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Hello everyone and happy start to the new cycle! I am currently an Alternate to France for a research grant for the 2014-2015 cycle. Although I hope I get promoted, going to start the re-application process.

Raymondnorth, I'm so sorry to hear of everything you've had thrown at you recently (minus the graduate school news). I can't begin to imagine what it must have been like to juggle all of them at once. However, I'm glad that you feel you have grown from the experience and that your perspective and priorities are clearer. I know that these things will serve you well in grad school and hopefully when you are ready to go through the Fulbright process again.

I think this will unfortunately be the case for the alternates, but let's hope everyone has at least heard back at least once before then.

Lol that would have been great! It's unfortunately not that cool, but there's a nice song associated with it:

Congratulations you guys!!!!!!! So excited for you Donthatedontkill, your gif reminded me of this song "Suddenly (It Happens to You)" from a Cinderella musical, "The Slipper and the Rose." Suddenly, suddenly it happens and the dream comes true, Wonderfully, beautifully it happens and your world is new, Magically, you're holding the golden prize, Mystically, your castles begin to rise, Suddenly, dizzily you're spinning with the thrill of life, Suddenly, thirstily you're drinking in your fill of life, But secretly you just can't believe it's true, When wonderfully, beautifully! Suddenly it happens to you. P.S. If you haven't done so already, don't forget to put both the A and P dates in the "notification date" column on the spreadsheet. Keep the A to P dream alive for 2015-2016!!!

It was I guess kind of neutral, just recognizing that sometimes something an IIE staff member tells one person can be brought back here and cause a frenzy (which is true). After attending, it made me realize that I need to just start the application process with the assumption that I don't go from A to P. There is so much to do and my final research, internship, work, graduation, and potential job hunt are going to eat up a serious chunk of my time this summer. Mr. Claudino gave me some good advice on the areas I think were the weakest in my application so I'll focus on addressing those things first.

Thank you for sharing! Kind of scary to think about how some of this comes down to a few forms going one place or an email not getting filtered as spam.

Note to the Alternates turned Accepted, on the spreadsheet, please put under the "notification date" column the date you received both the (A) email and (P) email. This will help next year's applicants know maybe a rough approximation to when they are most likely to hear.

Today I went to a Fulbright info session being led by Tony Claudino, Outreach Director for the U.S. Student Program. It seems he is going to be going to different universities around the country to do these type of sessions in the next few months and I'd recommend attending one to all the re-applicants/lurkers. He was really helpful and honest about the different topics we discussed related to the application (e.g. this process is a marathon, grants with low application numbers, language requirements). I also received confirmation that IIE is definitely aware about our forum here on gradcafe and of people sharing what has been stated by IIE staff.

Aww thank you GE Amazing gif btw!

So sorry to hear this miri, I was rooting for you

Oh no : ( Do you think it is possible for Fulbright to assign applicants to another Eurasian country (I think they've been able to do that before with ETA positions at least)?

Just signed up for my school's info session for next year's application cycle. My mind and body are already dreading the thought of going through this process for the second time. Although I'll probably already know a lot of what is being discussed, the Director of Outreach for the Fulbright Student Program is suppose to be there and I'm hoping to maybe get clarification on the whole alternate process.

It might give them pause, but I don't think it will hurt your chances. I think they are more concerned if you had been there for five years. The 9 months of teaching would be similar to if you had done the ETA program there. More as general information for everyone, they also don't mind too much for the research grant if you lived in the country as a child due to your parent's work or if you were there on military service (mentioned somewhere on the website which I can't find right now). I lived in France for the first seven years of my life due to my Dad's work and have only been back to visit once for 2 weeks. Not sure if this played into me being listed as an alternate, but I have been able to at least get this far.

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm SOOOOOO happy for you!!!! Just did an epic happy celebratory dance in my office. OMG this is awesome and has definitely made my day. Can't stop smiling ^________________________^

Thank you for your kind words miri I'm actually graduating with my Master of Public Health in August. I will probably take at least a year off from school before contemplating a PhD or DrPH (can't imagine going straight through at this point).

Thank you Mozartgirl. It's a smidge of pressure, but bearable My Fulbright roomie has actually been helping me to not get too bogged down with the alternate to accepted situation with her silliness. She jokes that she wishes that Fulbright would hurry up and promote me so that she can plan to visit me in France next year (at the end of her Fulbright grant) and I can be her wing woman as she future-husband hunts throughout France and Italy.

Hi Miri, I can definitely relate even though I have technically heard back. Both my Plan A (Fulbright) and Plan B (keep working at my organization) are in limbo states. I obviously don't know if Fulbright will even contact me. I also found out yesterday that whether I'll be able to even keep my part-time hours at my organization following graduation is technically up in the air until end of June due to budget and state politics. This is stressing me out because if I don't renew my lease today, I risk not being able to room with my two AMAZING roommates next year and paying a higher rent. Add in finals week and the running around for a major work event tomorrow, it's been interesting to say the least. I am in the process of trying to come up with a Plan C and making several alternate plans is the only thing I think will help in the long run.

Thank you for the support Sine And thank you also for the link...even though our state had half of the examples, at least we weren't the number one example?

Thank you for sharing This is amazing news, but going to have to resist refreshing my email every 30 seconds today.

Well at least they were direct about it Who did the email come from and what was the subject line (want to make sure if I do receive an email it doesn't get lost). I hope I can be promoted too, it would be great to meet you and Neurona in person!

That's AMAZING!!! Congratulations!! ^___^ How did you find out?

Sorry to hear about your elbow! Can't imagine not being able to type as a grad student :/ However, happy to hear that the transcript situation should be taken care of. We are waiting here with pom-poms and bated breaths for your (hopefully good) news. Whatever the outcome, I agree with you 100% that we're all better people for doing this process together. I know that it has meant so much to me to read all of your encouraging comments, especially on days when nothing was going well.

Maybe she got promoted or moved to another study abroad program?

I am just completing my MPH and loved it! Excited that you have another amazing opportunity lined up and that your kitty will be able to keep you company