Mozartgirl53

Cheerios! CONGRATULATIONS!!! I'm so excited for you! Way to go! This must be SUCH a relief-- alternate to accepted!! We're cheering you on!

Hi Olioliwoo! Very interesting, LOL! Did he say they know about our forum in a good way or in a those-people-are-crazy kind of way?

Hang in there Rachelrushing! Hang in! I'm pulling for you!

Breenok! CONGRATULATIONS!!

Awww, sorry bahlam! Best of luck to you! Being a recommendee is such an amazing fete that I know you will recover from this momentary blip and go on to accomplish wonderful things!!

AMEN!!! C'mon Olioliwoo!!!!

Hey Neurovivor, thanks for the congrats! I feel increasingly humbled that the people of Zambia are allowing me to be a part of preserving a beautiful culture. I think when it comes down to brass tacks, we really just don't know why a particular person or project is chosen. Neurovivor has never been to Spain. I've been to Zambia twice, for a month each time. We both got grants. So what does this mean? NOTHING, in my humble opinion. Lol.

Hi Shogun, GIF, or graphic interface format, is how most photographs on the internet used to be saved, and many still are. You'll see a .gif at the end of your picture files. Saving something as a gif also compreses the file. So now, in slang, a gif is one of those little looped mini-vids people post all over Facebook and here. I like them! They always make me laugh!!!

Oh miri1776! I'm so, so sorry! I was rooting for you! Plus your car?!?! What a horrible day! I hope you have a place where you can scream it all out! Just remember it's not a rejection of YOU as a person. They just can't fund your project right now. I know it must feel crushing right now. It's OK to sit with those feelings and feel them, painful as they are. Sit, cry, scream, punch a pillow--- whatever you need to do to help process this. There will be a light at the end of this tunnel; I promise. This is NOT the end of miri; this is just the beginning. I BELIEVE IN YOU MIRI1776!!!

Rachelrushing....LOVE the gifs!!!!

Hey Horb, what a great attitude! It's awesome that you have found this other school that would actually be better. What will your PhD be in?

Ack Sirskipsalot! Bummer. Are you going?

Good for you, Neurovivor! I will do the same-- it's on my list for tomorrow! Thanks for the inspiration! If we all start writing NOW, maybe we can at least decrease the amount of cuts? This is a bad policy decision, in my opinion. ANYTHING that helps Americans make friends overseas should be at the TOP of the list, not at the bottom awaiting execution!

Well, I guess no one got notified today? Bummer. I hope all those still waiting hear tomorrow or for sure this week! Interesting that some cuts are already in place for next year. It's very difficult to tell with research/study grants in SubSaharan Africa, because they don't have a specific country quota anymore. And they don't state what the total number for the region is either. SSA still hasn't updated their stats for the current cycle--so we know how many applied to each country but we don't know yet how many awards were given. A little frustrating, to say the least!

Also, what do you guys know about those "Fund Me" buttons I saw on a few people's accounts a couple of months back?

WOW AM403, that's quite the update! Thanks for calling and sharing! I bet there are a few people out there breathing a pretty big sigh of relief! ONWARD HO UKRAINE!

Is it possible your FPAs have heard but can't tell you yet? Because that would be AWESOME!!! Talk about needles and pinnnnnnnnnza!

Hey everyone, I got my (P) email at 7:30 PM EDT, so since it's only 5:30 PM back there right now, you could still possibly hear tonight-- Here's wishing! I have a question for y'all. The professor I first went to Zambia with back in the UW Bothell days did her student Fulbright in Zambia around 1980. She told me that once you have a Fulbright in hand, it is relatively easy (or at least easier) to get other complimentary grants. For example, when she was awarded her Fulbright she applied to the NSF and got money to purchase a car in Zambia because her project involved a decent amount of traveling around eastern Zambia. I am thinking along the same lines. Not a car, for me, but I could use assistance to buy a camcorder and camera (although the camera on my phone is pretty decent). I could also use money to get my website hosted and up and running. I'm just wondering if any of you have heard the same advice and if so, are you or will you apply for other grants and if so, which ones?

Rachelrushing, miri1776, and everyone waiting to hear: GOOD LUCK! MAY TODAY BRING WONDERFUL NEWS!!!

Olioliwoo, YAY FOR YOU!!!!! I'm with GnosisExchange in being so happy to see you're getting right back in there! It's nice you're at a school that is actively involved in guiding students through the process. I hope you get to talk with the outreach director and get some clarification on your alternate status. I'm still rooting for you to go this year! Like GE said, your project is important.

Oh wow. I just turned on CNN when I read this... nothing so far, but I'll keep it on while I'm editing. I can't think of anything I could possibly say that would make this situation any better. Of course, our first thoughts go to the family of the mayor and then to the Ukrainian people. We are so privileged...I will not spend one second today wondering who will be running my government tomorrow...I can't get my head around what it would be like to live day to day with Russian troops at the border and random people running around with loaded guns and Molotov cocktails... Nevertheless, I really, really hope the Fulbright program in Ukraine goes forward! This is a time where building friendship between our two countries is desperately needed! Everything Fulbright stands for is magnified by the situation in Ukraine. We, as a nation, need to stand by the Ukrainian people and I, for one, hope a part of doing that involves the Fulbright U.S. student program! Good luck, shogun and all other Ukrainian recommendees!

Hi miri1776, Spainbound15, and japaniia! Interesting conversation! Your FPA sounds like he's pretty great, miri1776! Since he's actually been on the screening committee, he is one of the few people privy to the selection experience! We can all talk about our own personal experience, but it's nice to hear from someone who's actually been in on the process. One of my former professors, now an emeritus, who has had two Fulbright Scholar grants, told me the same thing about weeding out applicants who don't talk about what they will give back to the country they will be in, above and beyond the Fulbright work itself. Spainbound15, I agree you can use your time in Spain by framing all the ways those times have prepared you for this time. japanii, thanks for the inside scoop! It's very difficult to be a Monday morning quarterback and try to divine how decisions are made, what makes a particular screener toss this project but keep that one? I totally understand why they do not give a reason a particular project isn't funded (or even why they were chosen), but it's frustrating at the same time.

miri1776, may I ask where you read/heard that? I'm just really curious because my FPA made a big deal about it. She told me they really look for students without much, or any, experience in the country to which they are applying. I know I've read something on the Fulbright site as well. But maybe it's one of those things that's more informal in the office? Like in reality they don't look much at that? I'm interested because I want to be able to pass along advice to candidates in the future, but I don't want to tell them something incorrect.