unruhestifter

just to clarify - the German Fulbright Commission emailed me from Berlin informing me that my status as an applicant had been changed from "alternate" to "principal" (not "principle," which I had originally written and which may have caused some confusion - in my excitement I used the wrong word in my post). anyway, when informing the Germany ETAs of whether or not they have been awarded the grants or not, it appears that the German Fulbright Commission has used the term "principals" for initial recipients of the grant and "alternates" for the names initially placed on the waiting list, at least for ETAs. alternates have a chance at being bumped up if a principal candidate drops out or if more funding becomes available, a scenario mentioned by nemolover regarding the "'second round' of funding" (btw nemolover - the insider info from your advisor has been very interesting - thanks!). hope that clarifies things ... I'm not even sure if this language is used outside of the German Fulbright Commission, so take it for what it is.

ok so i'm a Germany ETA applicant who has been creeping around this discussion since there were like 4 posts up (whether or not this was ethical is a question for another discussion topic). the main reason for my "shyness" is that while everyone in the discussion was posting good news (congrats of course!) or venting about the rigors of the waiting process (something which we've all experienced to some degree at this point in the game), MY Fulbright letterS served to repeatedly remind me that I was named an ALTERNATE for the opportunity that we are all so passionate and excited about. so while other people on the board contemplated grad programs or what was actually meant by the oh-so-vague acceptance emails and medical forms, I sat around wishing I had been flat-out rejected so that I could move on with my life. and we wonder why there aren't more people who post rejections - maybe I'm not as brave as some others on this board, but I had trouble coming to terms with the alternate notification, so I can only imagine how someone who received a rejection would feel about re-typing the news when the last thing they probably want to do is think about everything Fulbright put them through over the past 10390 months. people posted that most alternates eventually received notification, that we have a 1/3 chance, that we have less than a 1/3 chance...while these odds seem to be steadily declining, I am here to write that if you are reading this and you are wondering what to think about your alternate status, YOU DO HAVE A CHANCE! just as I began making plans for the upcoming year (looking for a place to stay, looking for roommates, etc) I received an email. the email was from Ines Horbert in Berlin. and it told me I was moved onto the principal list. I write this for two reasons. first, as a thank you to everyone on this discussion board who has kept me company and shared (and continues to share) the roller coaster of an emotional experience that Fulbright has put us on over the last several months. may everyone out there continue to contribute to painting as complete a picture as possible for everyone else waiting for news or clarification. second, I write this as a message of hope to the nameless and faceless alternates out there who have been asking themselves whether they'll ever hear back from their respective countries. the alternates who are hesitant about "moving on" with their lives out of fear that as soon as they commit to another opportunity, they'll end up hearing back about the fellowship. YOU HAVE A CHANCE. don't stop looking into plan Bs, Cs, and Ds, but don't stop holding on to the possibility that the Fulbright people will come to their senses and make up their minds on your application. we're all rooting for you guys.