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Just received the notification from our Fulbright-Hays coordinator: "I have requested reviewer comments with the hope that the feedback is helpful in the preparation of your future dissertation field-work funding applications. I'm told that the decision to share these comments has not yet been made by US Department of Education administrators. I'll let you know what they decide."

Wowwww..... just got another update from our Fulbright coordinator: Hi there, I just got the following email from the Department ofEducation Program Officer who manages the DDRA Program: We are e-mailing institutional project directors who had student applicants for the FY 2011 Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) program. We hope to make a final announcement regarding the competition soon. We did want to e-mail all project directors and give the following advice. If your students have received offers from other funding agencies, we strongly suggest they accept the offers. We do not want any student to miss an opportunity while waiting for the final word on the DDRA competition. Please pass this information on to your students as soon as possible, as we will only be contacting project directors. I wish had more news! I will be in touch when I hear more.

I just received the following e-mail from my university's Fulbright coordinator: Hi there, The US Department of Education Program Officer for the Fulbright-Hays DDRA informed me that they hope to have funding decisions in May. The process has been caught up in the continuing resolution/budget battle. I know many of you are anxious for news. Thanks for your patience. I will inform you of results as soon as I hear.

When I was alternate for the pre-doc, I called and was told I was #2. So I needed two people to decline it, but decline it in my field. They have different lists according to fields, I was told. It turned out only one person declined it, so I got only HM. Also, I've heard that other people have tried finding out where on the list they were but to no avail. Maybe I got the receptionist on a good day.

No, not all HMs are on a list of alternates -- congrats! Definitely still hold out hope.

When I applied for the pre-doc in 2007 I was an alternate but didn't get it so then I got bumped down to HM. It was one of the most agonizing summers as I waited to hear back. Then in 2008 I re-applied and got only HM. On my CV I decided to put the HM, but only once -- for 2007... I guess I felt like the first time it's nice, but I was too shy to communicate I sucked twice in a row. I think it's a good idea for me to have the HM for 2007 on there because I got other awards in 2008 but nothing in 2007. So it fills a gap and it shows I at least try to get funding, which I think unis like. I think I might remove it as I move along in the career tho.

Good grief... this is such a sad board right now. Please when someone gets the good news be sure to post so we can celebrate something!

I'd imagine the rejections are done in batches, if there are about 1500+ total, no? We got form letters, which I doubt they do to winners. My rejection came from "NRC FO No Reply <NRCFONoReply@nas.edu>". I guess they don't want us losers to reply! So maybe it's good news if you haven't heard back yet!

Just got the rejection: APRIL 6, 2011 Dear Ford Foundation Fellowship Dissertation Applicant: The evaluation of applications for the Ford Foundation Fellowships 2011 dissertation competition has been completed. We regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you a fellowship. Approximately 500 dissertation applications were reviewed by panels composed of highly qualified scientists, engineers, and humanities scholars from across the nation. Since only 35 dissertation awards are available, many deserving candidates could not be selected. Application materials for the 2012 competition will become available in September 2011. If you are eligible to apply in this program next year, visit the Fellowships Office Web Page: www.nationalacademies.org/fellowships for information and materials. On behalf of the Ford Foundation and the National Research Council of the National Academies, I thank you for your participation in this competition. Congrats to those who who have been awarded! :-)

I just called the office about the dissertation fellowship, and was told notifications would get sent out this week all electronically. When I asked the stats (how many applied, how many would be awarded) she said she couldn't give me that info. Hope this helps... ?

Human Geography (I have a feeling all these responses coming in at once will freak some folks out...)

I haven't heard back yes/no/alternate, etc. I applied for the dissertation fellowship, not the pre-doctoral one, and I'm not sure if the announcements for both come out at the same time? Would love any thoughts on this. But congrats to those who've heard the good news!

My status also says "Test Completed". No clue what this means... Would appreciate any insights.

Hi. That poster on Stanford was me. The friend I was talking about was my partner's sister, so I'm inclined to believe her.She received an acceptance via e-mail to Stanford Anthro last week after having a phone interview with them a couple of days before. She received the formal letter this week with a nice funding package ($25,000/year stipend) and a $600 travel grant to visit the campus. I don't know what this means for other folks waiting to hear from Stanford. We can speculate that since she got a nice offer they may be trying to snatch her up quickly and they handle admits on a rolling basis. Or we can speculate that everyone gets a nice funding package and all admits have heard by now. Or we can speculate that all admits have heard by now no matter their funding. We can speculate a lot and nothing is for certain until you personally receive your letter, whatever its contents. I just thought I'd put this info out there in case it's useful to anyone. If you'd prefer to consider it gossip to help you get through the difficult process, I can't say I blame you.

I just received mine too! I'm on the east coast.

I've been wondering that too, especially since this type of Fulbright is decided by both State Departments and decisions are political from the heart. I mean, when they tell you they'd like for you to "find yourself" while filming a documentary of underwater soap-making in Aleppo, it's an implicit request that we, not for one moment, consider systematically analyzing the poverty and cruel injustices at our front door. I don't know how the Middle East revolutions and revolts will affect the upcoming decisions as I think you're right in that it's too soon to tell. I'd be curious to hear from folks what happens. I do know the unrests are spreading as we speak and none of it looks good for the USG's interests so I imagine there will be effects in the long term. By the way, I was in Egypt during summer 2008 and it came through on a listserv I was on that a Fulbrighter had his/her award revoked because the government didn't like the topic after all. I kept the e-mail for posterity: June 05, 2008 Hey everyone, I was recently notified that my Fulbright research project (examining how the Egyptian press depicts the US) was rejected by the Egyptian government after I was notified of winning the grant. Has anyone else had this experience or heard of it happening? I hear that it's not that uncommon for the government to disapprove of a project. Best, XXXXX

Hey, I guess I can safely reapply now.

A good friend of mine just got word she got into WUSTL Anthro. It was an e-mail, and she'll be receiving a formal letter snail mail soon. She had a phone interview a couple of days ago. I thought I'd post this info in case it helps.

I'm also going to assume I've been rejected. I suggest others who did not receive a transcript request do so as well at the very least for your own mental health. I've been following the trajectory past years' threads have taken over funding decisions and it's incredibly heartbreaking to see the mood ebb and flow between January and April. "Brutal" is the only honest way to describe it. That I've accepted I will not be receiving the SSRC I'm considering a form of liberation. Congrats to those still in the running!

I'm pretty sure I also didn't make the final round for the SSRC, as I didn't receive the transcript request they sent out in late January. I've also never heard of anyone not getting a request for transcripts and later being awarded. So I'm definitely not going to hope I'm an exception -- being in denial for months would be way too brutal! So, here's hoping for the Hays. Good luck to everyone who applied!

I applied to Egypt a few years ago (2007-08) and didn't make it as a finalist. My application was looking at the Gaza/Egypt border, and I think I may have said something about how it would really help the Palestinians out if Hosni Mubarak were overthrown. j/k I didn't get asked for government clearance and I didn't get an application -- I was just flat out rejected. So I would interpret them asking you for additional information as a good sign unless this is a new procedure of theirs. Good luck!

I'm a recent (re)convert to taking notes down on paper rather than my laptop. , don't do this from lectures as I type a lot faster than I write and I like having almost verbatim notes when the lectures are that good. But I have found written notes much better for note-taking from books or articles. I find this allows for slow reading, which I'm finding much more rewarding. One thing I've always hated about notepaper was the dark lines, which often competed with the words on the page. A few months ago I discovered "Whitelines", where the paper is light grey itself, and the lines are white. Now I haven't been able to use anything else. The added advantage is that if you need to photocopy, the lines don't show up. They have a ton of different sizes, including hard-bound, wire notebooks, pads, etc. They also have grids in case you need to graph or draw, etc. For note-taking, the one I use the most is the lined saddle-stitched A4 size, which costs about $4.50 a pad (48 sheets). They're easily foldable without the wire to obstruct lefties. You can't find them in many stores right now, but they do have them on Amazon.

I applied for the dissertation award so I'll bookmark this discussion in case anyone wants to use it as an update for the Ford 2011-2012. From last year's discussion, it seems everyone heard the second week of April (for the predoc and diss award). Also, it looks like the dissertation award rate was extraordinarily small (20 winners out of 500 apps!).

Does the Hays function like the IIE, where you hear if you've been made a finalist by January? Or do they let you know all in one blow in the Spring?