amirah

Wow, that's like: "hey could you put *even more* time and effort into this application for a grant which you might not get?" Thanks IIE! Good luck!

No joke! Every time someone else on this forum finds out their status I actually start hoping that maybe Jordan will be early too but seriously, who am I kidding?

This is what my rec email said: "If you are selected for an award, you will receive notification of your status from the FFSB. If you are named an alternate or are not selected, you will be notified by IIE"

Jordan Full Grant hopeful!

Woohoo! Congratulations! and thanks for sharing, at least they haven't forgotten us. i wish they would turn the hose on though. i am sick of this trickle...

You DON'T?

How did you do that? I have begun starting my morning with this cheer: **Come on Fulbright, Gimme a P, Raa, Raa, Go Team Go!!**

Tact! Hah! When you figure that one out please let me know. I swear I am the least tactful person. You can mask the lack of tact by calling it 'honesty' :-). I was an ETA in France, not for Fulbright but under the same program Fulbright uses. School holidays, which thankfully come often, are all yours. Fulbright may have some shindigs or get togethers but generally holidays are exactly that - a holiday. I suspect Austria will be the same. We rented a car every holiday and drove all over the country and into neighboring countries. Just stay in Schengen nations and you will have no problem. Of course everything I am saying is from my experience in France but I suspect the programs are very similar. FYI: If you can find a past ETA to Austria and find out if they have ETA resources. If you aren't able to asses that I suggest you start preparing a syllabus and getting together lesson plans and materials. I was pretty shocked to find out how few resources they have in many of the schools and how little direction you will get. The first time I was an ETA I was responsible for English teaching in 2 junior high schools and I had about 150 students all told. The 2nd time I had 4 primary schools and about 200 little kids. In both cases I developed my own lessons. Because you are there as a supplement they generally expect that you are sort of a stand alone English provider. I hope that makes sense? Austria may be better put together than France though! (Have you seen Unlocking Sherlock? That's kind of a fun supplement.)

Just to join the 'leaving partners/lovers/bf/gf/fiance(e)s/wives/husbands' (did I miss any?) behind discussion: I have left my lover behind for 8 out of the 10 years we have been together for anything from one to six months at a time, usually during the summer. It might be easier for us than some others because we have developed strong individual lives, he has his own business and I have my research and its just easier for us to pursue these things separately. Perhaps drawing up some personal goals which will be easier for you to do apart will help make the time go faster? Like a major clean out of stuff, hosting Couchsurfers, taking some trips...any other ideas? As to money, while the Fulbright is not lucrative, especially if you are going to Europe, maybe budgeting out $100 per month to go back home is doable? Even a little helps. I have also had to put the burden of rent on my bf but knowing that we chose an apartment which was affordable for one. Even so I try to live cheap and send back a $100 every month when I am on a fellowship/scholarship. When I have paid out of pocket for trips I can't send anything home but warm, fuzzy feelings and its hard to not feel like an ass. Again on the money thing, I have taken out a CSA subscription for my bf in the summer before because I could pay it in installments during the winter, when I had work income, and then he had fresh food delivery every week throughout the summer. That shaves money of his food spending and it's a nice, healthy gift. There are some winter CSA's as well, check in your area. And of course they can come visit you during the Fulbright. Not only do you get actual time off for vacation but you are allowed to return home if you want to take a quick break. From the Fulbright 2012-13 handbook: "Out of Country Leave During recesses or normal vacation periods, the grantee may leave the host country for a grand total of 14 days, including weekends and travel days, without deduction in grant benefits. Such leave must be approved in advance by the Fulbright Commission or U.S. Embassy in the host country and the grantee's host institution. Grantees may not leave the host country for other periods without prior approval. Grantees may not leave the host country for other periods, without prior approval of the Cultural Affairs Officer/ Fulbright Commission." I had a Fulbrighter housemate and she and her fiance kept an eye on flights to various convenient places. They ended up spending a week in Spain for super cheap. I hear it is not an onerous deal to get authorization to leave. The Commission just needs to know where you are and that you are not spending oodles of time jaunting about rather than being a diligent Fulbrighter. Does anybody else have ideas for keeping the peace in the family during a long separation? (I am sooo looking for things to keep my mind off not getting an email yet.) Confidential to there'sanappforthat: I love your new profile pic. So can't wait for Season 3!

That is the cutest thing ever.

Google search: https://www.google.com/search?q=german+language+scholarships&aq=f&oq=german+language+scholarships&aqs=chrome.0.57j0l3j62l2.4789&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Again it's going to depend on the type of Fulbright you get. Using myself as an example (and like they say with vitamins - always consult someone who knows what they are talking about before taking this or any advice :-) I applied for a full grant and a CLEA. If I got the full grant but NOT the CLEA I could apply for another award which was directed at language such as the FLAS, Foreign Language Area Scholarship, or another language specific award and it should not alter my Fulbright grant in any way as the full research grant to Jordan does not have tuition earmarks. Does that make sense? Where I suspect it gets weird is the clash between what the stipend is meant to cover and any additional awards which would do the same thing. On that benefits page it also says "*Grantees with projects that require extensive research support, in-country travel, study materials, or equipment should explore additional funding from other sources to supplement the Fulbright funding." I could see needing to rent a 4x4, buy an additional hardrive and some recording equipment. Thus I should be able to solicite additional funds under the 'extensive research support' heading and not run afoul of the Fulbright folks. So to a large extent, like most things, its a little about the spin you put on it. I have had to do this before to get technology cleared as an additional expense rather than as covered by an already spread to thin grant. Probably the best thing to do right now is take a hard look at some of the funding opportunities out there and a) see if you can naturally get the award to fall in the 'additional funding needed' category and 'b) email the organisation and see if they have awarded these grants to Fulbrighters in the past and if they know about any potential contraindication (to continue the medical metaphor). As to where to find such things: I suspect you have an office at your college/university which is designated to help with that. It may be only technically for graduates but if you are an undegrad don't let that daunt you. At UW ours has been great for all sorts of students and usually alumni are welcome as well. They have access to databases which can make your search a lot faster. One you have written a few of these you will have cover letters, statements, resumes and projects stored away which just have to be lightly tailored to the opportunity and so the process goes a lot faster than the Fulbright process-from-hell. Otherwise embassy websites, both US and your chosen place, school websites, again local and abroad, and any local cultural organisations in your state. Google for those. Usually once you find one they have links to more. Also any ethnic organisations. There is an Arab American group I have run across which often funds a non-Arab American student to study Arabic in the Gulf. I know I have written a couple rec letters for students applying for a Seattle-Nantes scholarship to study language in France. Totally random little Francophile org in Seattle. Wacky. But they give about $1000 to some lucky person. I hope that helps and if anybody else has advice do chime in. I know I am pretty burnt out on looking for money, I have been looking for a job for months, but any little amount helps and its another line on the old resume. Cheers and happy constant-email-refreshing-for-the-next-three-months! PS I have also found international students to be pretty good at giving advice on finding funding because if they are not here because a family member has the money to foot the bill than they probably had to seek some significant funding to be in the US where international tuition is out of control. They don't get to tap into the financial aid that citizens do. I know one person who has a whole electronic file of grant materials and he just applied to whatever looked good. He ended up raking in $20,000 one year from all sorts of random places. So if you know any international students start asking them how they are funding and if they can help you.

That depends. For example if you wanted language funding but didn't get/apply to CLEA or language options weren't available from Fulbright. I could see someone going to Germany wanting take specialised language courses or study Turkish, in the UK there are loads of opportunities to study Southeast Asian and old Anglo languages etc.. Maybe you are an artist studying pottery and there is a scholarship for a pottery course. Maybe there is some amazing field/study trip and you can get funds to cover solely that experience...and so on... So you see I think it really depends on the specifics of the Fulbright award you are granted and what other opportunities you are looking into. Don't forget that there are loads of little grants out there like Rotary and culture organisations who could give you $500 or so without you having to work to hard for it and it would not cause a change in the Fulbright award. I wouldn't rule out looking for money entirely. Depending on the country you are going to Fulbright is not that lucrative, especially in Europe. I used to live in France and met Fulbrighters there living on air basically :-).

I knew I remembered reading about additional funding, http://us.fulbrightonline.org/award-benefits Or, to cut to the chase: "Other Funds If awarded a Fulbright grant, a candidate is required to report all funds received from other sources. Non-duplicative funds are permitted, but scholarships, fellowships or grants in dollars or foreign currencies received concurrently with a Fulbright grant that duplicate Fulbright benefits will be deducted. Fulbrighters may not accept remunerative work abroad during the grant period without prior approval of the supervising agency in the host country and/or IIE." So you want to be cautious about getting more funding, it may turn out to be not really more money, if you get my drift. About taking extra time: probably your FPA could answer that best but I have received federal grant money for travel before and I had to make my flight arrangements within a few weeks of my program start/end dates and always on a US carrier. There was very little wiggle room. So for three summers I would fly back to the States for 24 hours then get on another flight out. Financially it actually worked well since I needed to be in another country anyway. So if this is something you actually want/need to plan now I would hedge on the side of not being able to spend more than a week over if you plan on taking the subsidised flight. But I am also just guessing from past experiences.

That's true! I am an information person (read: internet & society) and I applied for a full grant & CLEA to look at refugee information systems. How about you? https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmoTe-gJd4B9dFJ0aW1mYTVkYnhKcUEzR28yRTNwdlE&pli=1#gid=1

ME TOO! You should post to the spreadsheet! Haha I must admit I hope we both get it or ... it's too mean to even write! Gaaa! I hope we both get it, period. *must be nice, must be nice - not competitive, no vodoo - must be nice, must be nice*

Me too. The email I posted is the first thing I have heard from my FPA since, well actually I have never heard anything from my FPA that I did not initiate first. I have been thinking a lot about the wide variances I see in FPA involvement. I wonder why that is? It seems from some of the other posters that their FPA's are really encouraging, communicative and supportive and on the other end discouraging and not helpful. Thank goodness for this forum is all I can say. For those of us who have to go to the orientations we should try to meet up for a group hug!

Another Middle Easter! Where are you going?

Don't forget the spreadsheet with past notification dates, super helpful! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmoTe-gJd4B9dFJ0aW1mYTVkYnhKcUEzR28yRTNwdlE&pli=1#gid=8

From my FPA: "Hello to our UW Fulbright recommended graduate and professional applicants, As we’re sure you know, countries make their decisions about Fulbright over the next 3-4 months (yes, it sometimes takes until June). We’re writing to ask you to let us know when you hear the decision from your country—we don’t get notified, but we are anxious to hear results (not as anxious as you, perhaps, but anxious nonetheless). " SO not helpful....

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

I love how when I log into this forum or look at the Google docs there are always other people logged in. I suspect (hope) they are doing the same thing I am: boring a hole into the screen as if I could see all the way to IIE or somehow glean secret information just by staring at the spreadsheets or the Fulbright website and thus bypass 2 months of waiting by getting an answer through sheer osmosis into the matrix. :-)

السلام عليكم, First of all: Go ahead and accept everything you are offered which you want to take. Deferment is almost always possible *especially* in the case of being awarded a prestigious opportunity like the Fulbright. I too was in this situation and what I would suggest is since you know you are being considered for the grant you start a dialogue with the faculty you are interested in working with in your future PhD program. They can advocate for you to take this opportunity should a deferment need to happen or if you find you need/want to be enrolled. In my case one of my future advisors helped me write my Fulbright grant and it may be, depending on the data I get, foundational for a dissertation project. So even though I knew there was a possibility of getting both opportunities I also figured I could make a great case to my department to let me do the Fulbright. I have since confirmed this to be true. Even if your proposed Fulbright is not necessarily tied to your future PhD research I still believe you can make an adequate case for going on research rather than starting your program. So really what you need to be thinking about is whether deferment or enrollment are better options. They both have plusses and minuses. Deferment means you don't have to think about human subjects, turning in materials or otherwise being in contact with your department. Enrollment means possibly more financial support, more departmental support, human subjects clearance, and possibly financial aid money. Your first step though is to start talking to some faculty and find out what they suggest and how they can support you. Most of all don't worry about having to turn something down. That is a really unlikely situation. I am sure God appreciates your forward thinking and preparedness .

So, does anybody know if we can confirm, or if IIE confirms receipt of our transcripts? Being the worrywort that I am I want to be sure they got them.

Hey there: just a friendly reminder, Whether or not you succeeded to the next level in the Fulbright don't forget to send round thank you cards to your recommenders. As someone who has had to write lots of recommendations I can tell you that it is really nice when someone acknowledges that you spent valuable time plugging their attributes. Smooths the pavement for the next time you have to ask too! Cheers!