ibette

Happy March everyone, I expect some of you will be hearing as soon as this week. Good luck to all !

Contact IE, I know they had some e-mail issues with semi-finalist notifications.

Hi everyone! I wanted to come in and share a quick thing for those who will receive the Research Grant next cycle. It seems like Fulbright provides "Research Enhancement Seminars" every year in a specific world region. This year it was in my region (Western Hemisphere). They e-mailed 5-6 countries Fulbright commissions for a call of research papers and if you happen to submit your current project and get accepted, ECA flies you to the host country to present your current paper/project and get peer-critique from fellow Fulbrighters from the region as well as an expert in the field. It seems like a mini-conference to help publish your Fulbright work and network. Given that, our Fulbright commission notified us in November about this opportunity and Jan 15 they gave us the paper submission guidelines which was due on Feb 1st. I just wanted to share this in case some of you are interested and happen to be in next years region of choice for the enhancement seminar (and you can start preparing your timelines). Seminars are usually in the 7-8th month of the grant. It caught a lot of us off guard and some people had already made prior commitments so I wanted to share this in case you want to keep a look out for next year's seminar.

It really depends on the country, at least from all the Western Hemisphere Research Applicants I have talked to, they never had any sorts of interviews for their Research Grants.

I am a current Colombian researcher in Medellin. There are a couple of ETAs I know here in case you want to connect with them you can send me a PM. I am sure some of them would like to help. There weren't any interviews last year so this is new and I don't blame you for being a bit nervous. Also feel free to ask me any questions, I met the ETA coordinators during orientation too and they're very nice.

Just FYI, Brasil sometimes randomly comes up with money for ETAs. I remember on the application cycle of 2013-2014, they randomly added 40 additional spots and encouraged other ETA applicants from different regions to apply to that country. Last year, Fulbright sent out a call for 90 spots to go to Brasil in the middle of March because additional funding surged (I believe the deadline was in June so participants could start their Fulbright in January).

I would suggest keep doing things and planning for job applications with little consideration to the grant at this point. There are 1.5x-2x the amount of applicants that are in the same semi-finalist pool as you so things are still up in the air at this point. The ETAs in my country said they had already applied for jobs and admitted to grad schools before they knew about their finalist status and some were able to defer. I think in the end, it is better to have options on what to do next. The only thing I would avoid is signing a rental lease of some form because that happened to one of the last year applicants in my cohort. She got the grant for Ireland and had to continue paying her rent during her Fulbright since Ireland took forever to disclose final notifications.

You should be fine. I don't think they don't really care about classes you drop as long as it doesn't change your graduation date. As for the permanent resident classification, I believe as long as you have proof of citizenship you should be fine. I know they asked me to send a copy of my passport. If you have undergone recent naturalization, I would start the application for a US passport ASAP if you haven't done so already/have it.

This is a tricky matter because it depends on which choice will be more beneficial for your future/what you prefer. For example, there were people last year who landed their dream job as well as a Fulbright. Some people talked to their employers and they allowed them to re-apply when they return, some of them made them decide (job or Fulbright), and some people chose the Fulbright over their job, but I will say it really depends on the job. If you already accepted a job offer I wouldn't worry about it on this stage since you're a semi-finalist. If selected as a finalist, I feel that is when you should think on your choices, if the job position you hold is more beneficial to your future or if it something passing and you would rather go through with a Fulbright, or vice-versa.

The google document is mostly based and built on self-reports from users/readers of this forum. It is not that every German applicant was recommended, it is just the ones that happen to be in this forum are and they are reporting so. Some users who were not recommended may also stop coming here after receiving their non-selected e-mail and their results don't end up there. Most people that use the sheet are people who get in, although there are a good few that do end up sharing their non-selected status in the form. Is the 20-30% of applications you're mentioning all of Fulbright applicants? If so, you have to remember only a tiny minority of the applicants end up here doing those self-reports in the google doc (for example, in last year's google doc there were 5 Colombian Fulbrighters saying they got recommended and selected. There were 91 Fulbright spots in total during the orientation in Colombia, so about 7% of the accepted applicants ended up reporting in that google doc).

I went to Iceland last month. It was such a magical country, I wish you the best and hope you get to do your Fulbright there!

Hi everyone, current Fulbrighter here. I am quite surprised you guys haven't heard from Fulbright yet on your semi-final status. Last year we got it on January 18th, not sure if the government shutdown had something to do with it or things are just running later than usual. Good luck to all of you and I hope you get to hear from them soon!

There has been previous posters from several years ago on the forum (2013-2014) who disclosed they have had lower undergrad GPAs than that and have received Fulbrights. I wouldn't get hung up on your GPA. https://www.profellow.com/tips/5-things-they-dont-tell-you-about-the-fulbright-student-grant/ If you already have a strong affiliation with Denmark I would stick to that since you got pretty close.

I would also suggest for you to apply for international fellowship awards too which may help you complete your degree abroad (or a portion of it). In the United States we have grants like Fulbright that allow us to travel. I know there are UK Fulbright awards for US students to complete master degrees. I would look into Canadian opportunities similar to Fulbright.

My department was very excited and supportive but my advisor was worried that it would put me behind on the research we are working on. Even then, she still wrote me an excellent recc letter that helped me get it. I would just talk with your department head/chair, and possibly see if your university has an international/national fellowship program to learn which national awards you can apply. Your department may be more understanding if you also demonstrate that you applied for national awards to stay in the states and tried to stay here. Also, most graduate schools will work with you if you get this award. My graduate school still awarded me with scholarships/fellowships for this upcoming year that will become "frozen" and when I come back from Fulbright they will be applied.

Echoing @Dilemma1 here. Also, the selection process gets tricky, especially after it leaves the US hands to go to the host country's. It seems like you got past the US stage without an issue, I don't see why you shouldn't try again (I also applied twice in a span of three years, and applied to several other grants in between with no luck).

I hope all of you have written to your congressional representative about getting the award. If you haven't done so, please do, especially after reading this: http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/what-trumps-proposed-2018-budget-would-mean-for-higher-ed/118577 "It would also cut spending in half on Federal Work-Study programs, slash the budget of the National Institutes of Health by a fifth, eliminate programs that foster foreign-language study, and reduce spending that supports international-education programs and exchanges, such as the Fulbright Scholar program, by 55 percent."

I got my grant authorization forms on May 2nd for Western Hemisphere, so I think some countries are still going through them (I was first notified March 22nd). I am hoping Germany applicants get to hear from your commissions before the end of this month!

Just FYI Turkey ETA canceled their 2017-2018 program and some of the Turkey Research Grants are not guaranteed to Istanbul (you can look to the current applicants comments in last year's thread, p. 109).

I haven't received my grant terms either from the commission and I got notified March 22nd :l I reached out to them two weeks ago and they e-mailed me on Friday of last week letting me know that I should hear about the terms this week (fingers crossed). ETAs in my country got their terms relatively more quickly than the research one.

This! Everyone in research and everyone in ETA get the same amount of funding (maybe also depends on the placement and cost of living where the person will be staying in, but I am pretty sure it is standardize. There may be differences between ETA and research, but not within the groups. Also, for the research funding it depends on the country, but I know the Fulbright grant is suppose to only cover monthly expenses (living expenses like rent, food, and transportation), medical insurance, and round trip tickets (I know there are sometimes a $500 allowance for research materials/books that they may provide but you would have to apply for it). I am doing an fMRI study so there is no way Fulbright could cover the $800/hr rate fMRI scan costs for the participants in the study I am conducting, on top of other expenses, my living stipend, medical insurance, and roundtrip flight. However my project was probably feasibly because my affiliate university is covering the costs for this through their own grant research money. I am sure ETA has a more traditional ranking than the research ones since the research projects may be more subjective based on what type of project it is and the specific need of the host country.

I am still checking in from time to time! I will be in Colombia and they are taking some time to send me some documents which I am patiently waiting for. I lived in Mexico for a bit and I absolutely loved it!

Hello everyone, I am a 2017-2018 applicant awardee for Colombia, Westerm Hemisphere (Research Student Grant), if any of you need help, please don't hesitate in sending me a message. I applied twice before getting it this year (first time was for the 2014-2015 cycle). Please feel free to message me if you have any questions or concerns, I would love to help anyone here!

Just sent you an e-mail CONGRATS!!! For me it took two weeks before I got the e-mail from my host country (although ETAs were informed a day after). I think it just depends on your country and program. I am still waiting to hear on the program's term and conditions but I already sent and uploaded everything from the US's end.

The only thing I have read about social media and Fulbright is that if you make a blog you have to make it explicit it's your personal thoughts and not speaking on behalf of the Fulbright program. I agree with @Horb that you're technically not awarded until you're all set and done with the paperwork and medical clearance.