Ranita

The country I applied to currently has no government, and now our government may shut down. Sheesh! Am I doomed, or what! (Because of course all of these crises are really about me )

Yep.. same here fellow M.E.'er friends! I know we won't find out until May at the earliest but I must read that darn spreadsheet 50 times a day. It's good distraction from writing my thesis. At least for Egypt, the good news is that this year's Fulbrighters have resumed their grants and the U.S. embassy/consulate is 100% back to normal operations, so I feel like that must mean FB 2011-12 must be back on, right? (In my last email with Jermaine, when current FBers were still suspended, he indicated doubt as to whether the program would go on next year). If only they could find someone to sign off on the research clearance... Best of luck to those of you who applied to countries where the situation is still so tumultuous. If nothing else, we will all become very good at waiting after this. I am trying to restrict myself to harassing J.J. only once every 4 weeks, so I get to email him again April 15. I'll let you all know what he says. I predict his response will be : "there's no way of knowing...you might hear in the next several weeks..."

To those who applied for the CLEA: Did you get confirmation from the fulbright people after you sent in the forms they requested? I got nada response from them and that makes me anxious, but I also don't want to seem needy by writing back and asking them to confirm... (this applies to people applying to MENA I guess) Thanks!

Yep. We've got at least 1.5 months or so to go...maybe even longer! Gah. I love living vicariously through everyone else though. Good luck and congrats to all! The good news for us Egypt applicants is that they finally let this year's Fulbrighter's back in the country, so that's a good sign...

Hey Jazzz, any word from Jermaine? I promised myself I would only email him once a month from now on so he doesn't feel that I'm harassing him So I have to wait a few more weeks before I bother him again. any news on the middle east is appreciated!

iridescence11: thanks for the great info!! That is awesome. Actually could I just hire you to manage my personal finances???

Yep. Seems that things have quieted down after that first flurry of letters. I guess they'll be coming in waves. I really hope the next batch comes soon so i can live vicariously through you guys, since the wait for Egypt will probably be interminable....

Also on the theme of money/monthly stipends: anyone else going to be dealing with student loans (and, in my case, credit card debt) during their Fulbright year? I took a year off after undergrad and deferred all my loans then, and have now run out of "deferrement time," according to my understanding (which is admittedly somewhat lacking). So if I got a grant to Egypt, I would not only have to deal with living expenses, but have a pretty significant monthly payment to make, meaning I would have to have some extra income...anyone else dealing with this, and how do you plan on dealing with that problem?

Hello! I agree with you re: the revolutionary fervor working in our favor. Like, that we would find out...tomorrow! But Jermaine's latest email seems to suggest the opposite Qahira, I see that your project is also in the art history field! what is it about?

Oh geez. Just got this email from Jermaine. Of course I read way too much in to each and every tiny piece of correspondence I get from these guys, but this is making me worry -- could they be thinking about cancelling the program in Egypt next year?? Particularly concerned about the "making a decision on the overall status of the Egypt program for next year" part. "A colleague at the U.S. State Department wants to know when is the absolute latest that you can be notified about whether you will be offered U.S. Student Fulbright grants to Egypt for 2011/2012. I don’t know the full details/rationale behind the request, but have the feeling that it might be to get a sense of how much time they have to work with in terms of finalizing decisions (and making a decision on the overall status of the Egypt program for next year) before some of you will need to begin accepting competing fellowship, employment, and graduate school offers."

I was reading past threads and I think it was two years ago, some folks applying to the Middle East didn't find out until late july/early august!! I just PRAY this doesn't happen this year because of the "unrest." Maybe the governments will want to take a break from all the chaos and just read about some nice, innocent Fulbright proposals for a while, huh? Anyone out there apply for a CLEA grant? The Egypt CLEA people just wrote asking for a detailed study plan that is due April 1. Just wondering if this is sent out to everyone who applied for a CLEA or if I should be excited about perhaps making it through another selection round. Also since it is due April 1 I guess that means there's no way we'll be finding out till after then.

Hi all, to those who applied to the Middle East, I got another update from Jermaine Jones regarding Egypt (I would assume the situation may be similar in other countries). He said the Egyptian Fulbright Commission has moved on in the selection process, sort of business as usual -- BUT, the government still has to approve the finalists, and no one has any idea when that might happen. So I'm guessing ETAs to middle eastern countries will probably find out in a normal time frame, since you guys don't need government clearance? But for those of us who applied for research grants, my advisor at school said we might even wait until July or later. i very honestly don't think I can survive the wait. I hope a lot of you start finding out soon so I can live vicariously through you!

Hi Jazzz, I am a finalist to Egypt (research grant) and I have the exact same worry. Back at the beginning of February I emailed Jermaine Jones and he told me for the moment, everything was going ahead as scheduled, but if the situation were to change, the grant wouldn't just be cancelled -- we could either go later, or be offered a place in a different country, etc. I copied his response below. I would say go ahead and email your questions, the IIE people have been so nice and helpful so far. I'll probably check in with him again next month or so to see if the Fulbright for next year is still going as planned in Egypt.... Here's what Jermaine said. Hpe this helps!! "Clearly a lot can happen between now and when the 2011/2012 year would start this coming fall.If you were to be offered a grant, and the situation in Egypt were to reach a level where it was deemed unsafe for you to either begin or continue your research there, you’d be given full and clear guidance on how to proceed from the Egyptian Fulbright Commission, U.S. Department of State, and IIE. Going into the various possibilities—e.g., waiting or coming back to the U.S. before heading [back] to Egypt to start or resume your grant, transfer to a different country in the region, etc., —now might be a bit overwhelming, so I’ll just reiterate that should you be offered a grant, you’d certainly be kept up to date on any safety/security concerns that would impinge upon it."

It's official; the IIE advisor gave me a hint earlier this week but I got my email today too. FINALIST FOR EGYPT WUHU!!! I can't stand these stories of being shortlisted and then waiting for 6 months to get rejected. So now a new application to obsess and anguish over for six months...but nonetheless..so excited and grateful! congrats to everyone else and I'm very sorry for those who didn't make it this time!

oh my goodness, I just got an email from the Fulbright people. They want me to fill out a second application to send to the Egyptian Commission for government clearance for my research. Yeah, I know, they probably sent this to everyone who applied to Egypt, but I'm interpreting it as a good sign! Right, right? Right? Ugh I am so on pins and needles. Anyone else apply to Egypt?