sat0ri

It's one of the most dangerous cities in America, "The city of Baltimore, Maryland, United States is infamous for its very high crime rate, including a violent crime rate that ranks high above the national average." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Baltimore I've been there too and for someone who's traveling there from outside the country, it would probably be smart to check the crime reports of whatever area you've been in. I lived in some cities/area that aren't rank very high on crime and even some of those areas were extremely sketch.

I was considering applying to the DAAD short term (~6 months) research grant award. I have a great professor at LMU (Munich) lined up as well as a project I am extremely enthusiastic about (synthetic chemistry; next generation chemotherapy). I'm wondering if anyone knows how competitive the research award is--sorry, I know that is a broad question. I'm especially worried because I would be a post-bacc student, and they website says they prefer PhD's and post-docs. I've scrolled through the pages and it seems like things are getting very competitive for DAAD, to make matters worse. Does anyone know what makes an applicant competitive (GPA, publications, etc)?

@sairam94 IIRC earlier in this thread someone said they reimburse you but there is a limit

Haha, no but I hope one day I will be! Right now, I'm just a lowly, humble medical scribe. We do work alongside the residents and attendings (and PA's and NP's) so we get to see a majority of what they see though. It is very fast paced and very heavy, so I'm hoping it will keep me from being too down if I don't get selected. Phew, it's rough to think about

I'm certainly hoping it is next week too, Dilemma. I'm a nervous wreck trying to simultaneously process the conflicting emotions of excitement and dread. Also, I need to start planning my life one way or the other, and I've been putting a lot of stuff on hold (signing leases, telling my current employment whether I'll stay, deciding on a plan B), so it's becoming a logistical issue of just wanting to know to get other plans in order. However, I also have this dreadful "be careful what you wish for" feeling. I'm really trying to figure out how I'm going to handle it if I don't get accepted to Fulbright. I'm expecting to find out Mon/Tues in the afternoon so I switch my schedule to work overnight in the ER in hopes of being too distracted to be depressed.

I feel like I'm spamming this board saying this, but for the UK (which seems to be where you applied), for the past 9 years that there has been available data, notifications have come exclusively on Monday or Tuesday. (I still check every day because I'm irrational haha.) During the interview they said they expect notifications to be sent by "at the end of March by the latest" and I think they said something similar to Deliemma too. I thought maybe it would be this week, given years 2010-2014, but evidently not. My next guess is 03/29 (or 03/28) which would be similar to the most recent year, followed by 03/22 (or 03/21), followed by the first or second week of April on a Tuesday (or Monday). Of course, it is anyone's guess, but that is where I would but my money if I was the betting type. EDIT I agree with soundandvision's comment and sentiments though.

Thanks a lot and congratulations. It seems that most countries use the letter notification system in the subject line, but there are at least a few exceptions. I'll be back on high alert when casually opening my email (every 30 minutes). It's back to purgatory for me...

Oh ok thanks, I was expecting P/A/NS to be in the subject line so that would have totally freaked me out if there was nothing there. I applied for the UK open award and I applied to a few schools in the UK hoping to get internal funding if not the Fulbright. However, I have also interviewed with an awesome professor at LMU (Munich) who is willing to support a DAAD application for a 6 month research grant, so Germany is not totally out for me. Fulbright and the respective host institution, however, is by a large margin my top choice.

Interesting. Nikki, did your email subject line give any indication of your status (e.g., P, A, or NS; P in your case), or did you have to open the email to learn your fate? As always, congrats and condolences to everyone

Actually, it looks like for all years there is available data (9 years total), decisions invariably came on a Monday or Tuesday. So I guess UK people can relegate their woes to the beginning of the week and be moderately functional the rest of the week.

The most recent year, 2015, was late in regards to time as well, notifications were sent out as late ~9PM 03/30/15... so it could be quite a long day. The preceding 5 years there's no data on the time that I see, only that notifications came very early in the 3rd week of March (perhaps more accurately, the middle of the month). I guess the first thing to learn from those previous 5 years is that, at least a few of us should fill in the time of day of our notification for forthcoming Fulbrighters, to quell the inordinate anxieties of posterity or whatnot If we don't learn of the decision today, it's really anyone's guess at that point, because there's no reason to think it will any one day over another. Definitely an unsettling mix of absolute excitement and terrible dread going on right now...

Okay UK Fulbright hopefuls, hang on tight. If this Fulbright cycle is anything like 2010-2014 (for partnership award applicants at least), this may very well be the day our lives are drastically and--for better or worse--indelibly changed...

@Writer86 Also, at the height (or depth, rather) of my neuroticism, I emailed the senior program officer for Europe/Eurasia at the IIE, who said if you did not receive an interview invite it does not mean you are not still being considered. This was 1 month ago though, so things could have changed in the meantime. For some peace of mind, you could try emailing people involved with the processing of your app. Previous Fulbrighters have said they are actually warm and helpful people, so you don't need to be too intimidated.

Hey! I'm glad you're back! I was wondering what happened to you! I kept checking for you on here. Just to add to your line of reasoning, I think UK open awards, as compared to partnership awards, are more irregular in terms of chronology because applications are processed by both the various government agencies bewteen the countries as well as the academic institutions that don't (necessarily) have the designated committees to deal with international scholarship applications. So if your host institution experiences delays processing your application (and subsequently confirming with Fulbright that you've been accepted), that could also retard the progression of your application and interview invite notification. Did you receive notification from the university you applied to that you've been accepted, and if so, when? But, at any rate, you probably can't put too much weight into the past years' notification time, both for being an Arts semifinalist and an open-award semifinalist. However, you might want to look at the US-UK Fulbright Open Award webpage (under the timeline tab), if you haven't already. Two things I noticed in the pdf you linked is that it says (1) being recommended means you are "worthy of a Fulbright award", and (2) the arts is even more highly selective than academic fulbrights. So (1) congratulations and that makes me curious what you project is! You can PM me if you don't want to broadcast it publicly (2) you really didn't do yourself any favors by applying one of the most prestigious international awards, in the most competitive grant type (Arts) in one of the most competitive countries in a category with the smallest amount of awards! My understanding is, being a semi-finalist, you "made the cut" for both the UK open award and Arts pool from the US side of things, and they sent your app over for review on the UK side of things (like you said). Again, congrats based on points (1) and (2).

Fair enough. Thanks for your input. Everything you said about MD-PhD was right, but just to clear a few things up. MSTP is a funding scheme for MD-PhD degrees, and though it's the most common, there are other funding schemes (both internal and external). So, it is synonymous but not coterminous. You are correct that the dual degrees are expedited (to fill the need for benchtop to bedside researchers) but are still very long degrees, which is compounded by the need for residencies (after MD) and post-doc position (after PhD) which only occasionally can be done concurrently. Also, though the degrees pay for both the PhD and MD degree (the later of which can be as expensive as a quarter million dollars in debt), the time spent out of the field not making MD salary (150-400K / yr) tends to cancel out the benefit (conversely, financial solvency after MD/PhD is not without its perks). I think it might be futile but I'm not sure I would say foolish, because while 50K is a lot of money, it would not necessarily be the end of the world on a physician's salary (but that could be a gamble, because 50K with no med school admission could be devastating debt). As far as the length of the degree, you're absolutely right, and as is, I'm already feeling my age and realizing just how much further I would need to go. Fortunately, I've never been too concerned with making a lot of money/status, so being in my 30's and still in school wouldn't be the end of the world for me.

Also, just to add, though I imagine that applying for grants could be an incessant stressor, I will say that my experiences in clinical setting surprised me with how depressing and tragic medicine is. One other final thing, I definitely am becoming more aware of my age (20's) and I realize these career paths are some of the longest, so that's beginning to weigh on my conscious as well.

Thanks for your reply. So I do have a good amount of research experience from my undergrad, I think I'm guilty of being drawn in by the prestige of studying at OxBridge. (I dropped out of high school, went to CC, then uni, so a school like that would "validate" my past struggles--not excusing, just explaining). So the MD vs PhD vs both thing is something that I'll still a bit torn over, though MD was my initially leaning and has since been the "front runner" of what I want to do. I suppose one of the reasons why a Masters appealed to me is I could test exactly which one I was leaning towards. So yes, a biomedical / transnational science PhD strongly appeals to me. I do have substantial clinical involvement experiences, including volunteering at free clinics, disabled individuals, at hospice, and employment as a medical scribe at a high acuity trauma center. I definitely love the clinical aspect of it, because even though in a utilitarian sense a PhD probably helps more people (if they help cure some disease for example), with the MD you get the very real, tangible sense of helping others. Also, there is a bit more stability in the job--I hate trying to "sell myself" on applications to schools/scholarships, and I imagine applying for grants could be particularly stressful to me. With MD, once your in med school, there is much more certainty in your life There is a pretty well-delinated path of med school -> residency -> attending with a "quantitative yield" (so to speak) between each step, so once you're in med school your career is pretty much waiting for you at the end of it. The MD-PhD is supposed to be a happy compromise, but it certainly isn't without problems either. I think I know it probably doesn't make sense to spend 50K USD on a master's degree no matter what school it was completed at, but I'm having trouble fighting the temptation.

Damn that's rough. At least you have other good things awaiting you. The only official information that I'm aware of is from the Information for Sem-finalist site: An alternate candidate can be promoted and offered an award if additional funding becomes available. Unfortunately, candidates who have been named as alternates may not hear of a promotion to principal status until much later. IIE cannot predict the probability of whether or not an individual candidate will eventually be promoted and offered an award. IIE will keep Alternate candidates open for consideration unless an application is formally withdrawn.

So from from 2010 to 2014, notifications were sent out on the 3rd Tuesday of the March pretty consistently (1 year it was the 3rd Monday, close enough). I think there might be a good chance decisions for UK semi-finalist will come then. Of course, the wrench in the gears is that last year it came on the 30th, even though other Fulbright award notifications didn't seem to be late. I think Monday-Tuesday is the day to anticipate; if it doesn't come then, then it's anyone's guess and we're back to anxious ignorance. I see OxBridge was informed two weeks later. Also, there is only Oxbridge data for 2015. Any idea what's going on with this???

So I've been accepted to Oxford and Cambridge MPhil programs in Pharmacology and Chemistry respectively. I am still waiting on funding decisions, but I'm not overly optimistic about this. Since I'm considered international, the programs would cost about 30K but 12K for living, to a total of about +/- 40K USD. (I do spend about 12K for living in the USA, so I'm not sure how much weight i should give that). I've heard pretty some pretty strong opinions that this is not worth it, and I'm pretty convinced that I should not take these offers without funding. However, I'd like to get some 3rd part, anonymous feedback just to be certain. Sorry if this is an obvious question (or violates policy on this forum). To give some context, I dropped out of high school (so I thought a good-name university might repair my record) and decided to pursue a medical doctorate (MD) when starting college. However when joining research labs, particularly chemistry labs, I realized how much I enjoy this work and have been gravitating towards research, so now I'm leaning towards MD with strong basic science focus or MD-PhD combined program. So, this means I will likely end up with about 125K to 250K in student loans after med school, meaning 40K seems like a "drop in the bucket" and being able to repay loans as a physician is typically not a major problem. Also, having an impressive masters might help me get into a better research-oriented university. Also Also, I love the research (synthetic chemistry for anti-cancer compound) and I would like to be able to travel, so that's make this decision a bit more difficult for me as well. My heart wants to go, but my brain says it's not reasonable without funding. I would love some opinions and advice regarding my situation.

I thought you guys would be the best people to ask. I've been accepted to a few international master's programs, and currently all funding decisions are still pending. Would it be worth it to study for a ~1 year masters (at Oxford or Cambridge, et al.) if the tuition comes out to be ~30K USD up to 45K USD? I've heard it is a "funding or bust" type of situation most of the time, but the places I've seen this written has been the soft sciences. The Fulbright award I applied for does necessarily pay for everything, but I was wondering if I were fortunate enough to get a partial scholarship (and no other funding), would it be worth it? Just some extra info: I applied to international masters because travel/cultural exchange is important to me; my goal is to apply combined MD-PhD (chemical biology), or maybe do MD followed by post-doc, or PhD then to MD. Also, I'm fairly new to how this site works, sorry if this out of place or whatnot

Awesome, great job on medical school. I'm pre-med myself (my true haunt is SDN), and I'm curious, have you talked to your school about deferrals? I'm not sure I even have to worry about it because I don't if I'll get Fulbright but I thought I'd ask. I have a few good friends who applied MD-PhD and they had trouble getting deferrals at certain school. For instance, one of my friends who is currently a Gates-Cambridge fellow had trouble getting a deferral. He interviewed at Harvard, UPenn, etc etc and I think UPenn was one of the only ones that accepted the deferral for even a prestigious scholarship. He had a similar timeline as you, he was accepted to med schools and found out about Gates-Cambridge in Febraury-March.

I think I'd rather breathe heavily through it like I was giving birth to a child as I read each word intently in a long drawn-out email It's sort of nice to be able to emotionally prepare for what you're about to read. Now even checking my email is a nerve-wracking process! If I'm being honest though, I actually think the band-aid approach is probably best.

@awayfromhere @Mechka @cris_tuna Thanks for the info. Somehow knowing that made me 100 times more nervous...

For those of you accepted/alternates/rejected, could you discern from the subject line of the email whether or not you were accepted? My stomach is turning just thinking about receiving that email