Fulbright 2011-2012

[Bluedevil]

The old Indonesia Fulbright group on facebook wasn't working, so we created a new one:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_169161563139478&notif_t=group_r2j

We have three members and are growing at a rate of 1 member/30m! Let's keep this up.

[some guy]

It does suck, big time, but you probably are overthinking it a bit... I imagine Jonathan gets a hundred emails a day, and maybe he figured he already responded to yours. However, I highly doubt that he is taking the time to cross-check an email's sender with his (from what it sounded like, probably yet-to-be-determined) list of accepted candidates. Hang in there... we are in the home stretch.

Hey, thanks for the encouragement. Where are you planning to be if you get the Fulbright? I'm hoping to research traditional theater in Suzhou.

[Marlo]

Hey, thanks for the encouragement. Where are you planning to be if you get the Fulbright? I'm hoping to research traditional theater in Suzhou.

That's cool, I don't know much about Suzhou. I want to research energy policy in Sichuan.

[pbot]

Damn. Thanks for the info!

I don't know about the timeline other than what they say in the letter, but Cara informed me that there are 17 alternates for the full grant to India. Which makes me not so optimistic about my chances, so I'm putting it out of mind and moving on. It'd be a little easier if I knew what position I was on that list, but of course they refuse to provide any information that actually matters.

[crimsonengineer87]

HAHAH! Sounds good! You think we should create a "Fulbright 2011-2012" group on Facebook? There's a 2010-2011 one and I requested to join so I can ask questions & speak to some folks.

Congrats to the awardees and g'luck to those still waiting to hear!

I think that Facebook group would be awesome! There are definitely some peeps out there who haven't seen this forum and most likely they are good Facebook stalkers and will one day search Facebook for something like this. I definitely did this when I interned in Germany through the DAAD. There were 300 undergrads in North America and Canada. There was bound to be one person to start the group. It was really helpful for making traveling plans with others and stuff like that.

I think there was some sort of post on here about the medical clearance form and I'm too lazy to scroll back up and reply, so I'll put it here. I just emailed Cara b/c I was worried about my form b/c my doctor apparently put "N/A" under the cholesterol. The only thing the blood work DIDN'T look at. At first I was like, Oh it's okay my doctor said I was in tip-top shape. Then I got more worried. But she said I "passed". So I wouldn't worry. As long as the general comments are that you will not fall over and die once you set foot in your country or will not spread a contagion similar to the plague, you will be fine!

[nakasa]

Question for EVERYONE--

did anyone's notification letter take longer than 8 days to get to them? The Fulbright office has confirmed they sent my letter on April 13th, and it has still not arrived. I'm pretty sure it's been lost, but I wanted to just make sure no one else had a similar experience (that then ended with their letter actually being delivered).

[crimsonengineer87]

Question for EVERYONE--

did anyone's notification letter take longer than 8 days to get to them? The Fulbright office has confirmed they sent my letter on April 13th, and it has still not arrived. I'm pretty sure it's been lost, but I wanted to just make sure no one else had a similar experience (that then ended with their letter actually being delivered).

Mine was sent Friday and I got it Wednesday, which is pretty good for Pullman, Washington. If you Google it, this small college town is LITERALLY in the middle of wheatfields and almost nowhere. Lol.

My parents work for the post office and that large manila envelope was extremely thin. It may have been possible it could have been accidentally ripped or something in the mail sorters. Or the label became too blurred to read. For my envelope, I could barely read it was from IIE. I was like what is this crappy logo. Anyways, have you contacted them? I think someone on this forum had a similar issue and emailed someone and got word over email ... hmm. Where are you located?

Edited April 21, 2011 by crimsonengineer87

[pbot]

Mine took 9 days, probably because it was forwarded from my old address to my present one.

Question for EVERYONE--

did anyone's notification letter take longer than 8 days to get to them? The Fulbright office has confirmed they sent my letter on April 13th, and it has still not arrived. I'm pretty sure it's been lost, but I wanted to just make sure no one else had a similar experience (that then ended with their letter actually being delivered).

[aPPiah]

<br />Mine took 9 days, probably because it was forwarded from my old address to my present one.<br /><br />

<br /><br /><br />

Is anyone getting mail in the south? I am guessing my letter will go to my permanent address. It was supposedly mailed out on Friday. When do you think I will get it?

[MariaM]

Question for EVERYONE--

did anyone's notification letter take longer than 8 days to get to them? The Fulbright office has confirmed they sent my letter on April 13th, and it has still not arrived. I'm pretty sure it's been lost, but I wanted to just make sure no one else had a similar experience (that then ended with their letter actually being delivered).

Mine took 2 weeks to arrive, but then again I consistently get mail a week late.

[nakasa]

Anyways, have you contacted them? I think someone on this forum had a similar issue and emailed someone and got word over email ... hmm. Where are you located?

I'm surprised to hear that someone else was notified by email, because I called and subsequently the Fulbright program advisor from my school called, and both times they told us that they absolutely cannot release decisions any way except by mail. They also said they will mail a replacement letter in the middle of next week and no sooner than that. So it looks like I've got another couple of weeks to wait, which is tremendously disappointing. But oh well, what can be done?

Oh, and I live in North Carolina.

[loloyohe]

Hey everyone waiting on Vietnam letters--I contacted Jonathan and unfortunately got the same cookie cutter answer:

It's not possible to predict exactly when the final results will become available, but we're hoping that the final notification letters for Vietnam will go out by the end of April.

Sincerely,

Jonathan

AHHH! It is the end of April!! So it doesn't look like they have even been sent out.

[emelie]

Yeah, I may have to say "yes" to moving forward with projects that would make leaving impossible. Argh.

Thanks emelie. It looks like we'll be lucky to receive word before the end of of the month. I bet some people will have to significantly alter plans because of this delay.

[awoz]

oh wow. when last I heard from her, it was my impression they'd be sending them out LAST week. and now it's THIS week?

SO MUCH SUSPENSE. GAH.

thank goodness I have my thesis to worry over in the meantime! whew!

Has anyone received Poland ETA letters this week? I'm in Boston, so NY to here takes about 2-3 days....I'm gonna be a spaz next week!!!

[peteoburito]

To other worried Taiwan-ers:

I sent an email to Jon to find out more information as I want to notify my employer as soon as possible when I know if I am leaving this summer.

His response was not that they're *hoping* to get letters out this week, but that they *will* get letters out by the end of the week.

I suppose it's possible some of us will be hearing by Monday!

Edited April 21, 2011 by peteoburito

[jmm]

Any other Iceland applicants receive notice today? I'm ecstatic to say I got the big manilla envelope!

This might be taboo to reveal, but for what it's worth to anyone out there: I applied last year for a Fulbright and didn't even make it to the finalist round. I completely reworked my application, started from absolute scratch even choosing a different (but closely related) country in which to work. So if things didn't work out for you this year, they mean it when they say that you can apply again. Good luck to all still waiting.

Hey DKC- Congratulations on your award! I am an alternate for Iceland, but am very excited I made it this far in the process. If I don't go this year, I am applying again for 2012-2013!

[Joseph1]

Has anyone received Poland ETA letters this week? I'm in Boston, so NY to here takes about 2-3 days....I'm gonna be a spaz next week!!!

I'm a candidate for Poland, awoz, and I haven't heard from them. There are four finalists from my school, and two of them - Bangladesh ETA and Mexico Business - heard yesterday. This promptly sent me and the other candidate (Egypt) into a frenzy. I plan to call tomorrow if they are open to ask how long.

[ModJpn]

Hey everyone waiting on Vietnam letters--I contacted Jonathan and unfortunately got the same cookie cutter answer:

It's not possible to predict exactly when the final results will become available, but we're hoping that the final notification letters for Vietnam will go out by the end of April.

Sincerely,

Jonathan

I got the same response in regards to Japan. Has me a bit worried that it could be pushed even later. I have to make a decision on another fellowship soon, but the award is significantly less money. Sigh. Fulbright, why are you doing this to me?

[Norway2011]

Congrats to everyone in the past weeks who has gotten their grants! Any news out there from any Norway alternates?!

[studentb2011]

Haha. Don't stress yourself and raise some other vital sign! Something minute as a slightly raised cholesterol level shouldn't effect you. I'd think this medical exam is both precautionary on their end, in regards to whether you suddenly fell ill abroad under their purview; along with a simple protocol that their lawyers had them check up on. Bureaucracy is crazy like that.

You'll be fine! Congrats again.

Thanks for calming me down. I was freaking out over how harsh they are on these medical clearances. I was waiting to buy my plane ticket for the DC orientation until after the medical clearances but if the day of my doctor's appointment the doctor says everything looks fine, I will buy ASAP. I hate these hurdles we have to jump.

[LittleBird]

My friend called IIE and they said they sent out the Taiwan notifications today! Whoooo!

To other worried Taiwan-ers:

I sent an email to Jon to find out more information as I want to notify my employer as soon as possible when I know if I am leaving this summer.

His response was not that they're *hoping* to get letters out this week, but that they *will* get letters out by the end of the week.

I suppose it's possible some of us will be hearing by Monday!

[nescafe]

I similarly got an email from Jermaine about Syria saying that he is "not sure" of when notifications will go out, and "hopefully soon". He told me that the holdup in notifications doesn't have to do with the political climate in Syria, but rather it is caused by the budget situation in DC right now. Which I don't really understand...why do certain countries already have notifications sent out independent of the budget situation?

I can answer this question... sort of.

Basically, Title VI became part of the Budget cluster-f*** only a week before Congress voted on the Budget; in other words, about 9 days ago. Fulbright Hays and Fulbright IIE are both sort of tied up with Title VI funding (or something... can anyone clarify this relationship?) Sooooo, notifications began going out as approvals rolled in, from March forward. And then BAM; Title VI and its subsidiaries got caught up in this party going down in DC. I have no clue if this is totally halting further approvals (because once "final approvals" are made, the $$$ is earmarked and can't be taken back, I think), or if it simply means delays for those of us still awaiting final approval.

Fulbright Hays DDRA seems to be put on hold more than Fulbright IIE (see the Fulbright Hays thread on this forum for details). They haven't made any approvals and everything seems VERY up in the air there.

I emailed Mr. Jones it was to ask whether recent events in either Syria or Washington could cause delays. He told me, too, that what is happening in DC is more troubling. This made me smile broadly, because I whole-heartedly agree; Congressmen are far more troublesome than protestors.

Anyway, I know that's clear as mud. Beyond this, all I know is that Congress voted through MAJOR cuts to Fulbright Programs last Friday... but then the Dept. of Education was given 30 days to appeal the vote, which they began to do immediately. I was too anxious to follow up on developments after that. But if you hear anything about Syria, let me know... sounds like we're in the same boat.

[ubiubi]

Congrats ubiubi! I went to Pitzer and took oh soooo many classes at Scripps!

Ohmygoodness! This makes me so happy, we claremont folk get around! What classes did you take at Scripps?

I'm still in the thick of it. This is an eventful week for me, since not only did Fulbright come through, but I'm turning in my thesis tomorrow! Whew! I'm so excited to sleep...

[dkc]

Hey DKC- Congratulations on your award! I am an alternate for Iceland, but am very excited I made it this far in the process. If I don't go this year, I am applying again for 2012-2013!

I hope that your alternate status gets upgraded to accepted soon! But if it doesn't, then absolutely apply again next year :-)

[Erica Ci]

Wow, what a total cluster fudge.... Interesting that Congress cutting the budget is more up-in-the-air than big time protests. Go figure. Well, there goes my big dream, sigh. UAE will I ever see you again? Inshallah.

I can answer this question... sort of.

Basically, Title VI became part of the Budget cluster-f*** only a week before Congress voted on the Budget; in other words, about 9 days ago. Fulbright Hays and Fulbright IIE are both sort of tied up with Title VI funding (or something... can anyone clarify this relationship?) Sooooo, notifications began going out as approvals rolled in, from March forward. And then BAM; Title VI and its subsidiaries got caught up in this party going down in DC. I have no clue if this is totally halting further approvals (because once "final approvals" are made, the $$ is earmarked and can't be taken back, I think), or if it simply means delays for those of us still awaiting final approval.

Fulbright Hays DDRA seems to be put on hold more than Fulbright IIE (see the Fulbright Hays thread on this forum for details). They haven't made any approvals and everything seems VERY up in the air there.

I emailed Mr. Jones it was to ask whether recent events in either Syria or Washington could cause delays. He told me, too, that what is happening in DC is more troubling. This made me smile broadly, because I whole-heartedly agree; Congressmen are far more troublesome than protestors.

Anyway, I know that's clear as mud. Beyond this, all I know is that Congress voted through MAJOR cuts to Fulbright Programs last Friday... but then the Dept. of Education was given 30 days to appeal the vote, which they began to do immediately. I was too anxious to follow up on developments after that. But if you hear anything about Syria, let me know... sounds like we're in the same boat.