raymondnorth

Usually not an image macro fanatic, but I feel like this one is especially appropriate in regards to this year's Fulbright notifications:

I noticed some of this going around as well and sort of brushed it off since it seemed odd that only Fulbright Austria seemed to be talking about it. That being said, the article below popped up on a cursory Google search (go all the way down the page before the comments you'll see a table outlining the budget and prior to that is a short discussion about the Fulbright cuts): http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/03/05/obamas-2015-budget-would-keep-most-education-and-research-programs-flat Edit: Not sure why the link doesn't work, tried it a few times. If you're interested do a Google search for "30 million cut Fulbright" and the Inside Higher Ed article should show up on the first page.

Don't worry, I think we're all just reminiscing about that survey that went out just prior to getting emails about recommendation back in January. The wait is clearly bringing us to new lows in terms of what qualifies as worthy of nostalgia.

Same, I posted about this a few days ago as well w/r/t potentially deferring my PhD. Since I was feeling pressure from one of my schools to make a decision ASAP and still am not sure when I can expect to hear back from Fulbright, I went ahead and wrote the graduate program directors in each department to figure out whether deferral would be an option. As it turns out, my top school said I could definitely defer and my runner-up school said I definitely could not, thus making my decision a lot easier.

That's such good news, @Secret_Ninja! Congratulations! When I saw you didn't hear earlier in the week I was feeling a lot of second-hand frustration/anxiety for you (as if my own first person share of the same isn't enough).

Hey Brian, welcome to the forum- here's the link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsJrSSHnssqFdHNPell4VVZwWDgtWUpQcTVVeWM0bWc&usp=sharing If you go to the "Notification Dates" sheet you'll see that last year Colombia got their notices on March 7. I'm a Colombia ETA applicant as well, anxiously awaiting that email so I can make plans for next year. Good luck to both you and Cynti, I hope we all get to go!

Gracias! Y estoy de acuerdo en que el departamento se ve bastante grande para que haya espacio para trabajar con varias personas en distintos proyectos, y al mismo tiempo los profesores con los que he comunicado me parecen amables e sinceramente interesados en colaboración con sus alumnos.

For those of you in similar situations I wanted to follow up on my deferral question: Today my top grad program sent me an email agreeing that if I am accepted for the Fulbright ETA they will defer admission for a year and guarantee the same funding package as I was offered for Fall 2014 - the latter part of which I was most worried about. This is ultimately what I wanted to hear, but I can't say I was completely confident they'd say yes. If you're like me and anxious about how your potential future employers might feel about you taking a year's hiatus before starting on your degree, this is how they described their reasoning: "if you do receive the Fulbright then we will be happy to guarantee your funding in recognition of what is both a prestigious recognition and a great opportunity for professional development." Sending good vibes to everyone fretting/sweating it out right now. PS: I followed someone's recommendation in January and started watching Breaking Bad to sort of externalize my stress. It's only a little over a month and a half later and last night I watched the last episode.

Felicidades, @maquiato! I was also recently admitted to the Spanish Department at Indiana-Bloomington and will likely accept my offer. As for your questions about the strength of the program, I think as with most things concerning graduate study, it depends on your field. I am mostly familiar with the Hispanic Linguistics side because my interests are second language acquisition and pedagogy, and Indiana has a number of well-published professors and a good track record with placement of their PhD graduates in this program. If you are on the literature side, I can't speak as much to the program, but I've reviewed some of their course offerings since part of my degree includes some coursework outside of the Hispanic Linguistics umbrella, and I was pleased to see some classes focusing on post-Boom and contemporary Latin American literature. I'd say the best way to feel out your fit is to look at all of the professors' webpages, email the ones that interest you and maybe ask them for the emails of some current students in the program who are studying similar issues. Congrats again and good luck with your decision. Maybe we'll see each other in Bloomington.

Thanks for your insights, padthai, I think we have the same perspective with regards to Fulbright making stronger candidates/assets for graduate programs. I decided to apply for the Fulbright program in part because I've been out of school for a few years since finishing my MA, and I thought it would be an ideal way to prepare to re-enter the academic sphere. Given the selectiveness of Fulbright and the realization that I am definitely ready to pursue a PhD I figured I should hedge my bets and go ahead and apply to all those programs as well. While the schools that have accepted me obviously won't benefit from being able to put me on their tally of Fulbrights (if selected, something I have to keep reminding myself), from their perspective I guess it's a year of funded research that they wouldn't have to pick up the tab for. And that's a good point about potential research funding down the line, something I have been considering more as I know I'm going to be in school for quite a while. Fortunately both of my options at this point have guaranteed summer research funding and additional internal travel research grants available. Also, I know I've read on Fulbright's website that being awarded an ETA grant does not absolutely preclude a student from eventually pursuing a full research grant, but I would venture a guess that if it came down to a choice between otherwise equal candidates, one who has not gotten an award before would be favored over someone who has. I guess the way I see it is that I'll be better off accepting a Fulbright now (if offered) and worrying about that later, than declining now, applying and being denied later, then forever worrying about what could have been...

Dear Fulbright friends, A few things I'm thinking about to start off the last week of February - I did a little review of last year's board, and it appears that the first acceptances came on February 22 and were for Indonesia applicants. The email notices apparently came from IIE, which means that it's possible (and by possible I mean I am somewhat wildly speculating here) that some countries made their choices prior to the transcript deadline and then they were vetted (read: official transcripts were confirmed) and notified immediately thereafter. I realize that for some countries final notifications may still be quite a ways away, and the best way to determine an approximate timeline would be to look at the "Notification Dates" sheet in the Google doc https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsJrSSHnssqFdHNPell4VVZwWDgtWUpQcTVVeWM0bWc&usp=sharing. If your country doesn't have an entry for the 2013-14 cycle, you may be able to find out by checking last year's board () and doing a search for the country. For my country and program (Colombia ETA), I know that we shouldn't really be too concerned about getting notices until mid-March, and that, hopefully, we will know before the end of the first week of April. This is particularly helpful for me because it means I should hear back before the April 15 deadline when I have to make a final decision about enrolling in a PhD program for Fall 2014. I know from following the board that there are several more of you in similar situations in terms of decision-making, so I wanted to pick some of your brains about how to best go about the question of deferral. For me there's no question that I will accept the Fulbright ETA opportunity if it presents itself, but I currently find myself in the situation where I've received a few good offers for pursuing my PhD with funding at some of my top choice schools, yet I feel that I shouldn't breach the question of deferral until it becomes necessary. One of the schools has put a little more pressure to accept their offer as soon as possible and has asked what other programs I am waiting to hear back from, but I haven't specifically mentioned deferring acceptance to Fall 2015 if I am accepted to Fulbright. The other program had a specific question in their application about what other programs/grants I was applying for currently, so in theory they shouldn't be completely caught off guard if I request a deferral to pursue the Fulbright. Furthermore, my field is Hispanic Linguistics / Second Language Acquisition and the teaching/research that the ETA-ship entails would be directly relevant to my graduate research interests (I feel like I should just copy and paste this justification paragraph into the emails I'll be sending later on, if needed). At any rate, I'll cut to the chase: Does anyone think it's a good idea to bring this up prior to hearing a final answer? TL;DR: Got in top-choice PhD programs with solid funding offers, super-excited about attending in near future. Will accept Fulbright ETA if offered, try to defer former to Fall 2015. Do I show cards now, or only after acceptance? Best of luck to all the interviewees, I'm sure you're anxious but if possible try to channel all that pent-up energy into showing your excitement and eagerness about finally getting your project going.

Hey log_lady, congrats on getting through the interview! Also, excellent username, and welcome to the forum. Yea, I had my transcripts sent right away after I found out last week, just because I've had issues in the past with the registrars' offices being rather slow, both of my degrees being from large state schools - for one of them I have to actually mail in a handwritten form. At any rate, I'll definitely post when I hear something, I'd love for it to be sometime this month, though I'm not getting my hopes up about it being anytime soon, given that in past years it's been late March / early-April before people got their final decision notices. I'm sort of inclined to think that because the interviews were done so early after recommendation and were so brief, that they were more than anything just a means of putting a face to each of the finalists and getting an idea of our Spanish language fluency. Doesn't mean I'll be any less likely to lurk here a bit every day until we all find out.

Alfred, Good luck! I'm sure you'll have a great interview. I had mine as well for the Colombia ETA program on Friday, and I was pretty nervous. Even though I spent the whole week pretty busy attending to work and life stuff, not stressing about about the interview, I left my office a little before my appointed slot and pretty much condensed all of my anxiety into an hour and a half span of time. Regardless, the two committee members I spoke to were really friendly and stuck to the six topics they sent out by email on Thursday last week (for those in other programs that want an idea of what their committee's interview could look like, see copied email below). The interview was all in Spanish, though for some reason one of the later questions (the one about preferred environment) was posed to me in English, and I asked if they wanted me to respond in English or Spanish, they said whichever, so I chose Spanish - I'm more articulate in English, for sure, but I figured I really only had one opportunity to show them I'm confident in being able to communicate myself in Spanish. I have no idea how I did, like I said, I was suddenly very nervous immediately before the interview. They said I should be finding out their decision "muy pronto." Not sure what to make of that... Best of luck to everyone in their interviews. Dear Candidate, Thank you for confirming your availability. You will be interviewed by a panel with representatives from Fulbright Colombia, and the brief interview may cover the following topics: • Expectations for the program • Your ideal city/living environment (for example, a large cosmopolitan city, a hot climate, a small ¨college town¨) • Previous teaching experience • Academic background • Interest for Social Project • Reasons for choosing Colombia

Congratulations! And very impressive, not just that you re-applied but that you chose a country that doesn't award a huge number of grantees - I've seen some years they don't award any! It's such a dynamic, fascinating country though, especially from a diplomatic perspective. I traveled to Maturin in the eastern state of Monagas this past summer to see a good friend get married, and was only there for 5 days but came back with so many stories. I applied and was recommended for an ETA to Colombia, which I'm still reeling from myself, but I'll be rooting for you and everyone else in this next round.

Finally figured out why I've been feeling this song for the past 4 months: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBW9VEE29W4

ibette, I definitely don't think you need to worry (any more than normal, of course) - haven't seen anyone else chime in but it looks like it was just Colombia ETA applicants that got interview requests this afternoon. I appreciate the offer for a practice interview, you're really too kind. I'm gonna try to focus mainly on going back to my supplemental project and making sure I'm ready to articulate that effectively... For the past several months I've been focusing on PhD applications and had to try to intentionally imagine myself not getting the Fulbright so that I could propose research ideas that aren't contingent on (but may be enriched by) being whisked away to Colombia for 10 months and therefore deferring any grad school offers. While I think after tomorrow's IIE notice on recommendations we can probably wager that each country/program will have its own unique process, it looks like the Australia email was just giving forewarning about the type of email that we just got. It's probably safe to say that last paragraph you quoted means just that Australia's not planning on sending out interview requests until after IIE sends their recommendation updates. The fact that not all recommended candidates may be interviewed is kind of strange, but I'm gonna try not to overthink it.

Awesome! I just got the same notice as of about 7 minutes ago! As Cynti says, it was from Fulbright Colombia, not the IIE in New York, so it looks like another case of specific programs jumping the gun a little bit. Congrats, Cynti, nerves are gonna be wrecked for the rest of the week but at least it's not such a ridiculously long wait. For those interested, email looked like this: " ___________ , Greetings from Fulbright Colombia! We are contacting you regarding your application for the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Program. We would like to have a short interview (approximately 10 minutes) with you next Friday, January 31, 2014 at 01:50 pm (EST) The interview will be in Spanish. This interview will be conducted via Skype. Please send us your Skype username and we will add you as a contact from our account, ______________ . Please confirm that you have received this message, and I look forward to speaking with you this Friday."

Hey! If you haven't already, add your info to the spreadsheet- it helps current and future applicants get a handle on what to expect/compare notes/do something with the anxious hours spent waiting for emails: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsJrSSHnssqFdHNPell4VVZwWDgtWUpQcTVVeWM0bWc&usp=drive_web#gid=1 The Fulbright program is pretty extensive in Colombia (30 ETA spots), but only a few of us appear to be lurking and/or posting here. I also applied for the ETA in Colombia, and my independent research project would look at Spanish-English bilingual education programs in primary schools that get public funding through the Programa Nacional de Bilingüismo. Your project sounds fascinating, do you have a preferred area of the country for placement? Also, where did your friend end up teaching? I would've loved to look at bilingual education involving minority indigenous and/or creole languages, but because those are rare and the ETA program doesn't allow us to get geographically specific, I thought I'd play it safe with something relevant to my academic interests but also available pretty much wherever I might get placed. Thanks for sharing, I hope your wish comes true. Happy birthday!

Never fear, Netflix is available in a ton of countries, though rights permissions will vary pretty widely. If you're curious and use Google Chrome as your browser you can add the "Hola" extension (link below) to allow you to simulate browsing as if you were in any number of foreign countries. Switch over to your country of interest and then log in to Netflix; if your potential future Fulbright home has a less-than-optimal selection, you can always do the reverse (switch back to US browsing) once you're abroad. I found this out somewhat by accident when using Hola to stream international soccer matches not available from a US IP address, then signed into Netflix before I switched back and determined that there are a lot of excellent films available abroad that are not available on the US service. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hola-better-internet/gkojfkhlekighikafcpjkiklfbnlmeio?hl=en

Is anyone else not having issues with the spreadsheet? I've been checking back sporadically and never noticed anything different. If I can help restore things for everyone else, I'd be happy to, just let me know. Here's the link I just copied from my version: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsJrSSHnssqFdHNPell4VVZwWDgtWUpQcTVVeWM0bWc&usp=sharing

PS: Lo and behold, 20 minutes after sending the email, got confirmation from Fulbright. Thanks again for the suggestion, definitely eased the anxiety.

Hey, thanks, I really appreciate it. Just sent out a follow-up email to our program manager. Btw, if anyone needs to contact their region's program managers about issues like this, here's the contact info page: http://us.fulbrightonline.org/component/content/article?id=105 (had to poke around for a bit finding it, so I figure I'd save anyone else the time if you need it). Also, yea, sorry, I now realize I was unintentionally confusing with the way I presented the odds of getting accepted to the Colombia ETA program, which actually accepts the second largest number of applicants, behind Brazil. I really just meant that because last year 25/180 were accepted and they're saying this year it'll be more like 30/180, that 1 in every 6 or 7 applicants should be selected. Like you said, there are far fewer full Study/Research grants approved each year, but best of wishes to you!

Hey all, I'm newly registered here on GradCafe, but I've been lurking for a few weeks and wanted to try to follow up on this question. Did anyone else receive a confirmation email from Fulbright or just the one from Embark? I submitted my application in August and only ever got the automated Embark message, which stated "You will also receive a confirmation email from Fulbright to confirm that your application has been received. Important: The admissions office may be very busy this time of year and it can take several days before you are sent the confirmation email." Can't imagine it's an issue and I should probably just sit back, chill out, and wait for the January notification, but if anyone else can let me know they're in the same boat I'd surely feel a little less anxious. Thanks! At any rate, I'm applying to the ETA program in Colombia. From the stats I've looked at it seems like the Colombia program accepts somewhere between 1/6 and 1/7 of the applicants each year. I'm currently at-large in the working world since finishing my Master's in Spanish Linguistics in 2011, but also applying to PhD programs in second language acquisition and Spanish linguistics. If I'm accepted to Fulbright I'm hoping to be able to defer any PhD programs until Fall 2015. Thanks to amirah for updating the spreadsheet, and to everyone for providing a slight respite from my unrest and stress.