Ruluo

Am I the only one that's had the malevolent desire to pretend to have received notice from one of the countries that gives a lot of grants? I can't be the only sadist in the forum that would derive at least a little pleasure from causing such mayhem... O;) (Note: I posted this message in large part to stop myself from doing the above--I think this is actually a step in the right direction toward self control...heh...)

Depending on how far out of school you two are and what his job/career path is, can he not find something interesting to do in Germany?

This person probably just doesn't know what he's talking about; however, clearly not encouraging: http://marplenewtown.patch.com/blog_posts/the-sequester-threatens-the-fulbright-exchange-program

I was about to say that, but also point out that not only is it earlier than the release in the respective countries last year, but these releases are still more than a week earlier than the earliest releases last year...

Agreed...I'm in a really good, stable job that I enjoy, and I still feel as though I'm in limbo. I'm obviously biased, but I think it's a harder wait for those of us who are graduated and working (not to diminish the suffering of graduating seniors...). Also, is there anyone else that's worried about telling their employer if they get the grant...?

If anyone cares, I hopped on the bandwagon and called IIE about making sure my transcript is in, and I was told it's not a problem. They can't confirm it now, but if they haven't received it they'll just send a follow up e-mail--no automatic disqualification as the January e-mail suggests...heh...

Whoa, any idea how soon "soon" is? Or did you just mean earlier than usual? Also, this is for all countries as far as you know, right?

Are you sure it's that low at 35-40? When they say up to 2x the number of grants, I usually assume the worst and think its on the higher end, so closer to 50 maybe?

Recommended!!! actually somewhat anti-climactic... Heh

It's better to manage expectations... I could imagine an FPA wanting to talk in person to all the candidates, including those who did not get recommended... I know my FPA has said in the past he recognizes what a trying process this is, and I can literally see them making calls to everyone for mental health reasons.

I know (at least I hope) this was said in jest, but why is there such overwhelming resentment directed at successful people? I've been exposed to highly successful, as well as unsuccessful, people, and on average the successful have been much more generous, dependable, and overall "high quality" as it is usually defined...

Are you an ETA applicant? Because supposedly those were released the day after last year; also, since someone already posted the email the FPAs got, I think your FPA might have misinterpreted the email to mean it's specifically this Friday, when it doesn't say that in the original email...

Maybe you just have a sadistic FPA...

Apologies for the ignorance on my part, but this project sounds interesting, and I'd be curious to know how you're thinking about executing it. If you're trying to demonstrate a correlative effect, I'd assume you'd be using statistics? It seems as though the available data sets would be very limiting (perhaps some measure of "severe weather events" and non-communicable disease rates among different subgroups of the population? I assume you've ruled out changes in global temperature since it has been stagnant/declining for the past 15 years or so, and you mentioned the rates of non-communicable disease are rising). If we're operating under the assumption that rates of these non-communicable diseases are increasing (possibly namely due to easier access to foods and/or worsening consumer behaviors), and we assume that measures of climate change are increasing (frankly whether it's due to natural climate change, human aggravated climate change, or selective usage of data), then I can imagine demonstrating a statistically significant correlation based on a basic linear model with a small set of variables. If you don't mind, I'd be interested to know where you'd take it from there; it seems as though the correlation would disappear with the inclusion of other factors, and that even if there is a correlation, it might be a vacuous result without additional context. Sorry for the follow-up questions and the stream-of-consciousness post, but the topic(s) seem interesting.

I just got a call from my school's phone bank that asks alums for money; I thought it was going to be my FPA or someone in the office...my school can forget about contributions from me for about the next 10 years...

This means the FPAs already know whether we were recommended...

Here'sHopin'--I think what's strange is that for some of us, the odds for this first round aren't actually against us necessarily (or at least not badly against us). If our school's admittance rate is roughly 30% and they take about twice as many for the first round as there are spots, supposedly 60% of us will pass the first round (for an "average" country). I think along those lines though, what's even stranger, is that I cannot visualize myself getting a congratulatory email for the first round and can very vividly imagine opening up a rejection--even though I have some pretty crazy affiliation letters and, according to my FPA, a strong project (which I would imagine would imply that I'm likely in the top 60% of my school...). Obviously there are a lot of factors involved and the process isn't all that transparent, but still...

This is all well and good, but I'd be upset if the line in there regarding "ethnic/racial diversity" is true, considering the application explicitly stated that section, the one including the demographic information, would not even be given to the selection committee (that it was for internal use only)--let alone used in the decision making process. If that account is accurate, it's very unpleasant to hear there is discrimination in the selection process.