busybee

That's rough! Does she know why?

Orientations are by region, and ETAs arrive a day before the research grantees and scholars. North Africa and the Middle East had their orientation from June 15th (the 14th for the ETAs) to June 17th. I am not 100% sure, but I believe that the Southeast Asia region also had their orientation the same week. Fulbright does let you miss if you have a legitimate reason to do so. You have to fill out paperwork and get it approved. Good luck!

Good luck to you as well, TieZhu!

I applied for medical anthropology. I deferred my Ph.D. admission to take a Fulbright and applied under the first option, so luckily I can apply again next year! It's weird, because this is the first application I've submitted where I don't care if I get it or not. I'm not thinking about it at all, or obsessing like I have in the past like every other application I've ever submitted. Good luck to everyone as well!

I think your vast experience far outweighs your GRE scores. Experience is a top factor in anthropology PhD admissions, especially when you are applying directly from undergrad.

I have finally, finally, finally found out this afternoon that I have received the grant!!!!!!! I am ecstatic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know people that have been both accepted and rejected for the PhD this cycle already.

Me too. Twiddling my toes, too and singing a merry song, dee dee doo dee doo.

La dee da Dee dooooo.

Shout out to all my comrades still waiting. We will be waiting bosses by the time this is all over.

Congratulations, Baloch!!! I think you made the best decision! The prestige element hinders a lot of people, myself included, in making decisions about graduate school. But graduate school is a whole nother ballgame where name doesn't carry as much weight as many other factors do. You will have an amazing time at Rutgers, I'm sure! Congrats again!!

Thank you! Nope, to another school. I'll PM you.

I had a bad dream last night that I finally got the email from Fulbright. They did not tell me that I didn't get the award directly, but instead blabbed on about the criteria with which they use to award people and why my application didn't fit that criteria. Ouch.

Hi striped. I just accepted a fully-funded PhD offer at a top-tier private institution for this cycle, and my GRE quant score was in the 24th%; my "analytical writing" in the 52nd%. My Verbal was above 90% (which is what my BA advisor told me is the only thing she cares about when it comes to scores when she is working on the admissions committee at my university), although I highly doubt that had anything to do with why I got in. If you are going to retake, I'd focus on raising your verbal more than anything else. Quantitative and writing are really not important (frankly, they are a joke). I would suggest putting your time and energy toward working on your SOP and finding schools with excellent fits; then, emailing a few professors at each school you are interested in. My new advisor was looking for a new student and working on the committee this year, which from my experience is super important in admissions. Unfortunately, politics aren't something you can control at all, but you can certainly email professors, introducing yourself and your project and asking if they are taking on new students this year. I learned a lot this way about people's personalities and the overall departmental culture. One professor offered to read my SOP and gave me tons of advice (where I am ultimately attending!), while at another school I emailed 5+ professors and didn't get a single response (needless to say this is not where I am attending!). I was hesitant to email at first but I'm really glad I did. This was a huge and significant part of my application experience, along with writing my SOP which took a lot of time and dedication. Anyway, don't sweat the GRE. I think writing standardized tests is a favorite pastime of Satan.

Meanwhile... Still waiting here.

I'm feeling the same way about Bahrain! C'mon Arab countries!

Congrats everyone!! I have also accepted an offer to a PhD program for cultural anthropology and I'm so thrilled!

I don't think so. The acceptance rate for my country is about 10%, and after I found out that I was a semi-finalist, I let the schools to which I was applying know. The professors with whom I was corresponding were very impressed. Not to mention, in my country, ETAs are expected to work only about 20 hours each week, and are highly encouraged to conduct their own research while on the fellowship. If I reapplied to graduate school with it, I would certainly talk about it in my statement of purpose and interviews--the experience of teaching preparing me professionally, what I learned about the culture and language (a necessity for my doctoral work) for nearly a year abroad, and the research I conducted which would undoubtedly be connected to my future dissertation work. I don't think the admissions committees would brush it off as, "She only taught English and learned nothing, what a useless Fulbright." I wouldn't want to go to a school where people are that elitist, anyway. The ETA was a good option for me, as well, since I was working on graduate school applications and was abroad at the time. I need graduate school training before I can really conduct the kind of research I want to do, anyway, so a research award for this cycle was totally implausible. And I am sure you are probably all correct that the award wouldn't be given much weight for a career in academia--and solely written on a CV with no context, I can see that--but in different context, during an interview or in a statement of purpose for example, I think even the ETA award could hold a lot of weight and merit.

Thanks for the advice, kafcat! A five-year PhD fellowship is definitely more enticing than a one year teaching fellowship. And I really love the PhD program I committed to--it's a top place in my field but it is also one that is supportive of its students. I'm really excited and so grateful to have made it out mostly unscathed from this awful admissions process, although now I have a bit of survivor's guilt as a lot of my friends who are equally or more qualified than me haven't got any solid offers or any offers at all. Good luck to all the semi-finalists still waiting for Fulbright! The waiting for Fulbright is just as bad as waiting for graduate school, as it really is like a golden ticket to graduate school for afterwards.

I will definitely ask the department once I hear back from Fulbright. It looks like the graduate college is okay with it as long as the department agrees. If I get the award, it would be a great problem to have.

Is there anyone on here who is planning on declining the award if they are selected? I have accepted a great PhD offer to a top institution in my field, and I feel so crazy that I am planning on declining if I receive the award. I applied for an ETA position in case I did not get into graduate school for this fall; graduate school has always been my Plan A. I am still honored to be a Fulbright semi-finalist, of course. Does Fulbright hesitate to award more grants in the future if someone has declined in the past? I know I will be applying again in the near future for dissertation research.

A lot of us are still waiting.

For those of you accepted to CUNY ( and Congratulations!!! That's amazing!), would you mind sharing your region with me? Perhaps via PM if you don't want to break anonymity? I know CUNY staggers its acceptances by region.

I disagree that faculty won't take you seriously! A friend of mine who completed MAPSS has received multiple, fully-funded PhD offers to prestigious institutions this application cycle, including Berkeley and Northwestern. It definitely seems like a great option, especially full-funded. Chicago is so well-respected, no matter the program. I think MAPSS is what you make of it.

I don't mean "I hope it's for a good reason that they arrest Westerners." I mean I hope it's a good reason I had to send my passport scan. Whoops.