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Posted

I also agree. It'd be interesting to know how they actually take everything. Because as was mentioned, some applicants have a campus committee evaluation, while others don't. I was quite surprised to get the Fulbright simply because I thought that my research was too technical. It seems that almost 3/4 of the people who receive Fulbrights are in the social sciences/humanities/liberal arts, rather than engineering and science. So I was really worried about the "committee" understanding what I wanted to do and write it in terms that an educated person could understand, but still conveyed meaning. Does that make sense?

Yes that makes sense. I was actually surprised to be picked as a finalist for the same reason, I am doing it is the field of business/management (Scandinavian Management Models) specifically and it seems that people in business fields to not generally get chosen (not sure what the reason is, could be simply that less people apply within business fields). I have not gotten the final yes/no verdict yet, but I am not expecting to be chosen based on my field of study being business which seems to be far less common! Congrats to you on being picked though :)!

Posted

Hey all! Though I'm a new user to gradforum, I've been checking this thread religiously to keep updated on everything Fulbright. That being said, much to my surprise I heard from IIE today and I have been chosen for the ETA/research award to Argentina! Hope this means that people waiting to hear from other South American countries will be hearing soon. My letter was postmarked 3/23 so it took a while to get from New York to Boston.

Best of luck to everyone. :D

Posted

to the Poland applicants - I emailed Rachel again about if the letters had already been sent out or whether we're still waiting on them to be sent out this week (determining if we'll hear back this week or next week).

just wanted to let y'all know. will keep you posted.

Posted

Poland-ers: I just got my award letter (accepted pending health/visa clearance), check your mailboxes and good luck!

Posted

I have been chomping at the bit to email her about Spain but I figured I would wait until just after the first to start the nagging- then they'll be officially late and I'll feel more entitled to ask...

I bet the decision is set for the first, but I'm sure it will be another week or two until we actually have acceptance/rejection letters.

Pessimism makes an ahead-of-schedule surprise all the sweeter :)

Posted

I have been chomping at the bit to email her about Spain but I figured I would wait until just after the first to start the nagging- then they'll be officially late and I'll feel more entitled to ask...

Good idea. You going to email Friday or Monday? I think it'll be the toughest when we know it's in the mail/other start posting their results...

Posted (edited)

I was an alternate for the JET program... and they let me hang for a whole year. It was horrible. I don't think the Fulbright program is like that - I think that they have shorter wait times (relatively). Cheer up though, I thought I read somewhere that there is a 40% chanceof upgrade, and they might even send you to a different country.

As fas as being an alternate goes, from what i understand, it means you are good, great in fact, but there are some people out there whose applications appealed more to the committee - however, just because these people are chosen doesn't mean they will accept. The committee wants to have some qualified backup candidates who are eager to go. That's where the alternates come in. It's a hard place to be - on the one hand you want to move on and figure out what's next, on the other hand that nagging voice in the back of your mind says what if... Best advice I can give has already been said. put fulbright out of your mind. pretend that you didn't get it and move on. figure out the next best thing. and then if fulbright does come through, it will either be a pleasant surprise or no big deal cause you've lined up something better.

The problem is this: Now that I know I am an alternate I might want to participate in another opportunity over the summer. If I had been accepted to Fulbright this wouldn't even be an issue. This other opportunity would conflict with the Fulbright orientation.

So, I could either wait on Fulbright and decide to not sign up for this other opportunity and hope that a space becomes available, or I could sign up for this opportunity and do it, but what if Fulbright notifies me in June, when I am in the middle of this other program and then I cannot attend the orientation? It isn't a matter of having something to do in the place of Fulbright, but a problem of how to plan the summer. I don't have even have a back-up plan in place right now. I remember reading something about how candidates who are accepted and intend to participate in Fulbright have to keep the orientation period free from other obligations, but I don't know if that applies to alternates who have no idea if they are going to eventually be accepted. Anyone have any idea? Does anyone know someone who had this problem last year, and if so, what did they do?

Edited by readtowin
Posted

Yes that makes sense. I was actually surprised to be picked as a finalist for the same reason, I am doing it is the field of business/management (Scandinavian Management Models) specifically and it seems that people in business fields to not generally get chosen (not sure what the reason is, could be simply that less people apply within business fields). I have not gotten the final yes/no verdict yet, but I am not expecting to be chosen based on my field of study being business which seems to be far less common! Congrats to you on being picked though :)!

o0o0o0 modeling! That's what my research is on ... hydrologic ... biogeochemical modeling ... yeah ... WAY too technical. But I had enough professors from history, German, and other non-engineers read it to make sure it wasn't too overbearing. But from speaking to my German professor, who basically told me to do Fulbright, she thinks that these "underrepresented" fields of study have better chances, or that you are in a smaller pool of candidates. If you think about it, how many engineers are actually going to WANT to learn another language and go ABROAD? Yeah, I'm weird like that. Haha. But I think the same applies to the business field as well! We must be exceptions to the rule ... or general student populace ...

Posted

Poland-ers: I just got my award letter (accepted pending health/visa clearance), check your mailboxes and good luck!

CONGRATULATIONS! She just emailed me back and said they were mailed on Monday - so hopefully tomorrow!

Posted

Emailed Rachel today regarding announcements for Russia applicants and received the following response. Another 1-2 weeks before they are mailed out.

We’re just finalizing all of the pieces necessary in order to move forward and issue official FSB notifications. Although not a promise, my guess is that we’ll be mailing these out within the next 1-2 weeks.

Does the two week wait include ETA applicants as well as Full grants? Are these typically announced at the same time?

Posted

I have been chomping at the bit to email her about Spain but I figured I would wait until just after the first to start the nagging- then they'll be officially late and I'll feel more entitled to ask...

I gave in and emailed Rachel today. I found out that I have to accept or decline another teaching program in Spain on Monday, so I figured I should email and see if we might know by then.

Posted

So when you get your acceptance letter, it says you need to get a health clearance AND a research visa within 3 weeks? The health clearance sounds like no problem, but 3 weeks for a research visa? Anybody have any information on whether this is required?

Posted

Has anyone else had problems with IIE not receiving official transcripts? I had one sent off in late January, and received an e-mail yesterday notifying me that IIE didn't have one on file. Not sure how catastrophic this is or how transcripts are used, but I haven't heard anything regarding acceptance/rejection, though others have already received their notifications (regarding Sweden, in this particular case).

Wow that sucks they are only notifying you now. This is one of my big fears - that they hadn't received my transcripts. Rachel had assured me that IIE would notify us if they didn't receive our transcripts within 4 weeks of making it past round 1, but apparently that isn't the case.

Posted (edited)

So when you get your acceptance letter, it says you need to get a health clearance AND a research visa within 3 weeks? The health clearance sounds like no problem, but 3 weeks for a research visa? Anybody have any information on whether this is required?

My letter didn't say anything about getting a visa yet ... I thought that comes later? Lemme check my docs.

EDIT: It does say about getting research clearance, medical clearance, VISAs, but won't IIE help us out with that later down the road?

Edited by crimsonengineer87
Posted

My letter didn't say anything about getting a visa yet ... I thought that comes later? Lemme check my docs.

EDIT: It does say about getting research clearance, medical clearance, VISAs, but won't IIE help us out with that later down the road?

Hm, I don't know... I'm probably just getting (overly) paranoid about actually getting a Fulbright, and then somehow losing it by not having my ducks in a row...

Posted

Hm, I don't know... I'm probably just getting (overly) paranoid about actually getting a Fulbright, and then somehow losing it by not having my ducks in a row...

Lol. No, don't worry. I've been paranoid about leaving this envelope and all the important documents in any one location, so it's always with me (i.e. it's in my backpack when I go to class) and I never leave it in my office when I go home b/c I think the office will randomly burn down. Then I never leave it in my apartment b/c I think it'll burn down or someone will break in and just steal the Fulbright documents, which is ridiculous.

Posted

Hm, I don't know... I'm probably just getting (overly) paranoid about actually getting a Fulbright, and then somehow losing it by not having my ducks in a row...

I too am wondering about the Visa process because I will actually be leaving the country soon. I am wondering if I will be need to make multiple trips to the consulate? Also, can this be taken care of at an embassy in another country? Or, does it need to be done within the states?

Posted

Wow that sucks they are only notifying you now. This is one of my big fears - that they hadn't received my transcripts. Rachel had assured me that IIE would notify us if they didn't receive our transcripts within 4 weeks of making it past round 1, but apparently that isn't the case.

You know what sucks even more? Another $10 down the drain...

Posted

It looks like it got sent from NY, basic snail mail. There's another person who received notification while living in Germany on the spreadsheet, and it seems like there's about a 3 day delay as compared to applicants living in the US. Hope that helps.

Skyfire--I noticed you seem to know a lot about JET. I'm currently a finalist for JET and just received an offer for an ETA grant. Which would you choose if you had to pick between the two? There are a lot of pluses and minuses for each opportunity, and it would be great to have another opinion from someone who knows a lot about both.

You should most definitely accept the ETA grant! You can always reapply for JET, and it's not nearly as competitive or prestigious.

Posted

o0o0o0 modeling! That's what my research is on ... hydrologic ... biogeochemical modeling ... yeah ... WAY too technical. But I had enough professors from history, German, and other non-engineers read it to make sure it wasn't too overbearing. But from speaking to my German professor, who basically told me to do Fulbright, she thinks that these "underrepresented" fields of study have better chances, or that you are in a smaller pool of candidates. If you think about it, how many engineers are actually going to WANT to learn another language and go ABROAD? Yeah, I'm weird like that. Haha. But I think the same applies to the business field as well! We must be exceptions to the rule ... or general student populace ...

I had a hard time explaining my project as well (GPS-related). Thankfully, our campus review process consisted of professors from technical and nontechnical fields who provided me with valuable feedback on how to say what I needed to say. In general, I think what you said about engineers is true. I know probably twenty engineers who applied to four or five different graduate schools each, but none of them applied for any scholarships or fellowships like the Fulbright or Boren, respectively.

Posted (edited)

Hi all, new to the site. I'm waiting to hear back from South Africa for Fulbright IIE. Anyone else hear back yet?

Hi Teej T,

Nope we haven't heard anything back yet. Nakasa wrote to the representative for sub-saharan africa and all he said was we should hear back sometime in April :/

Edited by Loli
Posted

Hi Teej T,

Nope we haven't heard anything back yet. Nakasa wrote to the representative for sub-saharan africa and all he said was we should hear back sometime in April :/

Frustrating, I know. Last year applicants for South Africa found out April 11th. I wonder how soon the IIE office finds out prior to the sending of packages? More clearly - when IIE is notified of the choices do they immediately send out the packages or have decisions been made and they are waiting?

Posted (edited)

Frustrating, I know. Last year applicants for South Africa found out April 11th. I wonder how soon the IIE office finds out prior to the sending of packages? More clearly - when IIE is notified of the choices do they immediately send out the packages or have decisions been made and they are waiting?

hey fryguy where in SA are you looking to go?

Edited by Loli
Posted (edited)

hey fryguy where in SA are you looking to go? and are you doing eta or full research grant?

ETA - so anywhere! If I were to receive the scholarship my hunch is that I would not be Johannesburg or Pretoria... I remember reading somewhere that they do not like to place ETAs in the capital(s) but I could be wrong. You?

Edited by fryguy

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