holahnyoung

Alternates, take heart!

I, too, was an alternate for the Full Grant to Germany, and just found out yesterday that I have been promoted to receive the award.

Oddly enough, I first received a hard copy of the letter in the mail yesterday, and this morning received an email. I wasn't expecting to hear through snail mail, so it threw me for a loop! The letter was sent to my current address.

The wait is long and painful, and it's incredibly hard to be stuck in limbo as an alternate. Good luck to all of you- and remember that perserverance is truly important! This is my second attempt at a Fulbright, and I was already preparing to write a new proposal for next year. I have friends who received a grant on their third and even fifth try!

I study the cultural and social history of the People's Republic of China (which, by the way, is almost non-existent in the period 1949-1980). A large part of my specific project involves anthropological or ethnographic research, including interviews with people who have memories from the 1950s-1980s. I'm not exactly sure what they didn't like, but perhaps they felt it was uninteresting or too political. It's hard to tell.

hey all- i've been holding off on joining the forum, but i am "kbt" on the spreadsheet. i withdrew my app (turkey eta) last week, which is something i never dreamed i would do. i'll be glad to comment further on my decision, although it's summarized in sally's post above.

consider carefully how fulbright fits into your future career plans and what's in your heart. prestige is not everything (although i certainly believe TFA is prestigious), and if an offer comes along that makes your heart race, don't hold onto fulbright just to add it to your resume. with that said, i think if i were applying to grad schools right now, i would have been more likely to defer grad school for a year to take the fulbright. in my case, i feel a genuine sense of urgency in getting to san jose to teach.

be well,
bailey
kbaileythomson@gmail.com

p.s. i also mentioned that i thought fulbright's process was too long. i got a boren scholarship (also IIE) to morocco my freshman year, and the process was much smoother and had a deadline. i appreciated that. i am still not sure why fulbright, which must know that the people who apply for it are sweating over grad and scholarship apps + job offers, is not more forthcoming about when the decisions will be made. having many international parties involved is not really an excuse. fulbright has existed for a long time- they have had lots of practice and should move the application timeline up if they genuinely need this much time to release decisions.

Latvia folks: Got an email from Rachel today:



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