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If you read the instructions in their entirety, you'll find this (emphasis original): Personal Statement (maximum two pages, 12-point font, double-spaced) describing the applicant’s background and experience and commitment to the goals of the Ford Foundation Fellowship Programs by addressing all of the following that apply: the applicant’s capacity to respond in pedagogically productive ways to the learning needs of students from diverse backgrounds the applicant’s sustained personal engagement with communities that are underrepresented in the academy and ability to bring this asset to learning, teaching, and scholarship at the college or university level the applicant’s likelihood of using the diversity of human experience as an educational resource in teaching and scholarship, and the applicant's membership in one or more of the following groups whose underrepresentation in the American professoriate has been severe and longstanding: Alaska Natives (Aleut, Eskimo, or other Indigenous People of Alaska) Black/African Americans Mexican Americans/Chicanas/Chicanos Native American Indians Native Pacific Islanders (Hawaiian/Polynesian/Micronesian) Puerto Ricans Note how it says all of the following that apply, which leaves open the possibility that it might be the case that not all of them apply. Furthermore, the first three main bullet points are in bold font, while the fourth one (membership in groups) is not, as if it is somewhat more optional than the others. Further down, it also states the following: Applicants should note anything in their background that speaks to their unique perspective: Membership of a group designated by the Ford Foundation Fellowship Programs as currently underrepresented in the American professoriate Membership of another underserved group First person or generation in family to achieve college degree or seek advanced degree If you can make a case for your experience of LGBT as an underserved group, and your research/teaching interests dealing with issues of inequality, why not apply?

I think it took a little over a week for mine to arrive. The papers were dated the same day as the e-mail announcement, so I think it took however long the international mail takes. The packet included information about the stipend. I have a feeling more information will be forthcoming, but at least they sent the basics in that first packet.

(Apologies to those of you who have seen this before.) A recent graduate from my university is working on a project to crowd-source and display Ph.D. stipends at various universities in various disciplines. If you feel inclined, you can go to the site <http://www.phdstipends.com/>to enter your data (anonymous), and also to see all of the collected data. The more data points the merrier, so please add yours!

Thanks for clarifying about the two different Terms & Conditions forms -- I'll keep a lookout for a second one, as well as for an update from you or from anyone else who has one.

Terms & Conditions question -- the portal says to sign and upload the Grant Authorization Document and the Terms & Conditions Form (for Commission countries). For my country, the Grant Authorization document has a place to sign and date the form at the bottom, but the Terms & Conditions is just information, with no place to sign & date the form. Anyone else have this experience? Do you just sign it somewhere at the bottom of the page and upload it?

This may have been asked/answered before (sorry), but in a quick scan of recent pages I didn't see it right off: For grantees from countries with their own Fulbright commission, how long after the initial e-mail did it take for you to get specific details, grant terms & conditions, etc.? Did these come by e-mail or regular post?

According to last year's data in the spreadsheet, for the first couple weeks between March 17 and May 2 notifications were received on 4 of the 5 working days each week, and in the second part of that time period, they came out every single weekday. (Though last week's huge numbers of notifications came way earlier than they did last year, when things really got going during the last couple days of March and first couple days of April; difficult to compare from year to year.) The upshot is I'm still holding out hope that somebody will hear today!

Yipes -- what a nightmare! I do hope things work out for you. Toi toi toi!

:-) Check out this year's updates, too -- I'm having trouble getting it to link to a certain tab, so go here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AlU2xDiiVhQjK3quPy6qXJuhgXYghzzG8L4YNT0unX0/edit?pli=1#gid=0and then click on the second tab, "Copy of Notification Dates," for this year's notifications. EDIT: hmmm, this link isn't letting me edit any content on the spreadsheet when I click it from GradCafe, though it works from my own computer. Maybe someone can post a better version of it?

What is the recent total, something like 15 announcements so far in 4 business days? Coming fast now!

Yes, please do! (And for the spreadsheet, you don't even have to sign up! Just click the link in my signature and enter / update your info.)

Yay organ! It depends on the school, of course, but I think a lot of them are willing to allow you to defer enrollment if you get a prestigious fellowship like Fulbright. If you get it, certainly talk with your top choice schools where you've been accepted and see if they're able to do anything like that!

Last year I don't think there were any Saturday/Sunday announcements, according to the spreadsheet, so go ahead and try to take weekends off from anxiety since it really won't help anything along! ;-) (I know, I know, like that's possible...)

Immersion is great, but especially when it's not possible, don't underestimate old-fashioned reading, sometimes with a dictionary for exactness and sometimes without for general gist / fluency. Reading is a terrific way to improve your vocabulary, as you can often guess the meanings of new words upon repeated exposure, and you tend to internalize sentence structure, too. It sounds cheesy, but if you're in the country and have access to a library, start with children's books and gradually work your way up. Or, find books you've already read in English that either originate in or are translated into language X. Another tip is Wikipedia since you can find most any topic in any language.

Can't weigh in on good vs bad, alas, but thanks for posting! It's good to know that they're working on this step. I'm pretty sure one of mine arrived up to a week late, but if I don't hear anything in the next little while, I'll assume all's well as far as transcripts are concerned.