Myshkin2011

By the way, Lisa Rog, sorry for missing your earlier informational post. I've been working like crazy on a paper so I was a bit preoccupied and bleary eyed. Last thing I new, HR 1 didn't cut Title VI/Fulbright. Then blammo, HR 1473 lops off 40%. I mean, seriously, 40%. Really?! You've got to be kidding me. Who cuts 40% from a program one year to the next. Maybe 5%, or if really drastic, 10%.

I agree it should be verified, but probably best to do it through university coordinators. Note also that the financial resources and awards on the DDRA website for "FY 2010" are already out, which makes me tend to think that the budget agreement for fiscal-year 2011 will affect 2011 DDRA awards. I wonder how they will distribute the cuts internally. Perhaps Fulbright-Hays will get hit less hard because the process for FY 2011 is already well underway, whereas for FLAS people it is just starting?

See the excerpt from another article below. Sounds very much like we are talking about this year. http://eastcountymagazine.org/node/5920 According to the Chronicle of Higher Learning, by maintaining Pell at a $5,550 maximum, the bill ensures that colleges won't have to backtrack on their financial-aid offers to families for the coming academic year. "The budget deal finalizes financial-aid packages, allowing millions of families to breathe a sigh of relief," said Rich Williams, a lobbyist for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

thanks everyone. I wrote congress, although I don't know how much good it will do. Hmmm... I don't know. It sounds like the cuts are for this fiscal year, and thus for this year's applicants. Next year's funding levels may be restored to higher levels, but it will be too late for this year's applicants. The Fulbright-Hays process has been delayed b/c they were waiting to find out what the budget would do. That is how I read everything. I would love to be proved wrong.

so does anyone know? the funding was continued at last year's level, right?

Wow, that's fast to the West Coast Yes, I'm on the East Coast.

I burned mine. It was a good letter of rejection. It gave off a very pretty orange flame.

Hmmm... the plot thickens. How reliable is that information? Anyway, I'm going to try not to get my hopes up, mainly for mental health reasons. I am comforting myself by conducting an informal survey of the correlation between the receipt of grants and the production of interesting work. SSRC might actually be doing better than some of the others.

ssrc asks some applicants for transcripts at the end of January, sends out rejections to others in February. so far we don't have a case of someone who wasn't asked for a transcript and got the award. mostly this is from past years' ssrc discussions on this website. i'd love to be proved wrong.

hmmm... then maybe it has changed. but they would need to accept and/or have in mind more than four because some percentage of accepted students will not actually attend. my guess is they interview about 15, make initial offers to about eight, and have the others as backups. i doubt, however, that the interview has much standing on your admission. just my guess.

my impression is that it is just a recruiting tool. you'll get a feeling that it was extra-tough to get in, so you'll be more inclined to go. but actually you are already admitted. unless the primary person you will be working with interviews you (and even then) don't be surprised if your interviewers have not actually carefully read your application materials, especially your paper. it might seem a little embarrassing to them if you assume that they have read it and they haven't. but i don't think you can really do anything wrong at this point, at least for Yale, unless they have really changed their approach.

if it's like years past, the interview to yale means you're accepted. so no need to be nervous. congrats. but as with any program you apply to, do due diligence on the department and everyone you'll be working with.

You might send them an e-mail to let them know the website is down, but I'm guessing it probably won't matter if this part of your application is a day or two late. By the way, you can fill out a FAFSA without W-2s. Just estimate it, then fill out a correction online later when you do your taxes. It's easy to do so and you can correct your FAFSA as many times as you need to.

i received no request for transcript. therefore based on last year's posts i am assuming that i am out of the running. i think ssrc probably doesn't send out rejections at the same time as requests for transcripts based on the principle that if there were problems with people's transcripts (i would assume there are one or two problem transcripts every year, but you never know) they could move up lower ranked candidates to keep their long short list at the desired length, thus there is a sliver of a chance that you will still be promoted from relegation to the unable-to-fund pile if you didn't receive a transcript request, but it's not very likely. basically, it's premature to reject second-tier candidates until you've checked first-tier candidates' credentials, just as an administrative formality. at least, that's my best (probably incorrect) guess. congratulations to everyone who made the cut and best of luck!

last year the cohort above me heard back late april, i think. i'm pretty sure we'll know by may 1. apparently i didn't make the final round for the ssrc, so here's hoping for the fulbright-hays. not only is the ssrc super-competitive (7%!), but their selection process seems to me even more arbitrary than these things usually are. apparently each screener gets a stack of 20 apps and has to choose a couple to give a pass to. it seems to me that you could just get the guy who tends to migrate toward a certain approach (poststructuralism, ethnopolitics, biopolitics, marxism, or whatever) and your application is relegated for idiosyncratic reasons.... old story, i suppose. anyway, i hope the ssrc reviewer has deja vu when my first book is a big crossdisciplinary hit :-)