umamam

It's here!!!!!!!!!!!! I never been so relieved to be REJECTED, haha! I guess I'll be taking the other fellowship I was offered and not checking my email like a crazy person anymore. The letter came at 10:45 EST from NY. Good luck, all!

It's Maundy Thursday (Gründonnerstag), which isn't a public holiday. I would expect DAAD to be open, but who knows. It's 8 am in Germany, guys - welcome to another fun-filled week of email refreshing your email!

Well, DAAD NY closes at 4pm EST on Fridays - I called it. "See" y'all again next week! :/

I'm happy I'm on Spring Break right now. I'm studying for my qualifying exam in 2 weeks, and I'm using this as motivation to get things done. Read a chapter, check email, make a set of flashcards, check email....pathetic. DAAD has an SF office, as well - considering calling them on Monday if we've still heard nothing since I applied through a west coast school and it seems like NY has heard enough from us...

I just let my other fellowship know that I'm still waiting on other funding and they immediately knew it was DAAD...hah. Anyway, it seems that there is some flexibility in terms of delaying the other fellowship to take DAAD instead, etc. It was definitely worth asking, though with a "real job" I imagine that might be different...

Mine has changed as well, to "Research Grants for Doctoral Candidates and Young Academics andScientists (more than 6 months), 2015/16." Hmmmmm.

Aaaand 5pm EST rolls around again, my inbox empty. The deadline to accept the other fellowship I was offered is the 31st (by snail mail to Germany, so basically now). Since DAAD clearly doesn't really care about being "competitive" with Fulbright and other Germany-specific programs, my bet is on Friday if not next week.

I'm currently at a UC, though it is one where I suspect the departments are independently better funded than average (hint: I don't know that any of this applies outside of UCLA and Berkeley). I have never heard of this happening. Most people in my department (humanities) actually end up getting more funding than offered (e.g. a seventh year of teaching). There are actually MANY TA positions because they are desperate for cheap labor. This does mean you may teach an entire course by yourself that would be team-taught or that you would teach only a section of at other schools (e.g. freshman writing, foreign languages). I have had the option to be employed in multiple departments, and have never had trouble getting a summer TA job, either. Not sure what your friend is talking about; there are many different sources of funding, but I doubt their case is the norm unless it's perhaps one of the less prestigious UCs. Also, some funding is dependent on timely progress, but the rules are often pretty lax. The actual problems I have seen from the budget cuts are rather superficial - decreased janitorial service (gross), poor University-wide "amenities" (computer labs/printing, library hours, gym, etc). The undergrads are the ones affected by the cuts, really, but that has also indirectly affected me in that fewer sections of required courses are being offered. This means 50 students showing up on the first day of my class with 20 spots. Not fun to send people away. Still, not a huge problem in the grand scheme of things.

What field are you looking to get an MA in? As you'll see if you poke around this website, many of the better MA programs in most fields are fully funded including living stipends in the US. If it's a dual MA/PhD program, pretty much any good program is funded through fellowships, TAships, or RAships in most fields (and most will allow you to drop out and take the MA if you decide against the PhD). In many fields, the financial situation for MAs is actually better here than in Germany - if I had done my MA in Germany, I would have had free tuition but would have had to pay plane ticket, living expenses, etc. Teaching is hard to come by, and MA students are rarely funded. Instead I got free tuition, a stipend large enough to save a little, and funding for a summer in Germany!

Thanks for looking into this, zadigblue! That gives me some hope. My department always has a lot of DAAD applicants and that portal has been notorious for causing problems in the application process, so I wouldn't be surprised if it were some totally random error.

Mine, too. Still seems like this doesn't bode well :/. Arrrgh, DAAD. Any change to the statuses for those who had "selection made"?

Hey guys! My status changed as well - to "application rejected" . If you look at past years, they have pretty much notified all through March depending on the year and grant type (I was going for a 10-month research grant). The application status box has also shown fishy/misleading things, so there's still an extremely minute chance it doesn't mean anything, though. Googling isn't turning up anyone who's ever seen this status before, though I wouldn't be surprised if this were new given last year's "Selection Made" debacle. I ended up getting a fellowship that pays nearly 1.5x as much per month and lasts 12 months, so I'm not that upset, but of course the security of knowing more than one institution thought your project was worthwhile is always nice. Meh. I'll let you guys know if I hear anything else! Best of luck to you!

I was accepted! I'm kind of in shock as I thought it was a stretch since I'm in a field a bit outside of what they normally seem to like. My project does, however, require fieldwork that absolutely must be done in Berlin. Sorry to hear that, Atlantis! I hope you find funding elsewhere. I was cut from the first round of Fulbright; this stuff is really a crapshoot...

Yup! And a few other sources, so I should be okay. I should have read the fine print better, myself, but I find it odd that it is only mentioned in one place; this must apply to many other graduate students applying for Fulbright.

Interesting and good to know, thanks! I do indeed start in June so hopefully they will take pity on us... Best of luck to you and congrats; sounds like you have pretty good chance at this point!

Yes; they explicitly state that exchange years don't "count." This is from the Eligibility Requirements, for anyone interested in the future - kind of surprised no advisor mentioned this and wish I hadn't seen this halfway through the application process: Candidates who have not resided or studied in the country to which they are applying for more than six months, not counting undergraduate study abroad are preferred. Duty abroad in the Armed Forces of the United States is not considered disqualifying within the meaning of this section.

Bah, not recommended for Germany (Study/Research grant to begin dissertation). I am chalking it up to their warning about preference being given to candidates who haven't lived in the country for an extended period of time before (lived there for ~5 years). But that is a cheap excuse, so feel free to burst my bubble if you were in my same boat and were recommended anyway .

Any other Research Grant applicants? I applied for a 10-month grant. Looks like we've probably still got well over a month to go.

Did anyone else apply (this season or ever)? Any feelings about how competitive it is?

Hi all! I'm at PhD student in the social sciences at a large public university applying for a Fulbright to Germany to start my dissertation research. I'm applying at large (long story). I saw someone mention here that having spent too much time in your desired host country could hurt your application. I lived in Germany for four years as a child, and have been back many times since to visit family and friends, though I have never studied in Germany. Will this hurt my application? My project absolutely cannot be done outside of Germany, and requires native/near-native fluency to connect with the population I'm working with, so it seems a bit silly that they'd judge me for that - not sure I understand the logic. How might I frame the situation so it is less detrimental to my application? Anyone else in a similar boat?

Quick update - just got the official notification from UCB German Dept. via email. (I see someone else just got it, too - anyone here?)

I can claim the UCB acceptance, but I wouldn't worry if you haven't heard yet (GK - PMed you).

How is the crappy student job market in Berkeley? I'd be pretty set with my fellowship, but my boyfriend will most likely be moving with me, and he's taking a break from studying for a while. He'll really take any job he can get (lots of previous experience with childcare, medical records, heavy lifting stuff...whatever makes the $$$), but I know in the college town I'm in now, it can be hard to even get "shitty" jobs because of the economy and the huge student population. Another possible issue is that his English isn't 100% fluent (he's Northern European). We can survive for a month or two on my fellowship and savings, but if he can't get some kind of work by then he'll go stir crazy and money will be tight.

So people are always talking about what titles to use with professors here, but I've encountered the opposite issue. At what point should I ask a professor to call me by my first name rather than "Ms. _____"? Normally I would do this immediately, but I'm an undergrad right now and I'm not used to people who are far "above" me addressing me this way. It almost seems risky to do because I feel I might be suggesting the professor should be doing the same? I don't know. How do you handle this? I have had a series of interviews with a professor at my top school, and I have now been accepted. They are still considering funding and I still feel very much "on the spot" in my communications with this professor. She sent me an email today that addressed me as "Ms. _____" multiple times, and it just felt awkward and I feel like I should have asked her to call me by my first name long ago.