pomchem

So does each country have three alternates? (I'm assuming ranked in some way) Or does the number of alternates vary based on the total number of grants?

can i applaud the suggestion of free online pac-man? made my day.

I'm cool with the idea of doing some sort of Alternate spreadsheet...just let us know if you make one!

I'm an alternate for Taiwan ETA.

haha yes, I would email again, but I've done it too recently.

I saw someone asking about whether we knew anyone who had rejected or decided against a Fulbright....I know one person who considered turning it down because they were worried about one of their current job offers. Personally, I think I'd choose Fulbright, because I feel your chances of a job after returning would be quite high. But I know that sometimes that risk combined with the schedules of some grants is quite complicated. Also the field you are going into may have something to do with it.

To my fellow Taiwan applicants: I contacted Jonathan about our notifications this morning, and he responded with the email below. Only a little bit more waiting! Fingers crossed! We are hoping that the notification letters for Taiwan will go out at the end of this week or early next week and they will be sent to the current address listed on the Fulbright application. Sincerely, Jonathan

Yeah hoping to hear in the next week or two. I didn't know anyone had contacted our director, thats cool...let us know if you email him again!

Congrats! My fingers are crossed to hear about Taiwan in the next week or two....or three haha. Good to hear some of the Asian countries are starting to hear word.

I figured that must be how they arrange it. Thanks for the input! Yeah its definitely crazy to wait until April to possibly leave in June. That was why I figured they must set-up programs of their own, probably in Taipei. Good luck! Here's to a few more weeks of waiting.

I'm a Taiwan ETA applicant, so I'm thinking I'll hear back the first week of April or so (according to last years thread). This is a little off the topic of some of the posts but...Does anyone who applied for CLEA know how the process works if we are accepted? For Taiwan ETAs, you must do the two month summer program, go to Taiwan orientation in September, then do private tutoring during the year (since the schedule is not really flexible). Since we put a program and university on our CLEA application, will Fulbright prepare that if you are selected? Like set up and register, etc? Maybe some people with Fulbrighter friends will have some idea?

so it seems that people have been getting letters to their permanent addresses?

OHMYGOD I'M A FINALIST FOR FULBRIGHT. OH MY GOSH . I applied for a Taiwan ETA after having been told my Hong Kong ETA was cancelled. Oh man, I feel like my chest just exploded. Got the email from IIE 6:18 Eastern time.

I'm sorry. Do you mean you received a response from IIE? Or your university advisors?

Yeah I emailed my campus advisor asking if the Office of Fellowships would notify us or if we would be waiting until we received our own email. She mentioned the same thing about hearing "before the end of the day" via an email from Fulbright. So I'm guessing they must have said that to all advisors. So close. A few hours ? FINGERS CROSSED

Good luck to everyone!!!!!!

All I know is that our campus advisor mentioned that the applications were supposed to be really high this year...but no specifics. I'd love to know how the stats are for this year as well.

Oh man, Friday? That'd be great if that's true. The less waiting the better. It would sure take some stress off for the weekend. Has anyone emailed their campus Fulbright advisor to check dates?

I'm graduating this year with a degree in Chemistry. I've done a lot of work with Chinese studies though. I'm going to medical school afterwards, but most of my education experience is only with tutoring Chinese occasionally and patient education. I'm hoping that my essays do a good job of explaining why I really want to do the ETA. I'm thinking pediatrics, so the younger students was a huge appeal to me. I just really love working with languages and the educational environment in general. That's great that you work in education some already. That'll be a huge plus for your application!

That's great to find other people applying to Taiwan. Are you just finishing your BA? Do you have teaching experience...I'm a bit worried since I will probably be one of the few who are not ESL majors.

I'm not sure what happened. They just sent an email that apologized and said that we should feel free to apply to other ETAs or full grants. (But I mean, you can't prepare a full grant proposal in two or three weeks in my opinion). I was lucky because my university worked with me, but I had already drafted all my essays, turned in hard copies of recommendations/transcripts, etc. Luckily my goals for going to HK or Taiwan are similar, but it was difficult getting new forms and essays in on time for campus deadlines and my on campus interview. My advisor was flexible once they heard the news. The Hong Kong full research grant is still available, as well as the Macau ETA. I'm sure it's just some issues with funding or whatnot. Taiwan might be a bit more competitive for me, since they prefer a little bit of background in education...but it's not required. Offtoindia, you said you are studying Hindi...did you apply for CLEA as well? And I agree with Intaglio6, where you can really demonstrate your passion and write a strong essay is going to give you the best chances. Although it's less competitive, the strength of your application will come through with how much you know about it, how your project fits, etc. Have you decided on a place yet?

Hi everyone, I have submitted an application to be an ETA in Taiwan for 2010-2011, along with the Critical Language Enhancement Award. I was one of the unfortunate few who was applying to Hong Kong ETA only to have it cancelled on Sept. 23rd-ish. That was about two weeks before the actual deadline, so I had to revamp my essays, fix my recommendations, etc. I was definitely bummed, but it may have been a blessing in disguise. Now I'm applying to Taiwan and hopefully I'll get to work on my Mandarin more. My main concern is my lack of teaching experience, but I'm hoping the rest of my application will make up for it. I agree that hopefully this forum will be as active as last years was! Good luck to everyone waiting for that magical day in January to be a finalist !