bdoll

If you have a primary care provider at home, I think you can mail it to them and have them fill it out and send it back? That would be if you haven't had some extensive treatments elsewhere that they don't have records for.

Honestly I was actually quite surprised that the medical information required for clearance was not MORE in depth. For example, I was surprised to see that they don't ask about drug use or require you to take a drug test. From personal experience and just anecdotally, if you wish to work in a program funded by U.S. Taxpayer dollars and that requires a certain amount of clearance (foreign service, CIA, FBI) these exams are commonly like this, if not more rigorous. As Eric Bee mentioned, the Peace Corps is similar to this. We need to remember that while many people will be in rural England or Madrid or places with comparable medical services, many people will be in rural areas for extended periods of time in countries where medical treatment is not as timely available. Many of the requests you seem to be taking issue with are actually filled out by the physician who is supposed to sign off on your forms. YOU will not be personally answering any questions about what medications you have taken or how many times you have been to the hospital. The physician examining you will be answering those questions based on his or her review of your medical history. The only difficult thing about this should really be figuring out which doctors you have seen in the past three years. If you saw multiple doctors within one clinic or clinic system, you should be able to request your medical records from just the clinic (i.e. they should have kept track of every dr. you saw within their clinic). I would not be surprised to find out that they ask many of these questions have to do with liability. Having moments of depression or anxiety are common to everyone. However, if that depression or anxiety is so severe as to interfere with your daily living and you need to see someone about it, that is certainly something Fulbright wants to be aware of before they send you to live thousands of miles away, potentially in extremely mentally and physically rigorous situations. I don't think admitting that you've seen a therapist is going to prejudice you, but (god forbid) if something did happen to a Fulbrighter while they were abroad because of depression or anxiety, difficult questions would certainly be asked of Fulbright if they had failed to ascertain that people were completely mentally and physically capable of going abroad. Hence I think they just need a doctor to sign off on whether you are mentally fit (which should be fairly easy since you didn't apply to go into space or something) to kind of avoid that whole debacle, and a doctor cannot in good conscience do that without reviewing your complete medical history. I would certainly be more concerned if they asked me to release the actual medical files, but as it is they are just asking for a general nature of the treatment (e.g. "general anxiety disorder", "obsessive-compulsive disorder") and the dr's names, and dates of treatment, probably to see that you had a reasonable number of sessions to resolve or help you with any psychological issues. My doctor is still the one reviewing the files and signing off on my mental well being, so those files and the detailed nature of my treatment remain subject to dr.-patient confidentiality. I feel in that case that my rights to the confidentiality of my medical history have not been waived. As for HIV status, I think someone else already covered that. I am not totally sure how I feel about that, although I don't have HIV or AIDS. While that probably has to do with visa regulations in other countries (which is fairly common), the requests regarding gynecological health are probably more preventative than anything. People will be going abroad for at least a year, many to places with healthcare that would not be considered up to standards in the Global North, and many on the Fulbright health insurance which is really only for emergencies and not preventative care. Many people going on Fulbright are recent undergraduates who may have only really been to health services for random colds, allergic reactions, UTIs etc. If you haven't received a pap smear or an STD screen recently, I think it's prudent, if not necessary to get all those things before going abroad for an extended period of time. Now, things that I would certainly be quite concerned about if they were on the health forms (because why would fulbright need to know): results of any genetic testing one might have had, alcohol and drug abuse records, confidential communications with social workers, details of any domestic violence counseling, details of any sexual assault counseling or sexual assault treatment one may have had. Just my two cents on the issue.

Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Laos all heard back yesterday, so it might be that fulbright just waited to get a bunch of decisions back and sent them out all at the same time?

Thanks Biz! I know, I am really in a tizzy over here over all these people hearing back today.

Also the EU for research EDIT and Indonesia Full, although not positive news

congrats! See you there! i am actually getting zero work done at work right now because i have to keep answering congrats texts from people or my phone might explode from continuously buzzing.

Thanks! I have all my fingers crossed that Portugal is next

Accepted for an ETA to indonesia!!

https://twitter.com/#!/bvsouders/status/184662349985230849 looks like someone heard back from Laos

I think they are talking about the EU grants from Fulbright, not the countries in the EU. EDIT: nevermind! you probably saw Jeb266's answer.

Haven't Argentina, Colombia, and Brazil already found out....?

Well hey! there's the answer - thanks!

True, I saw that someone was already told they were an alternate. But it's also true a couple other people have received acceptance notifications from people at IIE. What I meant was more along the lines of there being two sets of 'alternates' - one that they really reaaaally want to give the grant to and are waiting for confirmation of funding or to see if an accepted person declines the grant, and one that they want to give the grant to (since of course IIE recommended them) but that it's unlikely they will be able to accept them because of the limitations on the program, if that makes sense. I'm just speculating though. EDIT: a couple people now have said something along the lines of "you'll get an acceptance from FSB and a rejection/alternate from IIE" - I'm wondering where that opinion comes from?

It' might be possible that they are still trying to figure out who is truly accepted and who is then relegated to alternate (but really wanted to give the grant to), because of budgeting?

reporting that a good friend just received notice that she got the full grant to Brazil!

Honestly guys I'm surprised we haven't all gotten Rick Roll'd yet... so many opportunities with that spreadsheet link x_x Hang in there! I just discovered that the gym is a good way to take my mind off stuff. It's hard to think about anything when you have several lbs of metal hanging over your face.

That is very strange. It does say on their website that IIE would be contacting the applicants directly, so I don't think it would break any rules if you emailed scienceandtech@fulbrightmail.org and maybe contacted someone at your embassy? Best of luck to you. EDIT: congrats germany ETA person!

Hi Saouali, Biz and I were replying to another person's post about being recommended for a Full Research Grant to the Netherlands.The fulbright administers scholarships for Americans wanting to study and teach abroad and for Non-Americans wanting to study and teach in the United States. The deadline for notifications for Americans is not over yet. I see you applied to the International Science and Technology Award. This is a grant for non-americans to study in america, as I'm sure you know. According to the timeline on their website, you should have been contacted last September regarding your application: http://scienceandtec...rogram-timeline "September 12, 2011 - IIE will begin to initiate direct contact with candidates via email. Commissions and Posts will be copied on the initial email." By this time, IIE should already be applying for your placement if you are a candidate who received the grant. "Early April 2012 - IIE will advance admission decisions to ECA for consideration and final placement approval." I don't really know how that program works, so i'm not sure if you would have definitely been contacted by someone in September, but I suggest you get in contact with someone from IIE as soon as possible.

? I don't think anyone has been notified for the netherlands yet.... are you looking at the right spreadsheet?

Really? That seems a little scary... Although Germany is still pretty cheap housing-wise I'm sure you guys won't have a problem!

ahahahha.... I needed a good laugh.

For anyone who applied to the ETA program in Malaysia, my uncle sent me a short program/podcast he recently heard on the radio about the Malaysian ETA experience. http://www.bfm.my/2012-03-16_englishteachingassitant.html

I think he or she was looking for research grant stipends, which I suppose would also depend on how many months you get funded for right? So that amount/however many months the ETA is for plus a housing stipend, since research grantees usually have to find their own housing would be in the correct ballpark I would think

THE SPREADSHEET: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuGpbWEh-3b0dHZzTU1BN0lNLU1yeG5XWktnY2k3bmc

I am actually starting to get really annoyed by it (unless it's my family) so I might actually not tell a lot of people unless I have to (if I hopefully get the grant!). Mostly because people keep asking me when they're going to get to visit me in Bali, or if I have "heard about going to Bali." Geez, there's more to Indonesia than Bali...