International Fulbrighters Fall2011

[artzkiv]

who else is in miami for orientation from 8/15 to 8/19?

when do you arrive at the airport?

maybe we could do a meet-up and spend the first evening together (or share a cab to the hotel).

my plane lands on the 15th at 3.30 PM.

The transportation should be provided by the host.

My orientation will be in Lincoln University.

[Kathiza]

Well, on the website of my orientation event there's the info that we should take a cab to the hotel and it will be about 30 USD. I'd like to share if somebody happens to arrive around the same time at the airport...

[LongGone]

My plane lands on 15th about 2 PM

I m not sure about sharing a cab, cause it would be about 2hrs of waiting and I will be after long flights... but I am definitely for having a dinner together or something on 15th

Well, on the website of my orientation event there's the info that we should take a cab to the hotel and it will be about 30 USD. I'd like to share if somebody happens to arrive around the same time at the airport...

[Kathiza]

You know what? Sharing a cab wasn't a good idea anyway... It's just so insecure how long it's gonna take. Some of us might have to go throught extra security checks etc.

But dinner in the evening would be so cool. There's still a lot of time to schedule something, but what if we just say 8 PM at the reception... whoever shows up can have dinner. And if noone shows up, I'll have dinner by myself - no problem. Let's wait and see if there are others who are in Miami for orientation too.... We could exchange e-mail addresses and set something up.

I love this idea... I don't know ANYBODY and it would make me feel a lot more secure to know that I have somebody to talk to right the first day... (well, and I'm gonna have a roommate too at the hotel).

Is anybody here staying in Miami afterwards? Or are you all going off to other cities for your programs?

[Maankamaanka]

thanks people, I will be going to Miami from the 22nd august I think. I have to verify that. anyone going that time?

[YaelRania]

Hey dear everyone,

Sorry if this had been asked before, but reading every Fulbright post is quite impossible... I am majorly confused right now, I am from Germany and am applying for a Fulbright scholarship for my Master's, and I thought I can name five universities, but they might also place me somewhere else... anyhow, they will apply for me, and I did not read anywhere I'll loose the grant if I get rejected, I thought they would just apply to schools that they think will suit my potential.

Does anyone have any experience with Fulbright grants for Germans? Does the process work the way I understood it? I spent a solid two months now preparing the application, and I still find the information they provide quite confusing. I am aware that they expect one's own initiative, and it is such an amazing chance if you get the scholarship so I really should not complain, but for such a prestigious institution I find it a bit irritating...

THANKS!

Rania

[Maankamaanka]

Hey dear everyone,

Sorry if this had been asked before, but reading every Fulbright post is quite impossible... I am majorly confused right now, I am from Germany and am applying for a Fulbright scholarship for my Master's, and I thought I can name five universities, but they might also place me somewhere else... anyhow, they will apply for me, and I did not read anywhere I'll loose the grant if I get rejected, I thought they would just apply to schools that they think will suit my potential.

Does anyone have any experience with Fulbright grants for Germans? Does the process work the way I understood it? I spent a solid two months now preparing the application, and I still find the information they provide quite confusing. I am aware that they expect one's own initiative, and it is such an amazing chance if you get the scholarship so I really should not complain, but for such a prestigious institution I find it a bit irritating...

THANKS!

Rania

IN MY COUNTRY IT WORKS LIKE THIS; I APPLY TO FULBRIGHT COUNTRY OFFICE AND IN MY APPLICATION I INCLUDE SOME SUGGESTIONS ON THE SCHOOLS I WANT TO APPLY TO BUT THEY PICK THERE OWN SCHOOLS ANYWAY. For example I had indicated four schools of which they only applied to one. they IIE does the application and they decide which schools they want you to go to.

[Kathiza]

Hi! It works about the same here in Austria.

BUT: You are not a grantee just because Fulbright accepted you. Then you're a candidate and they (i.e. the IIE) will hand in your applications. Only when you're accepted at a university, you are a grantee. That means that you cannot lose your grant if you get rejected, because you didn't have it. If you get rejected by every university (which is unlikely but happens.... we had one case in my cohort) you obviously won't get a grant and in Austria you're not allowed to apply for Fulbright again as far as I know.

[YaelRania]

Thanks Maankamaank and Kathiza, this was really helpful. From your experience, do you think it will lower my chances if I pick very good schools? Or will they, if they decide that my picks are out of my league, just automatically apply for me at less good universities?

Thanks!!!

Edit: Does anyone of you have any experience if indicating that you would like to stay for two years affects your chances (this has for sure already been discussed, sorry, but couldn't find it)? I am asking because I know now already of three other Fulbrighters who either got an extension to the scholarship to stay for the second year and completely to their degree in the states, or secured some other funds. But the official line of Fulbright seems to be that they don't encourage students to do that...

Thanks for your help. I am a bit stressed out and it is great to hear from people who survived this all successfully...

Edited June 24, 2011 by YaelRania

[Maankamaanka]

Hi! It works about the same here in Austria.

BUT: You are not a grantee just because Fulbright accepted you. Then you're a candidate and they (i.e. the IIE) will hand in your applications. Only when you're accepted at a university, you are a grantee. That means that you cannot lose your grant if you get rejected, because you didn't have it. If you get rejected by every university (which is unlikely but happens.... we had one case in my cohort) you obviously won't get a grant and in Austria you're not allowed to apply for Fulbright again as far as I know.

You are right Kathiza, infact they say until you get your visa or something like that. there seems to be many stages until you get it actually for example in my country the medical examination seems important as well.

[YaelRania]

But, if I get rejected from every university I chose, but they still like me, will they still apply for me at other schools (this is related to my question below about how choosing great schools will affect my chances)? Thanks!

Edited June 24, 2011 by YaelRania

[LongGone]

But, if I get rejected from every university I chose, but they still like me, will they still apply for me at other schools (this is related to my question below about how choosing great schools will affect my chances)? Thanks!

They accepted all the schools I had proposed, because I really did a research on what schools have to offer in terms of faculty and courses that fit my interests. Sometimes a good school will have a department that has different research objectives that you plan to study. I read somewhere that if all schools reject you, they might apply to schools with later deadline, and only then they will give up on you. Sometimes a school lower in the rank has actually stronger department in your field, and that should be the thing that you should take into consideration.

[Kathiza]

First of all, and I think this is really important: IIE will NEVER place you in a "bad" school.

What you think of as "good" and "bad" I guess is reputation. Not even ranking, but just reputation. (Most Austrians and I guess Germans make this mistake because they don't really know anything about the U.S. educational system and so they think there are only the Ivies and the rest is not worth mentioning because those must be "bad" schools...) That is NOT the case (and if you spend as much time on research as LongGone and I did - I spent about 6 months on contacting faculty, assessing specializations, talking to professors about my research interests, asking if they were interested and if I fit in etc. --- if you spend that much time on it, you will see that it's completely different than you thought before).

So that's the first tip I can give you: Do research on the schools that interest you. Don't only think of the big names. If you're doing a Master's, then you might not be as rigorous as with a PhD (f.ex. at Columbia - this was my reeeeeeeach school, impossible to get into - they only accepted 2 PhD students; the average age was far over 40 as far as I know and I had not the slightest chance of getting in at all - despite Fulbright, despite 4.0 GPA etc...) I'm just letting you know: competition at ivy league universities is ruthless. And - like the head of our Fulbright department in Austria said - most people overestimate themselves when it comes to this. They think just because they got Fulbright they'll get in everywhere. There is so much competition out there. You have to compete not only with people your age (I assume you're in your 20s), but also with people who are a lot older, have a lot more experience than you do. Also: There were some in my cohort that got accepted at ivies. BUT: Without financial support. So at Columbia for example you can estimate about 80.000 a year. If you can afford that: great! If not - take this factor into consideration.

There are so many people in the world who think that there are only 10 good schools in the U.S. And they all want to get in and will be your competition if you rely on "big names" only. And there's a GOOD chance that some of them will be better than you (not because you're weak - that's not what I'm trying to say, but just because the competition is very hard).

It's early in the morning here and I don't know if I'm making any sense right now. But what I'm trying to say: Do research and select your universities according to ACADEMIC FIT and not according to whether your neighbor will have heard from the school or whether it's an ivy league. This is really the best way. For me: They accepted 4 of the 5 schools I proposed and I got accepted at 4 of them. Other students in my cohort got accepted by only one school (which still can be a great offer and a great fit) - but in the end I had the possibility to choose, others didn't. So the "good" schools are the ones that you fit in, not the highly ranked, not the big names.

Sorry if I'm sounding confused, but I hope you get the idea. I've seen some unhappy people in my cohort because they didn't get into Harvard despite 800/780 GRE, despite 4.0, despite Fulbright and whatnot... Well: That's the competition at Havard. On the other hand, there were people accepted at Harvard with much lower scores, a lower GPA etc... And why? Because the school was a better FIT for them.

[YaelRania]

Thanks for the two replies! Not at all confusing, but very very helpful

In my defense, I also spent a lot of time researching school (not as much as you, but it is also for a Master's), and of course I am kind of hung up on the big names, which is stupid, I know, but I think I got over it. But I totally see your point, and this was great information. It is really dangerous to focus purely on the big names, and I think I definetely still need to downgrade one of my two private choices (I guess in Austria you also have to name three public schools? I feel like this reduces the temptation a bit).

One last question: Do you have any experience with people who indicated that they would like to stay for more than one year?

Thanks!

[Kathiza]

There was no minimum required number of public schools. However, I had three public schools among my top five (because they simply were the best fit for me and for example for Journalism, UMissouri is ranked higher than Columbia - just fyi). Anyway: They told us that IIE won't accept that we only apply to private schools. If I could do it all over again, I would have picked three private and two public schools because of the funding options. Public schools - in my personal experience - currently have problems funding people. (But well... private schools do too currently; UMiami is private and usually they fully fund every PhD student; this year they even accepted some students without funding at all...) If funding is not that important for you, you can decide purely upon academic fit.

And this is the big difference between Austrian and German Fulbright: For Austria, it's a degree earning program. This means we all (hopefully) stay for the whole duration of the degree (Master's or PhD, which means between 2 and 7 years, depending on field and program). In Germany, as far as I know, it's always for one year only with some exceptions... So sorry, I can't help you with that question.

[Kathiza]

What I also wanted to say: Some of the Master's students in my cohort got into ivy leagues. So it's not impossible. But, the head of the Fulbright Commission in Austria (he's been doing this for quite some time, so he knows what he's talking about) keeps telling us: Every single year, there are students who get accepted at several universities: Some great public and private schools with full funding, assistantships or stipends to cover ALL costs, a "free ride" basically. And one "big name" without funding or with insufficient funding. An American wouldn't think twice. They know they're supposed to pick the school that wants them most (i.e. that spends the most money on them). And every single year, at least one or two of the Austrian Fulbrighters cohort decides to go to the "big name" school and pay a 5 or 6 digit sum every single year for his studies (in my cohort I've heard that some are even taking on loans or their families take on loans to be able to afford this). Which means for a PhD you could end up with close to half a million of debt after finishing your degree. And he also tells us that in many cases, those people are the ones that want to change programs after the first year because they see that they were not (really) wanted there, they are unhappy etc.

I'm sorry for writing like 5-page-answers, but I was just like you. I was hung up on the "big names" before I did my research. And I've visited several schools (public, private, ivies etc.) in the U.S. and now I know in many cases the difference can be the name only. You won't get a lesser quality education at a top public school compared to an ivy. Of course your next door neighbors in Germany won't be as impressed by UNC Chapel Hill than by Harvard University, but that's just because he has no idea about the system. This topic is really important to me because I've seen some people in my cohort who were really unhappy with their choices although the IIE chose GREAT schools... But they just didn't recognize them because they thought there were only Harvard, Yale and Columbia.

I don't know if I'll be happy at UMiami. But I know the school is a good fit. There are several profs with the same research interests. Of course that's no guarantee for eternal happiness, but it's at least a good start...

[LongGone]

Thanks for the two replies! Not at all confusing, but very very helpful

In my defense, I also spent a lot of time researching school (not as much as you, but it is also for a Master's), and of course I am kind of hung up on the big names, which is stupid, I know, but I think I got over it. But I totally see your point, and this was great information. It is really dangerous to focus purely on the big names, and I think I definetely still need to downgrade one of my two private choices (I guess in Austria you also have to name three public schools? I feel like this reduces the temptation a bit).

One last question: Do you have any experience with people who indicated that they would like to stay for more than one year?

Thanks!

I don't know what your question really is... If it is the case like in Poland that Fulbright sponsors only one year, and they you are on your own and have to deal financially yourself. and you worry about that you will have to go back home after a year - I dont think it is a problem. Many people who got a Fulbright scholarship get also additional financial support from the school for the following years. You may know that the moment they accept you and inform about funding options. I do not think that Fulbright Comission will "force" you to do MA in one year You just have to check with them.

[YaelRania]

Hi Kathiza and longgone,

Thanks so much for your replies. As you might have guessed, I am a bit confused right now - deadline is next week, and although I spent a lot of time preparing and researching schools, I am totally getting second thoughts about all my choices...Well, guess it is normal.

Longgone, thanks, this was exactly my question. It is the same with Germany... but it is so weird it differs so much in every country, after all for example Germany and Austria do not have that different education systems.

Kathiza, danke, this was really valuable advice. Funding is very much an issue for me, but I think it is slightly different for Germans, because Fulbrighters get a fixed sum between 20 000 and 30 000 dollars. I really did not understand if they apply on financial aid on top of that, or if this is the maximum I could get from both Fulbright and the school, I hope the former.

And I know that there are other great schools besides the big names, it is just so tempting Therefore it is probably quite good I have to name three public ones. Also, Fulbright here always says that they also might place me in schools I did not choose, I think this is actually an advantage as they have all the information, but I do not know how often it happens.

But first they have to like me anyway, so I'll see if it works out.

Have fun in Miami Kathiza, and you too, longgone, although I do not know where you ended up! Probably I'll come back with another question very soon

Edited June 25, 2011 by YaelRania

[Kathiza]

One more thing: Austrian's get a fixed sum of 25.000 from Fulbright. And they apply for additional financial aid from the universities. But for example UMiami has tuition fees + misc fees of roughly 40.000. And then there's the cost of living (about 2.000 per month, so another 24.000/year). So the whole cost of your studies would be around 64.000/year. And you get 25.000 from fulbright. What's with the rest? 39.000 is a LOT of money for me. And if the university only gives you 20.000 (which is a lot already) or even 30.000 - you'd have to come up with the rest of the money yourself. And the thing is: Under a J-1 visa you're not allowed to work off campus and you have to get permission to work on campus (which is not as easy as it sounds, I've heard...). So either the university gives you a job or you have parents who can afford to pay for your education.

[matilda]

Thanks Maankamaank and Kathiza, this was really helpful. From your experience, do you think it will lower my chances if I pick very good schools? Or will they, if they decide that my picks are out of my league, just automatically apply for me at less good universities?

Thanks!!!

Thanks for your help. I am a bit stressed out and it is great to hear from people who survived this all successfully...

Just to answer the first part here: it will not lower your chances. I had Harvard picked as No.1 and Johns Hopkins as No.2. And I got into my No.2 which is the best school in the world for what I like to learn about. I am not an "A" grader, I am not some super Einstein woman, so go for it! Fulbright is the opportunity for you to see and learn subjects that are in most cases non-existent in your homeland. So, any school, and trust me, they do pick well, is a bonus. So many opportunities, so many open doors, and as I said on my interview : every school is a bonus, because I have none of that back home.

Good luck!

[LongGone]

Hi Kathiza and longgone,

Thanks so much for your replies. As you might have guessed, I am a bit confused right now - deadline is next week, and although I spent a lot of time preparing and researching schools, I am totally getting second thoughts about all my choices...Well, guess it is normal.

Longgone, thanks, this was exactly my question. It is the same with Germany... but it is so weird it differs so much in every country, after all for example Germany and Austria do not have that different education systems.

Kathiza, danke, this was really valuable advice. Funding is very much an issue for me, but I think it is slightly different for Germans, because Fulbrighters get a fixed sum between 20 000 and 30 000 dollars. I really did not understand if they apply on financial aid on top of that, or if this is the maximum I could get from both Fulbright and the school, I hope the former.

And I know that there are other great schools besides the big names, it is just so tempting Therefore it is probably quite good I have to name three public ones. Also, Fulbright here always says that they also might place me in schools I did not choose, I think this is actually an advantage as they have all the information, but I do not know how often it happens.

But first they have to like me anyway, so I'll see if it works out.

Have fun in Miami Kathiza, and you too, longgone, although I do not know where you ended up! Probably I'll come back with another question very soon

Yes, they do apply for additional financial aid and also for scholarships that are outside the schools, like some foundations or institutions, who give aid for people who study certain topics. When you apply you have to check if there is additional essay for people who want to get a scholarship, or an assistantship and add this to your application. They will also inform you if the need such assitional materials while applying to the chosen schools. Also, mark on your choice lists the reasons why you want to apply and the scholarships you want to apply for (TA, or other financial aid) so they will know what you want.I have to admit, I aimed at schools that I know I could afford within the limit of Fulbright grant - so that was bit on the safe side. I just dont have any additional dollar to spare. But you certainly have to dream big, because good schools have good financial aid :-) Maybe, knowing what I know now, I would add a famous school to my list, but only one

[YaelRania]

Everyone, thanks again!!!! :-)