Pooja_2010

Question for people who received the Fulbright award this year: I know most people mentioned that their letter came in a large manila envelope. Was this inside of a USPS flat rate envelope? Thanks guys! Pooja~

Hi there, I am so sorry to hear that you didn't get the Fulbright. Please don't be hard on yourself and realize that you have a lot of potential, considering that you have come so far in this Fulbright cycle. (Finalist is a big deal!) If you really want to pursue research in India, you will surely find a way to do it! Remember, "believe in your work and your dreams may come true, believe in yourself and your dreams will come true..." I know cheesy, but always makes me feel better (BTW, I haven't heard back from Fulbright yet, but preparing myself for the worst...) Good luck on all your future endeavors! Pooja~

FYI, I called Cara today to clarify this matter and she said that there is a mistake on the website and that we DO NOT need to have anything done for the visa yet. They will notify those who are selected for the India grant with details on how to apply for a visa. Hope this helps! (Btw, as of today FSB has still not made decisions for full grant applicants for India.) Pooja~

Hey Rach, I just realized that you clarified the visa issue for India. Thanks! Pooja~

Hey there, Seeing your post freaked me out a bit cause I haven't applied for a visa for India either so I did a bit of looking around on the Fulbright website. If you click specifically on India for "Country Summaries" it says the following: "Research clearance Clearance from the Government of India is required for all Fulbright-Nehru assignments. The detailed procedure for obtaining research visas will be communicated to the grantees upon selection. Grants cannot be issued for travel to India until proper Government of India approvals are received." (http://us.fulbrighto...ntry.html?id=50) Hopefully, since it doesn't seem like anyone received "a detail procedure for obtaining research visas" (at least I definitely didn't receive this), we should be okay. But the paranoid person that I am, I will probably send an email to Cara making sure. Hope that clarifies, and I know the long wait sucks (I applied for the India full grant also), but the end is near!!! Good luck to everyone Pooja~

Hey Resham, I think the numbers have changed though from before. It used to say that they are awarding 40 full grants and now it says 45. I think maybe they just haven't changed the headings yet, but the stats look new. Good luck Pooja~

Hi Sally, I think somehow the decision is made based on both the commission boards abroad and the FSB board. The way that Cara Doble explained it to me, it seems like FSB may have the final say because the funding is coming from the United States. However, she did not specifically mention this, so I may be wrong. Basically, I think you need to get a thumbs up from both the foreign commission and FSB to get principle status. I think countries determine alternates and if more funding becomes available then FSB selects the best applicants from the alternate pile for grants. Again, Cara Doble did not specifically explain this to me, so this may be incorrect. Sorry for the vague answer! Good luck! Pooja~

Hey there, She didn't specify full grants or ETA, but she said the "last set of notification letters for Germany", so I am guessing this means both full and ETA. Good luck!!! -Pooja

Hi, Yea, that's what she told me. I agree, it does seem like there can be a relatively high amount of selection bias, however, I think it would take much longer for us to hear back if all the FSB members had to look at each individual application for each country. Anyway, all we can do now is keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best! Good luck! Pooja~

Hi there, Based on what Cara told me over the phone, the decisions go out country by country, not all at once for the entire region. Best of luck! Pooja~

Hey guys, I called Cara Doble today and she explained how the application process works... 1) All applications sent to IIE in New York to determine finalists. (This happened last fall, and we were notified of decisions end of January.) 2) All finalist applications are sent SIMULTANEOUSLY to the respective Fulbright commissions abroad and to the FSB in DC. The FSB does not meet in person to make the decisions, nor does the entire board see all of the applications. Each member is assigned several countries' applications that they look at, and there are only two or three board members looking at each application. For example, two or three members of the FSB are currently viewing the India finalist applications. Instead of meeting in person, the members receive the applications (through mail I suppose) and they then make their decisions independently and forward it to the Program Managers for each region. This is an ongoing process, and as soon as the Program Manager has received both the decision of the commission abroad as well as the decisions made from the two or three FSB members who were appointed to decide on that particular country, the decisions can be mailed out to us. While this may overlap quite a bit, the Fulbright commissions abroad predominantly make their decisions based on what projects could help their country while the FSB members are more concerned about the feasibility and logistics of the proposed projects. Quick updates- - While the India commission abroad has made their decisions, we are still waiting for the decisions from the FSB members. She said hopefully, decisions will be mailed out in the next couple of weeks. - Also, the last batch of notification letters for Germany were sent out last week. (She told me to let any of my friends who applied to Germany know; guess she is now using me as a messenger....lol) Hope this clarifies some of the confusion about the process. Good luck to everyone who hasn't heard back yet!!

Hey guys, As I am waiting in pain to find out whether I got the grant, I did some research on successful proposals (I know, completely wasting my time). Anyway, most websites seemed to emphasize the importance of "promoting mutual understanding" in the proposal. I don't think I really addressed this in my application.... How did you guys "promote mutual understanding" in your proposals? Thanks guys and good luck to everyone who hasn't found out yet!

Hey Kevin, Thanks for the update! Do you know if ETA and full research grant applicants hear around the same time (I applied for the full research grant)? I am going to be checking my mailbox frantically from now on... Good luck on your grant and keep us posted! -Pooja

Hey Rachel, Wow, its so nice to hear back from another Fulbright finalist for India! Did you apply for the full grant or ETA? I called Cara Doble again, and she told me that India has made their decisions and the recommended applications have been forwarded to the FSB board. She said we should ideally hear back by early April, but it could take as long as May. Keep me posted if you hear any more updates, and good luck! - Pooja

Hey guys, Does anyone who has applied for a Fulbright research grant to India know the current application status? I called the Fulbright office last week and they told me they had no idea. Waiting anxiously.....