Horb

Someone had mentioned no getting extra years/time of funding when winning a scholarship (i.e. if you win a year's worth of extra funding, it replaces a year of funding, it does not add a year and thus fund you for 6 instead of 5 years). If you aren't in your coursework phase and are doing research that doesn't require school equipment/resources, you may look into taking a leave of absence or something similar, which can pause your funding. At my school, if I won a scholarship (that didn't require enrollment as part of its distribution requirements) I could go on leave for up to a year before I'd lose my funding. Thus, if I left and year 4 and spent year 5 doing the scholarship, I'd come back (in terms of funding) as a year 5 student instead of year 6 student.

Apparently, if you submit to Decision Desk for the internal deadline, you submit to Fulbright (as in, there isn't an internal submission option for Decision Desk like the rest of the website). You'll have to call and see if they'll let you release it.

It all depends on the grant. Usually it is 2-3 copies of each required letter and it should be typed on university letterhead. There are more details on the relevant websites.

That is amazing! I too realized (though too late for me) that an ETA to Germany would have been perfect for me. It is such an amazing country and language. I also have a friend in SA who I met in Germany, so I just found your connection to the two places a little uncanny

What made you decide to switch countries from one cycle to the (delayed) next?

I unfortunately don't know the answer to that one Usually when I've done DAAD grants they didn't yet have the portal installed so everything was snail-mailed in.

Oh, the Professor I know of is Gail Marshall, who is in the UK currently (teaches at University of Leicester) but I have definitely read people working across those two fields (prominent Shakespearians turning to Victorian lit and vice versa). You could probably find one of her many articles and then look at who she cites to find faculty ideas. Or just run a search on JSTOR if you have access.

Double check with the DAAD contact (they are super friendly) but usually yes. You fill out that DAAD app in November and apply for the school later (during their open application period). It is confusing, but you usually can apply after you've been given the DAAD so at least you don't have to waste all your time doing two apps at once (this is what a friend of mine who won it did).

Also, I haven't seen many programs that, with an MA take 6.5 years to complete. Mine without an MA is 5.5 and with is 4.5. I applied to 12 schools total during my cycle and all had similar timelines for with and without MA students.

UMass Amherst doesn't require it, University of Illinois at Champaigne, and many others my friend applied to also did not require MAs, so I think it isn't as rare as it seems.

Because with English your money isn't tied to a professor like it is with science, you can usually switch. As for the two different time periods: there is a professor I know of who does Shakespeare and Victorian lit (how the former influences the latter) so it is possible. Also Ren. Studies and 18th century aren't too far away, so you could probably do something with them. Or, you focus on one now and once you land your tenure track job you can focus on the other (or both)!

Tufts University. It is a small department, but they have amazing professors in both postcolonial and feminist/queer studies. I'm not so sure about the student body make-up, though I bet you could check out their webpage, though it won't necessarily tell about all types of diversity.

I want to note that I don't think an MA is a requirement of Rhet/Com just in case your area of focus was that. I have multiple friends who had BAs only and got into the best Rhet/Com departments in the country.

Hi Stitch, Usually with these scholarships, you provide proof of acceptance once awarded the grant, so check for the language regarding that. For visas, see how long it takes to get one (check the government website). If it takes 1 year, apply for it now. It if usually takes 6 months and you'll have that amount of time once you are told you got the grant, you could wait (and save yourself the expense of getting a visa until you know you'll use it).

Email the Fulbright Contact listed on the website. They are meant for this kind of stuff (and contacting them doesn't impact your chances of winning/losing, as some fear it will).

Pellegrina, where are you applying from? Our deadline isn't until Dec. 1st.

You definitely have to be able to make a clean break, which is obviously scary as you could end up not getting into any grad programs and then have to plan a different future and/or reapply again. It is totally possible to switch programs and I would argue it is "kosher" as long as the reasons are strong (such as no/poor funding, bad fit, faculty member leaving, etc.). We have people in my program who were accepted and have previously been in another doctoral program.

It depends what you mean by "I haven't paid my loans." If you mean that you graduated and are in the 6 month grace period, it should be fine. If you mean you've made the required payments, but haven't paid them off, again, you should be fine. If you haven't been paying anything and they are going into default, you might not qualify because of a poor credit score. Graduate schools do not usually make decisions based on ability to pay for the program, at least not in my field.

I'm planning on applying (again) for a graduate DAAD award. I'm not sure yet what I'll apply for (university summer grant or intensive language grant) but thought I would see if others are applying.

What a coincidence! I actually was kicking myself for not applying to a German ETA and choosing the UK Fulbright, even though I was a finalist. The odds would have been far more in my favor and I love Germany. My ultimate goal is to live in the UK, Germany, Austria, or Switzerland. Good luck with everything this round!

Oh what country would you have wanted to teach English in?

For what it is worth, I took the exam last October. I used Princeton Review and it had a break down of how the test is usually structured in terms of genre/time period (British Lit Pre-1800, Shakespeare, American Lit, etc.). It was completely inaccurate. I was preparing to have tons of questions on 18-19th century British literature and I had almost none. My exam was primarily American Poetry, which I didn't have a strong background in. I still managed to get into three amazing programs with an abysmal score. I know that the subject test mattered somewhat because when I visited the school, there was a chance I was going to take a year off to do a fellowship and I was told that I would have to reapply and might want to retake my GRE tests. I hate standardized tests, finding them absolutely pointless in demonstrating anyone's potential to actually do grad level work, so I probably wouldn't have done them again. /endrant

Ah! Ok. I always assumed it was based on in you were in school or not.

Is there a reason you're doing the Scholar Program if you're a PhD? I mean, they still accept Doctoral level applicants and the odds must be better to apply for a student grant over a scholar grant.

Is there a spot on the application itself to mention it? Bluefit, did you put it in your PS or your Grant proposal?