Fulbright 2012-2013

[jaymee]

Hi everyone,

First time poster here, although like others I did lurk quite a bit at the 2011-12 forum psyching myself out a little. I'm applying for an ETA in Andorra. I feel like I have a decent shot (? ...currently enrolled in a TESOL master's program, have a background in Spanish and French) but I do feel like something's missing...some kind of "punch." Maybe it's similar to what Magdalena & Quepee were discussing: a really clear reason WHY Andorra specifically relates to my extracurricular interests. I mentioned my interest in learning Catalan, as well as having time to make creative work (studied art in undergrad), but I don't feel like either of those things really show "integration into the community" or "fostering cross-cultural understanding." It's just a cool place to do that stuff. Does that make sense?

Anyway, thanks for hearing me out. Good luck and I'll be checking in!

jaymee

Edited August 31, 2011 by jaymee

[busti06]

dynamutt - I have a background as a student mentor and my advisor did advise to possibly begin a mentoring program or add on to previous mentoring programs that may already be in place... I'm being told there should be a clear reason why that country as opposed to any other... That's where I'm having some difficulty...

[spinnergal]

I am putting in for a full grant to Croatia. I hadn't realized they cut the number of grants down from 5 to 3 this year. I am getting a little stressed about the whole thing.

[wlcoyle]

my campus deadline was today!!! Application "finished" and submitted! Good luck everyone!

[Jumat]

my campus deadline was today!!! Application "finished" and submitted! Good luck everyone!

Must be a nice feeling! We also have a campus deadline at my university. My advisor says this is well ahead of the national deadline so he'll have a chance to go over all the parts of our applications and then give us a chance to make edits before we submit to Fulbright.

To all the stressed folks - hang in there, keep revising, but make time to relax and hang out with friends too.

[clover123]

Hi everyone. I'm an international student from India, and planning to apply for my masters to the US for Fall 2012. Am I eligible to apply for a Fullbright scholarship? How do I go about it?

Any info would be really appreciated

[Dynamom]

dynamutt - I have a background as a student mentor and my advisor did advise to possibly begin a mentoring program or add on to previous mentoring programs that may already be in place... I'm being told there should be a clear reason why that country as opposed to any other... That's where I'm having some difficulty...

Possible lead: I googled "at risk youth in portugal" and came across a doc stating, "Portugal is in a particularly vulnerable position in what concerns education, particularly for disadvantaged children and youth with higher levels of failure and early school leaving." They reference the Eurostat (Education, Internet metadata file).

Good luck!

[cxxxxxx]

Hi everyone. I'm an international student from India, and planning to apply for my masters to the US for Fall 2012. Am I eligible to apply for a Fullbright scholarship? How do I go about it?

Any info would be really appreciated

Hi, this may help you...

http://us.fulbrightonline.org/program_regions_world.html

[busti06]

dynamutt: Thank you so much!! I'll be sure to check it out!!

[acg]

Anyone applying to a "Near East" country? Sent my application in to my university yesterday! Now if only we could fast forward until the end of January

[strgrl522]

Has anyone been attending the webinars? Do they teach you anything new that you can't find by obsessively reading the website? I work full-time so I'm unable to make them...

I can't believe it's practically mid-September already!

[jcarp]

does anyone know if using headers in one's proposal/personal statement document is a major problem??? I know it says not to cause it might not upload, but I have no problem previewing my documents when they have headers. anybody with experience/insight into this?? any help is much appreciated, thanks!

[wlcoyle]

I had my on campus interview today...((shew))) glad that is over. But I think it went well!!! ((crosses fingers and waits...))

Has anyone been attending the webinars? Do they teach you anything new that you can't find by obsessively reading the website? I work full-time so I'm unable to make them...

I can't believe it's practically mid-September already!

I attended the general Q&A for Europe. It was pretty long and most of the questions being asked were not relavent to me or they could have been answered on the website. If you are reading the website carefully I think you should be fine. Just ask your campus FPA if you have any other specific questions.

does anyone know if using headers in one's proposal/personal statement document is a major problem??? I know it says not to cause it might not upload, but I have no problem previewing my documents when they have headers. anybody with experience/insight into this?? any help is much appreciated, thanks!

I agree that it doesn't seem to be an upload problem however, it may be a "following directions" type of issue. I REALLY wanted those 3 extra lines for content but they did say not to make your personal info in the header so I decided that I would just follow what they said. I really don't' know if it is an issue but if I were reading a document, I can tell what is in the header and what is in the body so...I guess use your best judgment.

Edited September 13, 2011 by wlcoyle

[lkjl2007]

I am completing final edits on my application for ETA Germany before I submit it (for the first time) to my campus committee. I just read some advice regarding the personal statement and statement of grant purpose that said (among other things):

"Avoid explicit statements of religious witness. The Fulbright Commission is a government agency, and cannot take religious affiliation into consideration. Your essay is short; do not waste space including things that the Fulbright Commission is not allowed to consider. "

This totally makes sense. However, somewhat integral to my interest in Germany is the experience of modern-day Germany as an American Jew, and wanting part of what I bring back to the US after my experience as an ETA to be an ability to dispel some of the stereotypes and prejudices my community holds about Germany. You know, that whole cross-cultural exchange thing? I'm into it. But now I'm unsure if explaining that (and thus revealing my religious affiliation) is going to help or hurt my application. I discuss it briefly in my statement of grant purpose.

Does anyone have any thoughts? Help--it's a bit urgent!

[jaymee]

Hi,

My first thought-- coming from a place of not having any authority on this whatsoever (sorry!)-- is that you are talking more about your *ethnic/cultural* identity rather than religious affiliation. I know that sounds counterintuitive since Judaism is a religion, but it's not like you'll be proselytizing or inflecting your English lessons with the Torah or anything. My impression is that's what they mean by "religious witness"-- so maybe if you emphasize the *cultural* aspects of your experience as an American Jew, that would fly, especially since it does seem to totally fit with the whole cross-cultural exchange thing.

Good luck!

[Dynamom]

I agree that prostelytizing is probably the issue, but also have no authority. We have campus interviews next week - I'll ask.

A lot of my volunteer and teaching experience is in church, so I included that in my personal statement and in the application... which I submitted today

Plus, I grew up in a meditation ashram (mom is a hippie), so stuff about that is in my personal statement, too. I don't believe the religious part anymore, but there's a lot to learn from growing up in a communal environment. Sorry if that's prostelytizing.

I listened in on the webinar yesterday, it was actually helpful - I was planning to submit a letter of affiliation from a Professor in Spain (am applying to Spain ETA). They said that's a "BIG NO." It's a tough competition, I was kind of hoping for something to boost my app, but I guess that won't be it!

[jcarp]

I had my on campus interview today...((shew))) glad that is over. But I think it went well!!! ((crosses fingers and waits...))

I attended the general Q&A for Europe. It was pretty long and most of the questions being asked were not relavent to me or they could have been answered on the website. If you are reading the website carefully I think you should be fine. Just ask your campus FPA if you have any other specific questions.

I agree that it doesn't seem to be an upload problem however, it may be a "following directions" type of issue. I REALLY wanted those 3 extra lines for content but they did say not to make your personal info in the header so I decided that I would just follow what they said. I really don't' know if it is an issue but if I were reading a document, I can tell what is in the header and what is in the body so...I guess use your best judgment.

Thanks. I called the Fulbright people today and they said that it is fine to use headers, so long as you check that the formating is OK. With that in mind, go crazy and add four extra lines! A tip they gave me for avoiding formating errors with the upload is to first save your word document as a PDF and THEN upload your PDF essay into the embark application--this way the text will be less likely to shift.

[cxxxxxx]

Has anyone been attending the webinars? Do they teach you anything new that you can't find by obsessively reading the website? I work full-time so I'm unable to make them...

I can't believe it's practically mid-September already!

I attended a webinar and I found it really useful, definitely join in if you can!

[rkirk012]

I'm applying for a Morocco ETA and I suppose this is a relatively new program. Does anyone have any insight as to how competitive Morocco is compared to other MENA countries?

I've studied French for quite some time, have some experience teaching both English and French, and I'm writing my undergraduate research thesis on Algeria and France, so I'm hoping those things will help me. Quite nervous for the interview in two weeks but campus deadline was yesterday and I'm glad the bulk of the work is over...

[sebastiany]

For anyone who is applying for one of the Near East and Africa countries, Fulbright is hosting a webinar with Jermaine Jones from 2-4PM EST today: https://www2.gotomee...ister/789860531

The Fulbright Program actually has these kinds of webinars fairly often, and the info is useful in the application process. I find out about them by following on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#.../FulbrightPrgrm

How far along is everyone in the application process? I just joined the forum recently... this is my first post.

Hi, this is my first post~! I wish I had known about the webinars earlier- anything noteworthy? I am apply for the ETA scholarship in Bahrain and am trying to get my statements together! I've had the application process in mind for awhile but have been unable to really start writing till now (had a baby~).

Does it seem that there are many applying for the Near East region this year? I wasn't sure if the whole Arab Spring would make the applicants soar or dwindle.

I AM LOOKING FOR ADVICE FOR PERSONAL STATEMENTS! Awesome forum btw~

Arielle

[Dynamom]

ok - has anyone else had the campus interview? It was really odd... me + 4 panelists = several extended intervals of silence... I couldnt seem to connect with them. Now I'm officially insecure about my app. From the comments I'm not certain they read my essays very carefully, but they did make some helpful suggestions based on the conversation. Is that an indication of how the national committee operates?

How are post-interview revisions going for you guys?

[strgrl522]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone have back up plans in case the Fulbright doesn't come through? I know the odds are against us for some of the countries.

Best of luck to everyone who has submitted/is about to submit!

[strgrl522]

ok - has anyone else had the campus interview? It was really odd... me + 4 panelists = several extended intervals of silence... I couldnt seem to connect with them. Now I'm officially insecure about my app. From the comments I'm not certain they read my essays very carefully, but they did make some helpful suggestions based on the conversation. Is that an indication of how the national committee operates?

How are post-interview revisions going for you guys?

I haven't had my campus interview yet, but judging from those of previous applicants from my school, I was under the impression that the interview was just a way for you to obtain feedback about your application as well as ensure that you know what you're talking about. They *may* write an an evaluation, but I don't think it affects what you submit to IIE. At least that's how I've always heard it explained...

[sebastiany]

Is everyone putting paragraph indentations in their statements? It makes it so much more readable but it does take up space..

[strgrl522]

ok - has anyone else had the campus interview? It was really odd... me + 4 panelists = several extended intervals of silence... I couldnt seem to connect with them. Now I'm officially insecure about my app. From the comments I'm not certain they read my essays very carefully, but they did make some helpful suggestions based on the conversation. Is that an indication of how the national committee operates?

How are post-interview revisions going for you guys?

Hah, so I didn't realize the extent of the interview... it hasn't come up in conversation until now as we near my campus deadline. Turns out the interviewers have to comment on 6 categories of your application, and rank the applicant on a scale of 1 to 4, with 1 being the best score. That feedback goes to the Fulbright Review Committee alongside your application, but you also receive feedback to fine-tune your application before official submission.

I'm sure you did fine, they were probably trying to be standoffish and "professional" as they'll need to objectively rate your application. I feel that the National Committee does invest time in reading applicant materials, but given the thousands of applications they receive, I doubt they'd pore over it the way we do If they don't, it's ironic based on all the darn questions we have to answer! ha.

I don't know what to expect for my interview next week. I am concerned for the Spanish component, as I have the awesome tendency of blanking/stumbling when I'm nervous. And I'm going to be hella nervous!

It kinda blows my mind how involved this whole process is, with the essays, online form, and campus interview to boot. It's so hard to go through all these steps and obsess over every word, only to turn it over to chance and hope for the best.