jenrd

Hi Everyone,
Congratulations to last cycle's grantees! I thought I'd start this for the next cycle since the application cycle opens tomorrow. Let's help each other out during this process. Feel free to ask questions, introduce yourself, or blow off steam regarding the application process here. Good luck to everyone.

I don't think I've ever been rooting for someone as much as I am for you this cycle!! Talk about perseverance.

I made it through the first round for Ireland in this past cycle and I'll be reapplying there.

Seriously Mexico!! For goodness sake please tell me one way or the other! It is so hard to concentrate on work and make plans for my research year without knowing my status...

Hi Guys. 

I have applied 4 times in the past 0_0. I have been a finalist twice. And will be trying one more time. I hope to apply to Indonesia to focus on wildlife conservation. Either Rhino or the human-elephant conflict ! Good luck to all ! 

I'll be an ETA in Spain, but I wanted to let people who are applying to Spain that they have expanded their program!! There are now 123 awards instead of 46 with different regions!! You still can pick a preference (Madrid, La Rioja, Asutrias and Galicia I think) so hopefully your waiting will be less painless since you have more awards

Hi Everyone,
Congratulations to last cycle's grantees! I thought I'd start this for the next cycle since the application cycle opens tomorrow. Let's help each other out during this process. Feel free to ask questions, introduce yourself, or blow off steam regarding the application process here. Good luck to everyone.

Hi photogeographic and Asmith
I've started this for the next cycle
http://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/77132-fulbright-2017-2018/
Congratulations to this cycles grantees! And to those who did not get accepted; there are a lot of opportunities available to you to get similar experiences. And to those in the waiting game still; good luck

 

Hi Everyone,
Congratulations to last cycle's grantees! I thought I'd start this for the next cycle since the application cycle opens tomorrow. Let's help each other out during this process. Feel free to ask questions, introduce yourself, or blow off steam regarding the application process here. Good luck to everyone.

Any one anxiously waiting for Fulbright's next application cycle to start tomorrow ? 0_0 

What would I do? I'd finish those two classes. However my next choice would be to contact the admissions committee...but like you said they accepted you with the understanding that you would have a master's degree, so don't be too surprised if they say you need to finish those classes. I don't think it would come across as lazy to ask though.

Unrelated but related. The US just pulled all families of US diplomats and military personnel out of Turkey. Do we know of any impact that it might have on any Fulbrighters going there? Not to cause panic, but curious. 

I agree that the advice is worth considering--there's no guarantee of jobs at the end of all of this, academia is a hard life, and it's incredibly demanding to be at the top of your field. However, the tone of the original post is a little condescending: "I went to great schools, I'm in a top program, and I love my work. But everyone else should reconsider, especially if they're getting rejected." I'm not pretending to know what motivates anybody else, nor do I think that anybody is "lucky" if they're rejected from their dream programs. Rejection sucks, especially when there are "so few slots but many qualified applicants" (as any rejection letter will tell you). For someone to basically say "you're lucky that you were rejected but I'm in a top program" is an incredibly insensitive, pompous thing to say (especially when for many, the wounds of rejection are raw), despite that the intent behind the original post is trying to be good. 

To those who did not get in this year, and who are mourning: you are the lucky ones. Go be with your friends and families, enjoy the sunshine, if you have an alternative path that excites you TAKE IT. Doing this PhD has been a nightmare.  I currently have a 4.0 in one of the top programs in the world, I'm a graduate of a few 'big name' universities and my resume is a fancy piece of shit that looks good to committees, but if I had to do it all over again--knowing then what I know now--I would tell myself to get out of the game, and do literally anything else. I'd rather be cleaning bathrooms at Starbucks (I did it for five years, it is good, honest, physical work.) Academia is a dirty, disgusting game when played at the high (Ivy/flagship) levels; grad school life is beyond isolated, cut-throat, and competitive, and worst of all, what nobody tells you, or they tell you so much but you refuse to believe it: THERE. ARE. NO. JOBS. And the jobs that are there go to one of three types of people: geniuses (which few of us are), the well-connected in academia (ditto), the absurdly lucky (double ditto). Every single friend who is in a PhD (from schools like Yale, Princeton, Harvard, etc) told me that the first year of their PhD was the worst year of their lives. Yup. It is. Please, I beg of you, if you were not accepted this year really take a second look at your job options, your passions, your priorities, and rethink this path. See this website if you want more confirmation, or feel free to pm me--I'm very happy to do for you guys what nobody did for me last year. http://100rsns.blogspot.com/
If you want to know why I'm sticking with it, its because I'm genuinely in love with the work, and I get to do it on a high level where I'm at. But my life is fading daily, and all that there is now is the work. And honestly, I think that's what academia wants from you--a brain free of soul and bodily distractions. Its a good way to be an academic, but a bad way to be human.

It's not unprofessional to decline the Fulbright if you do end up getting it to take the Princeton offer.  People decline for all sorts of reasons.  You get to know (and put on your CV) if you get it, and you make some alternate's day fantastic.  Fulbright expects some people to decline or withdraw; that's why they designate alternates.

Did anyone apply for Whitaker Fellowship?

I'll just leave this here...
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AlU2xDiiVhQjK3quPy6qXJuhgXYghzzG8L4YNT0unX0/edit#gid=578086360

Absolutely! They seem to alternate late March, early April. I like to believe that there is heated debate over the merits of my proposal. lol

Just got the incredibly sad email that all programs to Bangladesh are being suspended for the 2016-2017 year due to credible security threats. I'm not entirely sure how to feel about it because I know this is for the best interest of citizens (especially given recent events) but I was looking really forward being able to go. Right now, I'm still on my study abroad in Spain without any plan of action for when I get back in a few weeks. Any of you have advice?

Completely agree with this, I was just speaking for people who get the Fulbright ETA and do nothing on the side. I was pretty lucky to engage in conferences and community outreach in my country which helped my applications. But from what I have heard, an ETA is not as impressive as a research grant in order to get into PhD programs. Maybe other grad programs, yes, ( I had a couple of fulbright friends that got into the foreign service programs, law school, teacher's college, etc). 

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. 

Personally, I'm giving up on this week and just hoping to hear sometime early next week. Need to mentally turn off the "it could come any minute" anxiety. 

I mean obviously, ETA is not prestigious or all that competitive since you're primarily just teaching English.

As a former Fulbright research grant awardee and current PhD student (still waiting to hear back about my application for a 2nd Fulbright research grant...), I just want to echo what kafcat said above. ETA is fun but does literally nothing for your CV. I honestly don't completely understand why people with an interest in academic careers even apply for the ETA; neither admissions nor hiring committees care about it.

Just got accepted to the country/program I've applied to! I'm obviously pleased, but my brain seems to be taking its time accepting this information. I'm sure my brain will adjust to this news eventually. Good luck to everyone else! 

I appear to have started stress-eating this week and should be the size of a small whale by the time the notifications are sent out. 

How is everyone else coping with the anxiety of waiting? Any good tips to share or are we all just spiraling down together?