crimsonengineer87

Lol. Thanks for keeping an eye out on the spreadsheet. People are doing strange things and I can't sort by column C anymore. But I can sort by countries. It's strange. I might need to revert to an older edition where I can still sort (yes, I do have that power in case some sleeze ball explodes our spreadsheet). So maybe in the whee-hours when no one else is working on it I'll do some touch ups! Thanks guys!

Congrats to you as well! You'd probably take Fulbright over DAAD if you got both, right?

If any of you applied for the DAAD Graduate/Research grant (i.e. Germany), check your emails! Looks like I got a DAAD Graduate Study grant! So at least there's something if Fulbright falls through, right? Does anyone know how much DAAD is? I heard it was the same as Fulbright?

Thanks for that! I also made some minor edits so people have more direction/know what to put. I know there are a variety of different programs that require interviews and some that are just b/c of the country or b/c of ETA. And some are in the country's language. So I added those. For those who haven't yet added their information our spreadsheet, here is the link: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=tyJ1HIbZ4lEWDG1vRUaAbnw&authkey=CNHpkd4P#gid=0 Thanks!

As March nears, I expect notifications to start being mailed out early-mid March. From last year's thread, it seems a few of the European countries began sending stuff out around this time and first couple of people were notified before mid-March. In anticipation of this, I've set up a similar spreadsheet (I kind of copied last year's). You can enter information now or later, or not at all. It's basically a tool so people know when they might expect notifications and for those finalists to make contacts with other Fulbrighters in their country! https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AriON5PQlVdtdHlKMUhJYlo0bEVXREcxdlJVYUFibnc&hl=en&authkey=CNHpkd4P Let me know if you have any suggestions or if something is wrong. Thanks.

I'm doing research with hydrologic modeling and nitrogen. (i.e. I work with models that look at the water cycle and we want to incorporate N cycling to better understand Earth system processes!) What specifically are you doing with art history? You know, in high school I want to study art history, but my parents basically made me do engineering instead. Personally, I find art history fascinating b/c you can find out so much from paintings. Are you fairly good at speaking German? I'm kind of glad that for the research grant a "fair" knowledge of German will suffice. I mean I took classes and was in Germany for three months, but that was years ago as an undergrad. But in engineering and sciences, most people do know German. And at least I can "attempt" to speak it. Haha.

I applied to DAAD as well and have no idea how many grants are given. I could look into that. But I heard or read somewhere the stipend is the same as Fulbright. Are you doing research (if so, what field) or are you doing music/ arts stuff?

Yeah, I think this was discussed previously in this thread. There are 1000s of us and only a few of them. It's kind of like grad school applications and bombarding that one graduate student coordinator for your department for blah blah. It would be nice, but yes, they will contact us if something is wrong ... hopefully ... Also, I am working on the spreadsheet from last year's Fulbrighters and modifying it so people can start listing what countries they've applied to, their research areas, blah blah. So this can help other potential Fulbrighters find each other and when we receive our award notifications, we begin to get an idea which countries are sending them out.

Also, if you apply through your campus advisor, they do rank you. They may also reject your application and you can't even apply to Fulbright, in some cases. However, with my campus interview, it was more of clarifying documents to make sure that there were no errors on my transcripts. But I think each school does it differently, but our grading scale was essentially geared towards how culturally prepared is the candidate and is the candidate ready to pursue this activity in another country. Then they score you and the campus adviser submits those scores to the commission who looks at them too and ranks based on those scores as well as the other documents... if that answers anything ...

Nescafe, I also think your points apply to other fellowships and types of funding as well. For the most part, most graduate students will know their research topic. But I've heard time and time again that these funding agencies "fund the researcher" and the ability of that person to conduct and carry out successful research. The Fulbright also falls under this, I think. Although the topic may be important and of course, relevant, I think it is the way the individual is portrayed through supplemental materials (as you mentioned) via LOR, personal statement, and others. In addition, I think the ability to clearly state your goals, aspirations, and who you are a person (i.e. how well you write) can make or break you.

Yup.

I like the sound of these numbers! Haha.

Oh, I was going to do that for the final decisions. I think I was talking about just a list of who has applied thus far and where they applied ... but I realize those are essentially the same thing! Thanks! I'll do that!

I need to look this up again. But I found something 750-850 Euro? I'm thinking 750 .... I heard it's the same as the DAAD Grant ... I need to find that website again though ... it's most def "not very much" so it's basically like being a poor grad student, except in Europe. So it looks like bread and butter for all meals! Haha.

I can't recall who was keeping track of everyone who has applied to different countries and what not ... maybe if I have time I can update that list ... which really isn't a list ... more like a compilation on here ... but we'll see where I can find this 'extra time' in my day.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=taWW8xiKve1Tm6Ow6bHdhYA#gid=0 Here's the link ^^

Now that sounds awesome. VACATION! Haha.

Actually, good point. I know Germany has one too ... I remember reading it somewhere ... so it really isn't a pre-departure thing ... since you've departed to the place ... but same thing. But yeah, I guess we'll just have to see until we get our final notices in the mail!

Yeah, if you click on the PDO information for "Eurasia" it lists Asian countries and mostly Eastern European countries. Doesn't say anything about western Europe .. I'm confused ... but am still keeping that weekend free in case. Also, I'm assuming we need to pay our way for this 3-5 day orientation?

Here, that last message was from me! So now you know! Haha. Anyways, I'm planning on doing something similar to what last year's thread did with an open Google docs page so people can start filling it in once they get their final decisions, probably starting March. So I think I'll start looking at that February. The spreadsheet is linked at the beginning of this thread and I think I mentioned it a few posts ago. It's a very good spreadsheet that is very descriptive. If anything, I would try to have more people describe their project/field more so people can get a better idea of who is making it through (for full grants) on which topics ... maybe we can try to see what the commissions REALLY want. Congrats!

Hmm, when do they update it, it should be reflected here: https://us.fulbrightonline.org/statistics_country_europe.html . Looks like they haven't though. I kind of think that they had a lot of more applicants this season considering the economy and so many more students applying for opportunities to either better themselves or pursue this as a break between undergrad/grad school.

Yup (to the latter). We just have to go by the 1.5-2x estimate. All there is online is that list of total applicants to spots available. But there might be something out there ...

In general, I think most of the fellowships (NSF, NDSEG, DOE, EPA STAR) are looking to see that applicants can (1) write well, (2) clearly propose a research project, and (3) discuss why this research is innovative, important to society/science, and what are the broader impacts. I've heard time and time again that these agencies are really "funding the researcher". I mean, it's good to get the research done that you proposed, but not necessarily. Unless one of the rules is that you specifically turn out paper detailing the conclusions from what you stated in your proposed plan of research. For example, I had a prof who read essays for EPA STAR read my application (which at that time was not very good). He basically said he wouldn't fund me because he felt I didn't have enough background in the subject and he wasn't really a modeler (my research involved hydrologic modeling). BUT he said he may be swayed to give my essay points b/c of the clear and logical writing. He basically said my writing could be enough to make it through because I was able to convey the gist of what I was doing with everything else. I don't even know if what I'm saying connects to this thread. Lol. I'm just jabbering on. BUT I do wish we would find out about NSF!!! (I just heard from Fulbright, which was good, but there's MORE waiting!)

Yup. And the US Commission or whatever usually sends 1.5 to 2 times as many applicants as there are slots available ... but then you should think that all those the country selects will actually take it ... so you basically have a 50% or greater chance of getting it! What country did you apply to? (BTW, you can also look on the IIE website and it states how many applicants they had for each country and the number of spots ... so you can roughly see how stiff the competition is. For example, I think there were 5 applicants to Azerbaijan and 5 spots ... something like that).

Where do you plan on conducting your research in Germany? I got an affiliation with Uni Bonn and am totally pumped for possibly living there for about year! I've been hesitant all this while, but have realized I may never have this chance ever. So might as well do it. What's that saying ... "you only live once"?