus ranks applicants, and a score of 5 from any campus should in theory be equal once applications are passed on to the national level. My FPA said that if the campus rates the application below a 4, there's very little chance that Fulbright will fund you.

I could be wrong, but I think that the discussion of school ranking earlier was about overall university ranking, probably according to US News & World Report, or whatever it is that ranks academic institutions (?). Your school's ranking/standing in the academic community should not affect your chances of getting a Fulbright, although some schools have higher percentages of their applicants get Fulbrights, or large numbers of successful applicants in general. I would guess there are two reasons for this -- schools with large numbers of successful applicants seem often to be major research institutions, which probably have more people (in terms of sheer numbers) who are interested in applying to Fulbright and have had the resources to put together successful applications. In terms of the percentages, I am under the impression that the school's FPA has a lot to do with that -- my school generally has fewer Fulbright applications than other major research institutions, but a high percentage of applicants get it. In 2006-2007, our success rate was almost 50% (don't know what it is this year yet) -- my FPA is very strict about what constitutes a successful application, which can be difficult if for some reason you don't have something she wants; however, the stats would indicate that she's good at her job. Hope this helps. Or were you asking something else?

On a practical note, did anyone else doing Fulbright India get the e-mail from Girish about e-mailing our bank account information to someone so that they can set up direct deposit? If so, anyone else feel a little queasy about this -- It's not that I don't trust Fulbright India, but there are tons of ways for that to be intercepted and cause us lots of trouble. I was thinking of asking if there is a way to put it into the secure website that they say they'll send us information about. Anyone else in this boat want to also question them about this? Any other ideas for secure way to get this sensitive information to them?

What worked for me was persistance, but also getting to know the goals of those involved in the selection process. This involved tailoring my Fulbright application to the goals of the organization and host country (and by tailoring, I don't mean being ungenuine -- luckly, one of the basic goals of my discipline, cultural anthropology, aligns quite nicely with Fulbright's desire to promote cultural understanding). My project is multi-faceted, and in applying to each funding organization I sought to highlight the facet of the project that I thought was most in line with the organization's goals. More specifically, for the Fulbright-IIE, I was careful to take the advice of my FPA (for those of us applying through our universities). When I went to India last summer for a second round of preliminary work, I got a letter of support from everyone who I thought had something to say about either my project or me as a person. This means that I have a letter of support from the NGO that I will work with, but also from my landlord last summer who wrote about how well I "adapted" to India and how much she had enjoyed getting to know me; from a Hindi tutor who wrote about my language skills and how hard I worked as a student; and from the president of a second NGO whose work is only tangentially related to mine, but who wrote in support of my topic and promised to assist me however they could. My letters were thus a mixture of the very practical (i.e., those from the NGOs) and those that attested to the fact that I was functional in and respectful of Indian culture, and that I was a hard-worker within that context. So for those of you doing preliminary work for a Fulbright, don't only get letters of affiliation from academics and professionals -- getting some more personal ones probably helps. Also, with regards to my FPA -- she is very good at her job (my school gets LOTS of Fulbrights), but also very, very opinionated on what constitutes a good application. Because she, in conjunction with other individualized committee members, is influential in rating our applications before they are sent on to NY, I was careful about my interactions with her and strove to be sure that I was making a good impression, meeting her deadlines on time, and taking her advice. The number of people at my school who either discounted her, were disrespectful to her, or did not meet her deadlines was amazing to me, given that in some ways she is the first the line of "reviewers" who will see and rate our applications. So if you have an FPA, foster and maintain a good relationship. After that, write drafts, get comments, put together the best package you can. And if you are rejected and reapply, ask for feedback from Fulbright so that you can understand what about your project resulted in its not being funded (or what could have helped you be higher ranked if you were clearly in the "fundable" category). Good luck to everyone in this forum -- And for those of you going to India this summer, I look forward to meeting you in Delhi in August.

If I could throw my two cents in here, this quote is at the crux of what's going on here. The fact of the matter is that everyone who became a finalist for the Fulbright (and a lot of those who did not make it through that first round) are intelligent people with great qualifications who are curious about the world, and there are more people with the right qualifications and interests than there are Fulbright awards. The goals of the Fulbright commission do not always overlap with our own goals, and who we think is "deserving" of a Fulbright is based entirely on our situation in life. I am in a PhD program that requres graduate students to fund their own dissertation research -- if you can't get that external funding, you can't do your research and you can't finish your degree, resulting in perpetual ABD status. From _my_ perspective, then, I would like to see Fulbrights going to talented graduate students who literally need it to fulfill their degree. Please read the next sentence before you start attacking and insulting this, so you'll see my argument. I realize, however, that it is not the only goal of Fulbright commission to fund talented graduate students who need a Fulbright or other, similar, award to complete their degree, and that there are good reasons for that -- namely, promoting cross-cultural understanding, which is something that can be done by funding said graduate students, but also by funding graduating seniors who haven't decided yet about grad school and may never go, and by funding at-large candidates who can contribute to this goal and are just as deserving of the experience of living abroad as those of us who have decided to go into academia. In fact, in a lot of ways I am glad that the Fulbright's goals are not 100% in alignment with my goals because, as nemolover has so eloquently pointed out, academics have the Fulbright and lots of other funding opportunities at their disposal, whereas Fulbright is one of the only institutions that give non-academics the opportunity to live abroad. I am very pleased, and very proud, to have received a Fulbright this year. But for those of you who are alternates or where rejected, I definitely feel your pain -- This Fulbright is the 10th major grant that I have applied to (i.e., I have received 9 rejections from granting agencies, and each and every one hurt, although none as much as that first one). My grants have, of course, become better-written and more nuanced as I've gone through this process, but starting with the first one, my academic advisor believed them to have been fundable, as did the professors and language instructors who wrote letters of recommendations for me (some of whom are currently at "the top of their field," for whatever that is worth). Despite that, Fulbright is the first to fund me, and I have a decent shot at an NSF when I submit revisions. With my 1 grant, and another "maybe," this means that the same project has been rejected flatly 8 times by 6 different granting institutions. As many people have said, a lot of this is arbitrary -- getting a grant depends on, first and foremost, your own hard work to make sure that you've put together the best application package you can; but after that it depends on a number of factors: Who is on the panel reviewing applications that year? Do they like they research questions you are asking and agree with your methodology? What specific topics/areas does the granting agency specialize in? What are the politics of the geographical area that you want to work in? Is your topic too controversial for that area? How many other well-qualified applicants are there in the same pool of applications? Finally, do your goals align with the goals of the organization? And bear in mind here, that the goals of the Fulbright are different than those of a lot of the other organizations -- they do not exclusively want to fund research, but to promote understanding, and so you could have the most worthy research project in the world and still not be funded by them if they don't think your goals or personality are in alignment with theirs. And then, finally, there are a lot more of us with good research ideas, excellent credentials, and goals and personalities that are in alignment with Fulbright's than there are Fulbright grants.

To echo what others have said: take the job! Bear in mind that, depending on the details of the job, you may still be able to take the Fulbright if offered it -- You have to start the Fulbright within a certain period of time, but there is a wide window; I have friends who have started their Fulbrights in January and February rather than August. So if the job is something you could leave with several months notice, you could still take the Fulbright if offered it. If not, you can always reapply next year, and making more contacts in South Asia can't hurt your chances.

Mine was a smaller manila envelope (the 8.5"x11" papers inside were folded to fit), also with about 5 sheets of paper in it. The envelopes themselves seem to vary (I know someone who got a white envelope), but if you're trying to figure out if you'll know whether you got an acceptance before you open it, I'd say that a thick envelope is a good sign. Alternate and rejection letters are, according to some friends of mine, single sheets of paper.

Most everything that I applied, and re-applied for, with the exception of the Fulbright-IIE, was intended to fund dissertation research, and most agencies that fund research are focused on academics rather than anyone at-large. (For anyone interested, I did the standard anthro/social science circuit -- Fulbright-IIE, Fulbright-Hays, SSRC, NSF, Wenner-Gren, and one that was area-specific, AIIS. Rejected for everything except the Fulbrights, although I've not yet heard from Hays; and I was encouraged to revise and resubmit by NSF.) That being said, there are all kinds of small grants out there that fund various kinds of research or projects by those who are not currently students -- you'd need to look into what kind of small granting agencies there are for work in your field/related to your field in your city, and you might turn something up, although availability of funding outside of the academy is very, very low. I know of academics with PhD's who never found a stable job, and also get shut out of the funding loop for this reason. It's difficult. I do wish you luck, though, nemolover, and I hope you're able to find something -- bear in mind that it is possible to work and do research at the same time, but very difficult to balance if you don't have a job with very, very flexible hours. Field research is slow and time-consuming; interviews/appointments are sometimes difficult to schedule, and while lots of people will be very helpful, lots will also not keep appointments, or just not want to tell you "no" even if they'd rather not be involved (esp. in South Asia, in my experience). So if you are going to fund your research by working, give yourself a lot of extra time -- plan on more than 9 months to a year. That being said, I know two people who have funded their own research in South Asia (one in India and one in Pakistan). Both did so by working full-time in the US for a year or so to save up $10,000-$12,000, and then going to the field to conduct their research. It means more waiting, but is a lot more feasible than trying to work and support yourself in the field while trying to do research (in my opinion).

Given that this is a grad school board, I thought I'd send out some advice about how this kind of waiting relates to what happens later in graduate school regarding funding (for fieldwork, and for tuition/living expenses) -- This sort of waiting, as unfair and infuriating as it is, is REALLY common in graduate programs and is something I wish I'd understood better before coming to grad school. Many programs are unable to tell you if you will be funded from semester-to-semester (although some will guarantee that you will have funding for x number of years, which may or may not be enough time reasonably fulfill the degree requirements), let alone what you will be doing well in advance. Although I have been fully funded through 5 years of a doctoral program in Anthropology, and am very grateful for it, we are only assured 3 years of funding in my program at the outset, which is enough to get most students in the program through coursework but often not the grantwriting and comprehensive exam phase. For the last 2 years, I have been told my funding status (and what I will be teaching) sometimes as few as 3 weeks before the next semester starts. And while Fulbright is unusually long in its decision-making, most granting agencies will make you wait quite a bit before responding. So if this sort of thing is something that you can't (or don't want to) deal with, grad school might not be right for you. Anyone out there agree/disagree? Also, for those wait-listed or rejected -- don't despair too much. If you got to this stage, you are on to something, and doing a second round of proposals will probably yield a grant for you. This was my second round of proposals, and due to some follow-up preliminary fieldwork and following the advice of faculty and reviewers, I was able to get funded this time. I know people who have gone through 3 or more rounds of proposals and eventually got a grant. So if your project is something that you are genuinely committed to, look around for other sources of funding but also keep reapplying to Fulbright and other funding agencies; something will eventually pan out (whether you want to wait or not is another thing...)

I'm research, anthropology, will be based in Varanasi. Where are the other India Fulbrighters on this board based?