jose42

Obviously, being a "candidate" or an "ABD" is something very different from being a "doctoral student". OP is asking about the latter. This being said, I plan to say "I'm a doctoral student" once I officially start my program, not before.

I had a Harvard faculty member tell me "At Harvard, Fulbright's useless"; he meant that they do not make special considerations for Fulbright nominees who are applying for their PhD program. On the other hand, there are other programs who do notice when applicants already have a scholarship like Fulbright "in the bag". Sometimes, Fulbright placement officers have contacts in these universities through which they can help your application stand out --or at least that's what they told me.

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad Institution: Non-American university (ranked #94 in QS Latin American University Rankings 2012). Major(s)/Minor(s): Political Sciences. Undergrad GPA: 3.7 Type of Grad: None. Grad GPA: NA. GRE (V/Q/A): 167/154/4.5 TOEFL: 112 (iBT) Any Special Courses: Summer school on conflict with American professors. Letters of Recommendation: Two research mentors and one college professor. Research Experience: 3 years RA, 2 peer-reviewed articles (plus other publications), 1 government grant for small research project. Teaching Experience: 2 years teaching undergraduate courses in PoliSci at my college. Subfield/Research Interests: Comparative + Latin America. Other: NA. RESULTS: Acceptances ($$ or no $$): Ohio State (? with Fulbright scholarship). Waitlists: Pittsburgh and Notre Dame. Rejections: Harvard, Yale, WUSTL and Northwestern. Pending: None. Going to: Waiting for news on the waitlists. LESSONS LEARNED: Even if you contact professors and they tell you to apply and they even talk with the guys in the admissions committee, that’s no guarantee you’ll be getting in. Look for a good fit, write a perfect SOP, identify (and contact) more than two SOP and get your test scores up. Basically, don’t neglect any aspect of your application. Take and retake your GRE if necessary. I think I could’ve gotten one or two extra admissions if I had worked more on my quant score. It helps to have external funding through a scholarship or something similar. According to what I gathered, even though some top programs don’t care whether you already have funding, others will be keener to offer you admission. Don’t worry if you don’t get 10 admissions. You just need one (and because it’s possible you only get one, only apply to places you would like to go to).