MTrice

Hey all, I'm starting a "completely unofficial" blog of Fulbrighters to record our joint experiences for this coming year. It'd be great if I could have people participate from all around the globe to share your stories, pictures, and activities. I'll be in the UK and several fellow UK Fulbrighters and UK students coming to the US seem ready to jump into the project. I really hope some of you might consider helping as well. The site is [ www dot thefulbrightreport dot com ] and you can email me with any questions via the forum or at [ mt35 @ txstate dot edu ] Good luck everyone and congrats! -Michael

Hang in there alternates! I just found out that I've been awarded a Fulbright to the UK from my alternate status. I received an email directly from the host country programme. Look forward to meet the other UKers in London!

Grats FB2008! Looks like the news is arriving for everyone now. Good luck to those waiting to hear.

I'm a UK alternate, for now. Good luck to the rest of y'all! It's going to be a stressful two more months or so here

Family of 5 for the UK. So I'm right there with ya.

It certainly varies per country. I'm just going to wait it out. She's been quite pleasant via phone and email, so I'm just going to let her do her job at this point. -Michael

The Fulbright name alone won't ensure a successful application, but how your Fulbright experience contributes to your value in the field certainly will. A research project that directly feeds into your discipline, hopefully with innovation, will help. An ETA likely depends more on how much you do while in the country as an ambassador. If you take full advantage and work your butt off doing additional projects on an international level, you'll likely be okay. Keep in mind that this year applications to Grad school are through the roof because of the economy. That doesn't ensure an easier applicant pool next year, but it does suggest this was likely an extraordinarily competitive field this year. Still, if it's your dream school, I personally would accept and do a Fulbright ETA later. I did the Fulbright because the better programs for my research happened to be in the UK, at least in my opinion. -Michael

I'm trying to get an extension at my main stateside school. No clue if I can do it or not. I know for certain that the FSB has not confirmed any UK applications yet. Rachel hopes they'll be out by mid-April. How bad is it to accept a spot at a university and not show up? A part of me wishes I could just know what the country decided. I'd roll the die on being approved by the FSB, but not so much if I don't whether the country put me forth as rejected, alternate, or accepted. Tough process.

I hope you're right, but as of 5 CST this Wednesday, the FSB hadn't even confirmed UK decisions. With luck, maybe it gets out next Wednesday for an early April arrival. We shall see. I just need it by the 13th to be able to tell my primary stateside chocie a decision before the school's deadline.

Just called the IIE. UK letters have not been mailed. The office states that they're waiting on the Foreign Scholarship Committee.

Had my interview with the UK officials in the first week of March. Hopefully I sounded half as good as my application. No word yet via mail, so I'm in limbo on where to accept. I have three offers stateside and one in the UK. Taking the time to get some items published and pick up some programming skills. Edit: They also suggested the choices would be made in two days. I actually thought we might hear from them before the confirmation by the final US panel, but I suppose not. I emailed a project coordinator about my acceptance to Leeds and asked if letters had been mailed.