CaroEllen

EDIT: Alternate to accepted for Italy!!! I'm still waiting on the official email but I'm going to assume that Rachel's word over the phone makes it official enough. ITALY: I'm not sure if any of you guys still come here but I just missed a call from Rachel (the worst time to be away from my phone ever!) and I'm waiting to hear back. Of course by the time I saw the call she was on her lunch break. Since they said they wouldn't contact us (alternates) unless our status changed... I'm not leaving my phone until I hear back from her. Anyone else hear anything? Can anyone fast forward through time until I know? And I was just thinking last night that I should check the spreadsheet to see if there had been any activity...

Nice! Siena's such a great place. I've never actually been to the Chigi - scheduling conflicts and all that - but I look forward to enjoying it some day! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that the primary drops and BU embraces the opportunity to have one of their students be a Fulbrighter!

That's amazing! If you'd like, I'd be interested in talking more about your/our projects. I'm bad at checking here, but I'm sending you the email address my FB is registered under in a PM.

Wow, that sounds like a great position! Is there any way that, if you do find out that the recipient withdraws, that you could delay enrollment at BU for a year? Either way, congrats for making it this far - and also congrats for entrance into a great grad program! I do early modern history. My dissertation is on sixteenth-century Siena, looking at the shift in civic identity after the fall of the Republic of Siena and the role of a literary academy there in the cultural evolution in the decades after they became a subject state. While I do a decent amount of traditional political history the majority of my work is through more innovative approaches like looking at the pedagogical elements in their parlor games, the role of theater, literature, etc - all of which makes my project exciting (at least to me) but I think also makes it a bit questionable to award committees, particularly those that aren't in history and aware of trends in the profession.

Nice to know we're still in the running - but it would also be nice to know what's going on next year! How are you dealing with it? I'm sure I could look it up but I'm actually in Italy right now, it's late and I'm tired... what is the Casten Family grant? Did you apply specifically for it?

And... Italy: alternate. Maybe (given that this was my second year as a finalist and I was rejected last year) if I applied next year I would be accepted at this point? Still keeping my fingers crossed. Good luck to everyone else!

Ugh! So frustrating... After obsessively checking and commenting on this thread last year I've been trying to lay low this time around and hope that it helps with my nerves - I'm also a second-year finalist - but I can't hold back anymore. Luckily, I just received word last night that I was offered a fellowship at my uni for next year but that is very much not the same as a year of research in Italy! I think I've come to accept the chance of getting rejected again but who knows what my heart will do if I open the email (next week?!?) and read the words "We are sorry..." I'm keeping my fingers crossed for everyone, Italian finalists and otherwise. Hope to see lots of good news posted on here in the coming weeks!