Damis

There's a reason why this is coordinated via the Fulbright Commission Stateside and not with the host country Commission. Not only are you placing the host country in a weird situation, but if a trend starts of folks e-mailing both IIE and host Commissions it'd inundate them needlessly. You don't want IIE to have to single you out in order to tell you to cease communication with a Commission you probably shouldn't be communicating with anyway. Further, I'm pretty much sure a host country's Commission wouldn't be able to tell you anything different from what IIE tells you anyway. A tweet is different though, as someone else at the Commission is probably tasked with handling social media stuff. I wouldn't e-mail directly.

NOT a good idea.

Congrats everyone! From what I remember, you're right that PAD takes over (they're actually the ones that select from the pool of recommended candidates), but in general everyone typically finds out at the same time regarding placement. At least that was how my year and the preceding year went.

Ah I'm sorry! Yes there is! My project, for instance, changed tremendously once I got to my school. I helped lead an after school tutoring program. Didn't even know I'd have an opportunity like that. Sorry for the confusion on my end.

I've never heard of Fulbright providing any additional funds to pursue graduate studies. By sponsor, maybe they're saying that the Fulbright Commission in your respective country would be willing to vouch that you're a bonafide researcher quasi employed by them? That helps.

We briefly talked about this a little earlier in the thread. Basic conclusion is that if you're trying to change host affiliation it's definitely something you should alert the Fulbright Commission about. I had friends who changed up their research a bit, but were still under the same host in the same city. One overarching question to ask yourself is whether or not Fulbright would have funded this new research if it had been what your original application had detailed. Fulbright selects projects of merit, not so much individuals. Bear that in mind before you contact them.

Hey! A friend of mine brought her husband with her while she was doing her ETA in Germany. If you have some specific questions I can forward to her I'm more than sure she'd be willing to answer them. Just PM them to me.

Congrats to all the new Grantees. For those not so lucky this time around, I hope ya'll apply again!

You can always do Fulbright after (or even during) your graduate studies. I'd go with the guarantee, especially if it's going to work out to bring your lady.

Transcripts don't effect when decisions are released. I have a harrowing story about transcripts involving down to the wire fighting during the first half of my year in Germany. Almost got me sent home through no fault of my own. Not fun. LOL!

I see, I see! I'd definitely reach out to the Fulbright Commission. Changing institutional affiliation might alter things quite a bit for them. I understand where you're coming from, however.

No problem! I was in Frankfurt.

Like, entirely different realm? Or just topic within an overarching theme change? I had Full Grant friends change their original proposal quite a bit, but they didn't go from researching theoretical physics to Medieval Biometrics of the 15th century, for instance. I'm pretty sure you couldn't change hosts, for instance.

Ha! I'm used to po' livin', but that year took it to an entirely different level. You're going to have financial constraints wherever you end up. We made do. Roommates are a given, you have to be a bit frugal, and you definitely won't be ballin' unless you have supplementary income coming in! All that said, a group of us went to Cyprus, Estonia, and Croatia so it def worked out. Definitely start scoping out living arrangements now so that you get a firm grasp of what you're in for.

You can extend the Germany ETA as well. My cohort year I believe about 20 folks did so. I don't remember it being guaranteed, however, so that is something to bear in mind. The ETA and USTA cooperate with one another. Several members of my year received offers for both and opted for Fulbright and vice versa.

1. I served as a Fulbright Alumni Ambassador after my year (well, I still sorta do now as well). One thing they stressed to us during orientation is that they don't want a cookie cutter, 4.0 student (nothing wrong with that). They're interested in folks with edges, curves, and imperfect squares as well (my words, don't want to put anything on the Commission lol). By that, I mean you don't have to have a very high GPA or even a high GPA to win. The narrative that you weave explaining who you are and how effective you would be as a cultural ambassador is most important. I've personally seen folks from a range of academic institutions and grade levels win. Thus, I wouldn't be too worried about how they would construe the study abroad grades. 2. I knew Research grantees who did not have ANY German fluency. If you're researching STEM related material, for instance, it'd be almost impossible to have the proficiency to do so in German. That said, I think that if you're researching Goethe or something that requires archival retrieval then you'd see the Commission start to question how you'd be able to accomplish what you're researching. Altdeutsch is a MFer.

Otay, I talked to another Fellow who also confirmed that she found out in April. Ugh! She also said they for sure give you a confirmation as to whether or not you move on. They won't leave you guessing. Hope ya'll are holding on! I'm doing better, but still anxious!

I did CBYX in HS and Germany ETA. It depends on what you want from the experience, but ultimately as an ETA you'll be teaching at a school while with the CBYX you'll be a student/intern. The Fulbright is much more known name recognition wise, but if you don't care about that you're good. I don't know for sure, but is it even guaranteed that you can do an education type internship for that portion of the scholarship? CBYX seems to be a bit regimented while Fulbright offers you a bunch of flexibility. For instance, I taught, did research, and interned during my time. This was mostly because I only had to teach 15 hours a week with Fulbright. CBYX is awesome though. It changed my life. I wouldn't be typing on here without it. Came out the perfect time in High School. I don't check this near enough, but feel free to PM me if you have more questions!

For the lurkers, I just communicated with one of the current Scholars. I was hoping that Humboldt was actually joshing around and that they'd notify as to who would be interviewing earlier than the end of friggin' March. She said that they not only hold to the original end of March timeline, but sometimes it extends into April. Ah Lawd! I also asked if Humboldt reaches out to your references. She said for the most part no, but sometimes it does happen.

Best of luck to ya'll. I don't envy you one bit! Are you all at the final decision phase? My story was a funny one. I'm from Mississippi, but was interning in NYC around the time Germany ETA decisions were to be made. At this point in time folks here had deduced that depending on the color and shape of the envelope you got it was either good news, meh news, or bad news. Big brown was good, mid-size white was alt, small white was bad. This was mostly synonymous regardless of the country. I don't know if the Commission does that anymore (dear God I hope not), but each day I'd call my folks asking if a big brown envelope came in the mail. Eventually an envelope did come, but it was in a mid-size white envelope. Bleh! So I ask my Momma to open it...everything's in German. She, of course, has no idea what's going on. I ask her to try and sound out the German. I sorta understand her. We didn't have a scanner so I ask her to type out the first paragraph and e-mail it. I'd made it! Good news! Euphoria! Here's hoping each of you have your own "Where was I?" story. I'm currently going through my own waiting period for another fellowship. The anticipation is a killer! Elevate, -D

2011-2012 Germany ETA here. If I remember correctly we were towards the middle of notification groups. I don't know if ya'll still do the spreadsheet (such joy, such pain), but there were several countries that knew before we did.

Anyone else apply? We're supposed to hear back at the "end of March," but I'm simply dying from the anticipation. Thread of commiseration activate!

I know folks from every assortment of public institution that has applied to and been accepted (a few with full funding) to these "elite" institutions. It's all in how you approach the application process. You have to have the scores to make your self competitive. Even more so, though, you have to be of a mind that you not only deserve to be at said institution, but that the institution would be short-selling itself by NOT having you there. That's when they start throwing money at you to come to their school. Simply put, don't try to explain away this notion of having attended a "lower-tier" institution (no higher education institution is of a low-tier imho), in your head. That messes with your psyche AND it's bad juju. Both of those things are vitally important. Talk about all the things you've done and why you felt you had to them and for whom you wanted the impact to be felt. Talk about the things you're going to do while attending their institution. Talk about the things you're going to accomplish after kicking butt at their institution. That's the recipe for success. At least, from my experience. Don't agonize over the elements you can't control. There are variables the public at large isn't privy to that change every year. We'll never know the formula. Be the unique applicant that the ADCOM wants to add to their cohort of other unique folks. That's what's going to get you into the school of your dreams. Good luck!

Oh, in that case I'd agree! It'd get a bit cluttered though, wouldn't you think? Essentially every APSIA school would have a thread.

No. Mostly because individuals posting here are typically applying to all of those schools concurrently. Separating them into sub-forums won't accomplish much of anything imho. Status quo is best here.