StopTheAquarius

Third time applying... switched countries once (same area). I thought last year was my last chance since I was already a doc candidate, but I stalled a bit and re-applied. With the Fulbright, it can be hit or miss... you can have a great proposal and either it's just not research area they are looking for, or there are a number of equally-exceptional applications. For Sweden, the stats showed 10 places for a number of years, including the then-current application year (2015-2016); unfortunately, they only accepted 7 last year, so it looks like funding can change even after the application deadline. (I'm assuming the decrease in places was funding-based and not quality-based!) This is without a doubt my last chance (for non-Scholar status). Crossing fingers, but I am not as confident (erroneously, apparently!) as last year. Anyone else applied for Sweden? Good luck to all... a few more weeks and hopefully, a few more months after that!

At this time, you just have to wait. When you say the "affiliate" retired, it sounds like you are saying the contact person at the university of your destination country retired. Some countries REQUIRE the affiliation to be set up before the application, some do not (of course, it always helps). So, I don't think that this will automatically disqualify you at all. It may bring up questions as to the "closeness" or contact with the affiliation--- Assuming you were in direct contact with them fairly recently, I guess the contact didn't know they would retire? If you were not in contact with them, that is problematic because the person at the affiliation is supposed to serve as a sort of mentor (or at least a practical local contact). I'm assuming these things differ depending on your field... if your "affiliation" is primarily with a Lab and the contact person is just one of many who you could have used, then it's not so much of a problem. If, however, they were the PI for some project that you intend to work on.... that poses larger issues about the feasibility of the whole research study. If you were going for non-research and the contact was just the person at the admissions department or an academic advisor for your area of study, that person can easily be "replaced" with a new name. My advice is to get a new letter, explaining to the new contact what happened and hope that you make it through the first round and can explain your situation. Again, if the person is not an integral part of your research, you should not be worried since I highly doubt that would be the deciding factor for rejection.

Congrats on your F. Are you researching for your dissertation? I see you got the ETA, but there's usually a side-project involved. Due to the ageism of ETAs, I cannot apply for that one, so I will be doing a research proposal. My concern is it will be a parallel study (somewhat unrelated, but in the same field, of course) and not directly contributing to my dissertation. Good luck with your ETA etc.

This is addressed on the main Fulbright site. See the information under Current Fulbrighters.

I don't think those are indicators of the number of applicants etc. A lively forum (with a handful of repeat posters) doesn't reflet too much on the process, I think. There are always a lot of lurkers who refrain from posting or adding to the spreadsheet. Also, of course, there are many applicants who probably have not heard of this site (they're too busy being fabulously academic).

I think I messaged you a while ago. I haven't returned to the forum in a number of months. Yes, i contacted a university/professor and received a nice letter of affiliation. It's just one piece of a large puzzle and we don't actually know what the puzzle is! (meaning, who knows what kind of topics etc. they are looking for this year). Good luck to you! Feel free to send me a message. I'm curious what area of study/topic you have.

You may want to check the conditions expressed on the Fulbright site regarding travel around and out of your country: http://us.fulbrightonline.org/current-fulbrighters/grant-terms-and-conditions In short, you are being sponsored to research, study, or teach in a specific area; you're not sponsored for a vacation. That being said, of course, it's important to get the most out of the experience and I hope to be able to travel a bit to other areas of my country when not strictly tied to my research. Also, I hope to spend a few extra days or weeks in the country either before or after the grant period. I'm often surprised that people interested in this award--a very prestigious and sought-after award-- are not very aware of what the award actually is. I find that doing the research and exploring all the links on the Fulbright site & more is quite exciting and increases the anticipation and respect for the Fulbright org.

I'm assuming you're asking about when to start the 2016-2017 application since the post seems a bit unsure of various aspects. Many campuses require contact over the summer and my campus deadline has actually already passed for this year's application. The final application is due in October, but it's rather late to start asking for LOR and beginning contacts for affiliations. If you're not doing research and you already have professors lined up for LOR, it may still be possible... but, I agree with the previous response suggesting an early spring start. (January-Feb: research the rules, deadlines, requirements, etc. ; March-June: make contacts, ask for LOR. Often, summer is difficult to get responses as other countries take their vacation very seriously!; June-August: write drafts of essays and provide them to your LOR people; Aug-Sep: most campus deadlines; Oct: final deadline). Good luck.

i'm applying for research, but I will give this general advice: be very familiar with the program you are applying to and point out why it is unique (and thus why you "need" to go there). You should contact a specific professor, which will help when you ask for a letter of affiliation. Also, it shows you've done the background research. Of course, at a graduate level, you should be familiar with the work the professor does and should be the basis for contacting specific people. Usually, if you briefly explain your interests and it doesn't align with that person, they will give you a different contact person. Good luck!

Unfortunately it is not. I looked into that as well.

Keep trying! Maybe the 3rd time is the charm. I applied to Norway last year, but I will switch to Sweden (sorry!) I'm a candidate, so this is my last chance :/

Has anyone else realized the names--locations--affiliations--etc. are not matching up in the google docs spread sheet? I see the list ordered by country (which makes sense), but the affiliations do not line up with the appropriate countries when I look at the line numbers etc.

Congrats to all who have been recommended! Disappointing news for this PhD candidate. I can only stall graduation so much... maybe next year! (research, norway)

Urgent question... Q1. With the deadline TOMORROW, I'm sure everyone has completed the application. Perhaps someone can calm my nerves about the wording of the instructions that state PDFs that are uploaded/submitted must be "READ-ONLY." Aren't PDFs read-only? I thought they may have wanted an extra layer of non-editing... The only possibility to "secure" the PDF and make it unmarkable was to add a password for mark-ups. This was NOT accepted when I tried to upload it. Is there a "read-only" function that is not the normal PDF default? Q2. Did anyone receive advice from their Fulbright rep regarding the degree of detail in the BUDGET? Thank you for any last-minute response & best of luck to all.