BMCGirl10

I agree with what DCA John has said. I work at a DC intl dev consulting firm. A lot of hires I see (both in the field and domestic) have grad degrees from non-prestigious schools. What pushes them forward is the field experience.

Thanks MBabe! That was very helpful.

I live in the DMV and I'm considering an offer for a position that is on average 40K for a recent hire with 0-2 years experience. I expect them to make a starting offer that's lower. How do I negotiate without seeming bullish? I'm grateful for the job but I also expect to make a decent wage.

Thanks for the responses! The questions were more an effort to get a conversation going rather than anything specific I wanted to address. I've started the application process and I'm flexible about where I'm willing to go.

For Current Peace Corps Volunteers, Alums, and Applicants. Let's talk about the application process, the pro/cons of deployment and what opportunities (grad & career wise) were like after your return.

Congrats!

Thanks for the advice Politicalgeek! You're right about no one wanting to hire more than a month before starting or even non-DC residents. I've been trying to secure a job/internship from afar for months now. I finally decided to secure housing for the summer ( I did - for 350 a month if you can believe it) and I'm working on getting a canvassing job on a political campaign. Maybe with that experience it'll be easier for me to ease into staffing jobs or Congressional internships in the Fall.

Congrats on getting another fellowship that made turning down a Fulbright worthwhile. Which country are you going to?

No idea, but I noticed it was a problem two days ago.

Sally someone messed up all of the notification dates for South/Central Asia. Can you go into your database and fix it? I feel bad for all of the Fulbright South/Central Asia finalists for next year.

I just got an email from Rachel Holskin. I'm guessing it was sent to all Alternates. I don't remember the Alternates from last year saying that they received this email. Did anyone else in Europe get this? "Greetings, As you have been identified as an alternate for a 2010-2011 Fulbright grant within the Europe/Eurasia region, we would like to request that you save the following dates in the event you are promoted from alternate status. If you are selected to receive a Fulbright grant, you will be required to attend the following mandatory pre-departure orientation in Washington, D.C. before you leave for your grant......"

My friend who was notified that she was an Alternate for Morocco in March just called me! Funding became available and she's now Accepted for Principal status. She's over the moon and so am I. Hoping the same for Lithuania.

Here's the forum: They didn't have a spreadsheet. I suppose we could make one but it wouldn't be as accurate as ours.

I noticed on the spreadsheet and last year's Fulbright forum that the time line for Alternates to Acceptance can vary. From two weeks to a month. I also called Rachel to find out about the Alternate wait list for Lithuania. I'm one of two for the country but she couldn't give me a ranking system.

I found this article about people who turn down the Fulbright grant: http://ow.ly/177j27. It was a pretty relevant and interesting read. First paragraph - "A friend of mine recently turned down the prestigious Fulbright grant because it became clear in the period between her initial application and the award of the grant that her family obligations in the United States would not allow her to fulfill Fulbright’s requirement that she spend the entirety of the one year term of the grant abroad. In part her receipt of a more flexible grant that would still allow her to undertake her dissertation research took some of the sting away from this wrenching decision, but it still raises the question of whether grants like the Fulbright should require such an extended period of residency. I do not deny that there are advantages to spending an long period of time in the country of one has chosen to research. Potential benefits include a deeper understanding of culture and perhaps language that comes only through time and the building of local relationships, which can be particularly crucial for oral history projects. However, the reality is that archival research no longer requires the kind of long term residence that it might have in the days before digital photography and online searchable catalogues."

After checking my mail 3 times today I finally got my Fulbright letter. I'm an Alternate. I guess it's a week more of waiting to see if any of the Principal candidates decline.

Congrats S'moore! Here's the spreadsheet - https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=taWW8xiKve1Tm6Ow6bHdhYA&hl=en

Which Baltic country did you apply to? I don't see you on the spreadsheet.

I noticed that they've split apart Europe into the categories of Eastern Europe/Eurasia and Western Europe in the Competition Statistics section. https://us.fulbrightonline.org/statistics_country_europe.html But they haven't done so in Country Summaries. https://us.fulbrightonline.org/program_regions_world.html I wonder if they're going to treat Eastern Europe as a separate region next year with a new Program Manager?

Please put it on the Spreadsheet. For next year's applicants.

A UK and Moldova Alternate moved to Principal status. Both within a week of receiving their Alternate letter.

Thanks for clearing up the confusion Franko!

I knew I wanted to study post-conflict resolution and minority integration in Europe. It came down to Lithuania and the Netherlands. Vilnius U. has a Masters in War and Peace Studies program that I can complete in 10 months. The same program in the Netherlands costs more and is longer in duration.