queercubed

Congratulations to those who are beginning to find out they received the award and sorry to those who are receiving rejections. In case anyone is planning to reapply (or future applicants are reading this thread years from now), I wanted to share the essay format recommended by my University (I received funding, and our University has a high rate of students who do each year. In fact, I don't know of any students who have applied and been rejected probably because our school puts quite a bit of effort into helping with our applications). Each number was basically a paragraph: 1. Begin with staging the problem/issue you wish to explore in your grad program. What questions are motivating you, why do they matter, etc. 2. Explain how your chosen degree program, and specifically the opportunities afforded by your first-choice university, will allow you to answer this problem. What will be your approach (I laid out my M.A. thesis research plans in relative detail. Where I wanted to research, what methods I would use, how the program would support the work, etc.). 3. Discuss the specifics of your first-choice program. Show that you know a lot about it, particularly through highlighting its unique features. Connect the program back to the questions/problems you raised above. 4. Discuss your B.A. program and how it has prepared you for M.A. coursework. Talk about any other experiences that have prepared you for success in the program. Make it clear that there is no doubt you will be an excellent student. (I talked about my academic research experience and coursework as it pertained to my planned degree program). 5. Talk about your interest in German culture, and especially how you have engaged with German culture thus far. Have you engaged with German-language clubs at your school? Volunteered with German organizations? Taken a German cooking class? Demonstrate genuine interest and engagement. Then, discuss how you will continue this engagement in the city of your top-choice University. (I taught German to elementary school students in my university's city and then said I hope to teach English/German to refugees through volunteer programs once in Germany). 6. Contextualize the M.A. program within your broader life plans. How will it help you grow as a person? How will it benefit your future career? If you plan to pursue a Ph.D., even if you're just floating the idea, mention it. According to my University, the DAAD tends to favor those pursuing academia. 7. End with a brief paragraph about your second- and third-choice universities. This should be the first time you mention them. Here, it should be implicitly understood that you could still achieve your goals at the alternatives, but wouldn't have as good of an experience. You really want the essay to make it come across as if your top choice university is your dream opportunity. Overall, they recommended that we: 1.) Demonstrate that going to Germany, and specifically attending the program at our first-choice university, is the best and only way to achieve our goals. 2.) Make a big show of all efforts and experiences to learn/master the German language and connect to German culture. I'm happy to share any of my application materials privately if people would find it helpful. I do wish you all the best and hope that you have success when/if you apply again!

I have no idea what day it changed--I haven't been checking the portal regularly. I would say, at the earliest, this past Friday/Saturday. From what I've read about past years, the change in status is a good sign but not the end-all-be-all. There's still hope! And still a chance those of us with "funded" get a rejection. Their website seems kind of... poorly designed. So I'm not confident in anything it says short of a PDF letter lol I listed Social Sciences (Anthropology/Ethnologie) on my application. And ranked Uni zu Köln / Uni Hamburg

Huge thanks to everyone who's been active in this thread! I'm a long-time lurker and found your updates helpful throughout the process. I applied for the Master's - All Disciplines from the United States. While I haven't received any formal contact since December (when they confirmed receipt of my application), my status changed to funded a few days ago. When I looked at the DAAD Portal over the weekend, it said it would be down for maintenance this afternoon (Monday, May 2nd). That has me wondering if we should expect formal results this evening... Once we find out who does get it, it may be nice for the recipients to share a bit about their background, approach to the application, etc. for next year's cohort.