kyjin

It's been fantastic so far. I'm on a research grant to Japan; been here since September. For those who didn't make it past the first round: I am so sorry. Do not take it personally; tons of qualified people do not make it every year. Please, apply again next year. I know a number of Fulbrighters (myself included) who didn't get in the first time they applied but have succeeded later! For those who were recommended: Congrats! Celebrate; this is an accomplishment. Try not to stress over the upcoming months while the final selections are made. You'll know when you know. Just enjoy this victory for now.

Current Fulbright here. Just wanted to wish you all the best of luck tomorrow! All the current Fulbrighters are rooting for you!

Beyond stats, I think your language skills, research interests, and writing samples matter a ton too. Your advisors will know best how competitive you are. I'm assuming you're going for Chinese History, but what period? Best to be more specific; for example I'm a Japanese Historian and what I consider top east asian history programs in my subfield aren't necessarily the same for your specific subfield of Chinese history.

You should be able to get health care via your university. Student health care packages aren't always the greatest insurance, but it should be enough for basic needs. (Dental and eye may be additional.) Depending on your funding package, this may be included. (Most PhD programs with full funding will cover this.)

Japan, Pre-Modern China, Japanese Education and Pedagogy

Actually, most fellowships require you to be ABD by the time you take the fellowship, not at time of application. I only reached ABD status last week, but I applied for a number of fellowships while I was pre-ABD. Some fellowships may want confirmation as to when you will be ABD, but there are plenty out there that you should be eligible for. Which fields specifically are you looking for? That may help put your list together.

I did Fulbright Student. And yes, PhD students do tend to apply for both, but the timing for Fulbright-Hays is odd since it's due in April. That means people who don't get a Fulbright Student award are the majority who apply for Fulbright-Hays, but I know several other students who like me applied for a number of dissertation research grants at the same time as Fulbright, and those who didn't get Fulbright took another award they received. You could work on your app for Fulbright-Hays while waiting for Fulbright Student results, but if you get a Fulbright Student award, you would either have to turn it down or withdraw your Fulbright-Hays app. Tl;dr: apply for Fulbright Student as well as other grants, if you don't get one of those, apply for Fulbright-Hays.

It's not that you're ineligible to apply, but they do prefer to give grants to students that have not spent significant time abroad. I'm assuming you want to go for PhD research? You should be fine. In my case, I've spent 11 months total in my country (Japan) and won the award to do dissertation work. Others I know who won this year or in previous years have spent even longer in the country (up to three years in some cases), and others won while they were currently residing in country! So seriously, don't let that deter you; you should be fine.

I have two language programs this summer: one for a month in LA, another for two weeks in the UK. Aside from that, I'm working on my prospectus to defend at the end of the summer before I leave for my Fulbright in the fall.

For MA applications, I submitted my senior thesis, slightly edited for length based on the requirements of each program. For my PhD, I was in the middle of writing my MA thesis, and I didn't have much written material at that time. I did, however, have a five page translation of a primary source that hadn't been translated into English before, and was the center of my project. I ended up submitting the translation along with an essay explaining what the document was, historical background, and what my MA thesis was about. Turned out to be a very wise decision; the essay was solid, and the translation showed off my skills translating Sino-Japanese, which is a great language skill to have if you're studying Premodern Japan.

I got mine about a week after the official notice. It was sent from my country's commission via snail mail.

Depends on the country and grant type. For example, my research grant can start anytime between July 1st, 2016 and March 31st, 2017. Which country/program are you looking for?

Have you sent along the offer from Hawaii to UWashington? May help with negotiating funding (though shouldn't UWashington have given you funding info by now?). I'd advise against entering any PhD program that doesn't offer full funding; the degree isn't worth going into debt for. (And the cost of living in both places is rather high...)

^THIS Fantastic summer program that puts you in full immersion for 7-9 weeks depending on program length. I did it 8 years ago for Japanese and learned more in that summer than I did in the two years of college courses I took before that. As others have mentioned, once you're enrolled your program will likely give you funding for language, so this may be an option for next summer rather than the coming one.

Some non-European countries have this too! I'm enrolling in Japan's national health care, which covers something like 70% of fees. Fulbright's care should cover the rest. I'd advise grantees to see what each commission recommends. Japan's commission highly recommends enrolling in national healthcare in addition to the coverage already received by the US Fulbright commission.

I agree that you should contact him, but I know Sanchez took a couple new students this year, so I assume he'll be around for awhile. I don't work with him, but I am at USC and can answer any questions you have about the program. Good luck on your search!

Glad it worked out!

Darn Maybe make one last-ditch email to the coordinator for India and see if they can give you any info? Looks like India ETAs came out today, so maybe they have the info and are going to release today? Honestly I'd probably accept the Princeton fellowship and do the unprofessional pull out thing if you do end up with the Fulbright... Were you planning on applying to other Princeton programs in the future, or was this just a one-time backup?

Have you contacted the Princeton program and explained your situation to them? They may give you more time to decide, or perhaps give other advice. I was nominated for another full year fellowship before I heard from Fulbright, and when I contacted that office, they said I could accept for the moment, but let me know if I heard from Fulbright by a certain date, I could pull out and they could nominated someone else in my place. If I pulled out after that date, they would be too late to nominate a replacement. In my case, I was able to do the former. I would hope that your program also has a wait list of sorts, so perhaps letting them know that you may pull out, they can still keep that waiting list in check. I would accept though at the end of the day; you never know what may happen for Fulbright!

It really depends on each country's commission though. For example, my package is incredibly generous, and I've spoken to previous Fulbrighters in the same country who have saved money on their stipend. Mine came via snail mail about a week after my original notification. This should come from your country's Fulbright commission, not IIE, if that helps!

I downloaded the document from their website and filled out everything on their computer, then saved as a docx. I doubt they care about our handwriting; the sample was typed after all. For my photo, I just took a recent photo of my profile where I'm smiling and in a nice top, though I don't think it particularly matters if we go for a more formal photo or not. I'm sure if they want something else, they'll let us know!

Congrats on the PhD admit! No, Fulbright won't hold it against you if you decide to decline. People have lots of reasons for choosing not to take the award, and they will definitely understand choosing a PhD program over a one-year ETA position. Best of luck with your decision!

I applied for 2010-2011 and was an alternate. Finalist this year. Just taking a quick glance at the doc, seems there's a handful of us who have been successful on our second-go round.

Good luck to those waiting today! Really hoping good news comes your way

Japan sent my package with info out on the 10th, four days after I received my initial notice. It arrived on Monday (14th). I'd expect your info will arrive soon!