holahnyoung

I'm still waiting as well. Is anyone here a Rangel/Pickering Finalist? At the interview, it seemed almost every Finalist was still waiting to hear back and was in the 15% pool that didn't receive a decision. Sucks to be waiting. Sigh.

I got a letter from my country's Fulbright Commission asking me to send in/ scan a form that indicates my desire to stay on as an alternate. The director wrote a nice letter saying that if one of the principals drop out then alternates are taken. Did anyone else receive a letter from South Korea?

I know procedure differs from country to country but why is that the program managers each seem to have a different philosophy or rulebook in giving out information? I read somewhere that Croatia which only has four full grants to distribute has ten alternates while Lithuania has four full to distribute with two alternates? What's with that? IIE should make the alternate process more transparent and provide more information on it. It's our decision to stay on as alternates but its unfair to keep us blind during the process and to possibly not even receive a response in the end.

I get annoyed when people tell me this too but it makes sense. If you were chosen as a finalist..an alternate for the Fulbright it means that strangers sees your potential and worth. So even without the research grant I'm sure you'll end up somewhere that makes you happy. This goes for all the Fulbright Finalists who may not end up with the grant =)

Congratulations on that! Very happy for you ? Please don't "remind me" that program managers are reading this forum. It's my decision to share what I want with this forum and whether they read it or not is not my concern. I agree that this forum should be reserved for positivity and encouragement but it's also a place to exchange different ideas. I admit I phrased my point harshly and I do apologize if anyone took it personally. But I stand by my idea that funds should be mainly distributed for projects and scholars. To be frank, I don't know understand why the State Department and host countries does distribute allowances for spouses however small it may be. Even taking into account that Fulbright applicants are coming from different stages of their life. As an alternate, I know that my words are going to be filtered through my status but this is what I stand by. If you disagree with what I have to say, it doesn't matter because I'm sure the next application cycle is still going to support spousal stipends. I'm merely trying to make a point.

I just happened to read IE in Madrid on your leftbar. Are you still planning to study in Spain even without the grant? What are you planning to study?

How do you guys feel about starting a second sheet on the spreadsheet for alternates so we can identify who got promoted to principal status? It would be add another dimension of helpfulness to future applicants and more importantly, help current finalists informed.

Baskin Robbins Chocolate Ice Cream Cake. Celebrating alternate status/feeling sorry for myself!

I emailed the program manager today to ask about alternate listing and flatly denied an answer. "No, IIE cannot provide additional information on the Alternate list." I'm going to try to stay positive but it fucking kills me that I was thisclose. Being an alternate is like being in purgatory. Hahaha melodramatic much? Hopefully money won't be wasted on scholars bringing over their significant others or other misc budget draining situations so some of us can go on to do research.. Good luck all!

HAS ANYONE BEEN TAKEN OFF THE ALTERNATE LIST...and received a grant? I hate waiting and being an alternate I get to enjoy the next month doing just that. FML.

How long do you usually wait before you get a response from the respective program managers?

Hey Korea, Spoke to Jermaine Jones on the phone today. The holdup is with FSB right now but the Korea Commission has made their decisions. He said Akeley will be back next Wednesday and he should have the specific details then. Best of luck to everyone

for the South Korea research finalists, I got an email from a friend who is doing an ETA in the country. She just returned from the end of the year Fulbright conference and shared with me some relevant information "hey sandra! sorry i've been mia for a while. how are things? did you hear anything from fulbright yet? i heard that this coming year they accepted 21 researchers! that's an insane amount! i hope you are among the 21. we just had a conference in jeju, and for the first time, we got to meet the researchers, so if you want, i can direct you to a couple.... either way, just let me know how things go. " twwwwwwweenty one! There are currently only twelve research scholars there according to the current Fulbrighters (which is different from the stats listed on the site) but this is great news. For us and the fact that they are increasing opportunities for more students to study in the country. Even if we still had the same percentage of competition as previous years, hearing twenty one applicants were accepted seems great. I suppose now all we have to wait on FSB approval and word from NY. Good luck to all, I know you all don't post on the forum but I know you exist. Haha

https://us.fulbrightonline.org/documents/handbook_09.pdf

Agreed.

Yes, I would have done the same in your situation and would have done it even it took me forever. That is what I meant

Kudos for fessing up that you messed with 220 names in an email that was accidentally not bcced. Because clearly everyone else on this forum probably would have done the same.

Is it normal to receive paperwork from the Swiss side that early? I thought most applicants were contacted after the final decisions were made. Earlier in the thread, some German applicants got word from the German side though so the procedure probably is different for every country. But it can't hurt to be hearing from them so early on. Best of luckk!

You German applicants are lucky to be receiving responses already. I think Korea has one of the largest applicant pools too (90 ETAs & 15 Research) but I've heard nothing so far. I also asked the Senior Program Manager to ask how the applicants were ranked (because NSC recommends the applications in a certain order) but no response haha. Usually he's good with replying but guess we don't have access to that info.

I found out I was a finalist for a research to South Korea last week as well! I've been looking for a support group to share my excitement and so glad that I found this forum haha. Seriously, best of luck to everyone and hope we all get some good news in the next few weeks