rtlc06

So have we established a time frame where the notifications are likely to go out? I move that we include information about email time stamps so that if there is a pattern, maybe next year's applicants could restrict their obsessive email refreshing to certain hours of the day...

Ok Caribbean / Central America people - one more week (hopefully)!

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I believe another poster emailed Pam about the Caribbean last week and she said that the Caribbean commission has yet to notify with their decisions... But maybe (*hopefully*) they responded between now and then? That would be spec-tacular!

Nice. Hopefully this means I can stop hitting the "check email" button on my inbox for a couple of weeks.

Nice! Thanks!

In terms of the DR, it looks like people have historically been notified from late March - late April. As the other Jamaica applicant indicated, the Caribbean commission has not made their decisions yet, so I'm assuming that we'll know later rather than sooner (unfortunately). Check the spreadsheet for specific Jamaica information. By the way, ROC14627 - are you from Rochester, NY? I recognized the zip code... I grew up there (14625, too funny).

Thanks for checking!! I think we're the only Caribbean people on here... the wait continues...

Nope... Still waiting on Dominican Republic...

Bahaha I KNOW!! I received an email (unrelated to my acceptance status - still waiting on that *fingers crossed*) where they misspelled FULBRIGHT in the subject line. Hi-larious.... It seems like the majority of notifications go out in the early afternoon? (though that's a function of my timezone - it appears to be mid-afternoon NYC time). Here's to more acceptances!! Congrats to all of those who have received good news thus far!!

Yay congrats!! Looks like the Western Hemisphere is finally coming through! c'mon Dominican Republic!!

Congrats to all of those who got good news today! And yay for Western Hemisphere full results starting to come it!!

I'm one of those people who received an email like this (Dominican Republic). To be honest with you, I doubt it means anything about (1) acceptance status or (2) how close the country is to making a decision. The email says that "not having the appropriate documents could hold up your decision notification," so when I called Pam (the contact person the email lists) about what this means, I asked if IIE had received any information from my country. She said no. Thus, I doubt that IIE has any knowledge about when specific countries will reach their decisions and contact them about contacting applicants... Another poster suggested earlier that the email is just probably automatically generated when "some box isn't checked in the application package." I bet that's accurate; if they're contacting you before a country decision, it's probably just so that they can make sure there's no hold up later on down the line if you do wind up getting a grant.

What I've been doing lately: (1) Hitting the refresh button on my email 500 times a day, (2) hittng the refresh button on this forum 500 times a day, (3) waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat because I just had a dream I got a rejection letter from IIE, (4) waking up in the middle of the night in a semi-manic state because I just had a dream I got an acceptance letter from IIE (5) Googling "Fulbright notification, Dominican Republic" (and returning the same meager results every single time, yet still anticipating something new). What I should be doing: (1) Drafting the theory section of my prospectus so that I can defend it in 2 months (2) applying for "real jobs" in case this Fulbright thing doesn't pan out (3) drafting an article for submission about my pilot study data (4) actively putting in something that resembles effort at the job I have now (5) finishing my IRB (6) thinking up other things I'm interested in talking about with my husband besides dissecting every single piece of the Fulbright application process and what each seemingly arbitrary "new development" (which usually doesn't even have anything to do with my region, anyway) means. Given the above, I'm going to try something new. My obsessing over the outcome of this process isn't going to influence the result. That is, refreshing my email every 3 minutes and/or straight-arming the mailman NFL receiver style on my way to the mailbox to check for correspondence from IIE isn't going to change my status; it's just going to cause me to feel perpetually stressed out and continually unproductive. With that said, I propose a break. What's done is done. We have no control over the process at this point, and worrying/obsessing has no benefit. I'm going to (attempt) to take a Fulbright vacation and just let what's going to happen, happen. Each time an obsessive thought creeps into my head, I'm going to replace it with something productive (like my prospectus) or fun (like making plans with friends, etc...). The degree of anxiety I've caused myself (and perhaps other users of this forum are the same point) just isn't healthy; it's time to just let what's going to be, be.

Haha that's really arbitrary and/or specific. Why not today or tomorrow? Why Thursday? Oh the crazy things we do... I know I'm not going to be notified for at LEAST another week, though that hasn't stopped me from hitting the refresh button on my email every 3 minutes...

I agree and I disagree with this. When we started this process, we WERE all aware that there would be long periods of waiting with no communication with IIE. However, that knowledge doesn't make this process any less frustrating or tortuous. I think the thing that's important to keep in mind is that IIE is dealing with international committees - many of which are located in developing countries. Anybody who has done work in the developing world knows that things are often less organized, unpredictable, and almost always move at a slower pace than they do here in the US. Consequently, I don't think IIE even knows when the country-specific Fulbright committees will arrive at a decision, except based on past history (which is presumably highly variable). Since they don't have reliable information, the applicants don't have information either. Hopefully IIE is getting their notification letters out within a reasonable timeframe from when they themselves are notified, though one can never be sure. However, it doesn't seem as though calling program officers would significantly delay any part of the process - it's probably just irritating for them. Nevertheless, 6 months is an excruciatingly long time to wait for a decision that is (for many of us) going to direct the trajectory of our graduate school careers for the next year and (possibly) beyond.

Haha - I know how you feel! I keep doing the same thing, even though I know that the Dominican Republic hasn't sent out letters until 3/25 at the EARLIEST and 4/27 at the latest. The wait is KILLING me, especially since I've been rejected for every other grant I've applied for. Oh, and did I mention that I didn't even get an interview for the most recent job I've applied for? Grad school is DEFINITELY an exercise in how to deal with rejection!!

Don't despair just yet! I had a friend (2009-2010) who was an alternate to Cambodia and was later on accepted!

Thanks, but they checked - they just don't have them. Fortunately my undergraduate institution was nice enough to reissue the documents for free. I'm not sure whether or not this is a sign, however. When I got the email I freaked out and called IIE and did some prying about my application. Apparently they haven't heard back from the country yet... That obviously means one of two things (1) that they really haven't heard back or (2) they have heard back and just said that they hadn't to avoid further pestering. Either way, I plan to break the "Please don't contact us about the receipt of your transcripts" rule in about a week. Another. whole. week.

Hi all, I'm a new poster. Congrats to all who have heard back and gotten awards!! Did anybody get this email today? Dear Fulbright candidate, This is a reminder to please arrange for your official transcript to be sent to IIE at the address below, as soon as possible. As of the date of this email, your transcript has not been received by IIE. Failure to submit in a timely manner may delay the notification and the next stage in the award process. We are missing the following transcript: BA degree granting/expected institution Please contact me if you have any questions. Sincerely, Pam I literally almost died. I called my undergrad institution to verify that they had sent my transcript to the correct IIE address (I seriously had them sent the same hour I was notified of my candidacy) and what do you know - they actually had. THEN I contacted "Pam" and she told me that "We literally get hundreds of transcripts - they probably got lost on our end. Just have them reissued." Really? That seriously took a minimum of 6 months off my life. Fortunately I didn't have to experience the horror that would have been opening the email thinking it was my notification letter, since the subject heading appeared in my inbox as "Fulbrihgt application: transcript missing (WCA)" (yes, typo and all).