Fulbright 2012-2013

[bdoll]

Well, actually, I meant that I heard that the applicants US-wide are ranked relative to each other (each country separately of course).

Anyone?

Edited for clarity, oops

From what I remember (i can't verify right now because I don't have access to my fulbright folder - i'm at work), students are ranked by their schools (if applying through schools). This ranking is not relative to any other student that the committee is reviewing - it is a stand alone ranking out of 10 or 5, or possibly A-F or something.

Then, fulbright board goes on to decide who is recommended and who is a non-select. They notify all those people and then forward their recommendations to the in-country committees. As part of the recommendation those selected are all ranked in order. So all applicants to germany ETA would be ranked as the IIE sees them, but they would only be ranked against other applicants to germany ETA, not france ETA or spain ETA or greece full grant applicants.

So, recommended applicants are ranked US-wide, but only in relation to their specific program. From what I understand some countries pretty much take the recommendations as they receive them, others have a little bit more debate about it, some may evaluate the applicants without taking the recommendation ranking into account at all. It is within the purview of the in country board. Certain things might not stick out to the IIE board because they do not have high level expertise for every country who hosts Fulbrighters, and that may cause the in-country board not to go with their recommendation. For example, an applicant's research project might be recommended by the IIE, but those in country may find it too sensitive a topic or something.

Edited March 19, 2012 by bdoll

[kelizabeth]

Just coming on here from nervously reading through everyone's post. Thank you for the sanity checks when I needed them and the encouragement of my impatience when I didn't. I'm hoping to be an ETA in Germany.

For some reason, I have this overwhelming feeling that I'm going to get an email (Germany ETA) in the next couple of hours. Crazy, or reasonable? We'll see. If not today, my money's on Thursday.

I have a weird feeling about thursday too... maybe it's a sign.

[KMJE89]

For some reason, I have this overwhelming feeling that I'm going to get an email (Germany ETA) in the next couple of hours. Crazy, or reasonable? We'll see. If not today, my money's on Thursday.

I am torn as to what time I think they will send it: if they send it during normal hours, they may be bombarded all day with E-mails and calls, but if they send it after hours they will just be bombarded the following day. But maybe if they are bombarded the next day they can brace themselves for it a bit more?

I definitely think it will happen this week, but I don't know when. And I am extremely nervous.

[Kexin Renlei]

Thanks, bdoll - exactly what I was wondering. I just wasn't aware that they actually ADMITTED OFFICIALLY that they rank us before sending our applications on to the host programs.

So then the question becomes: Are there any programs that give you any indication of where you stand before they send your application on to the host program??

(By the way, I raise this whole question because of the transparency discussion above. This seems to me the largest black box of the whole process. And I'm sure they have their reasons, but I also think it's legit to question whether those reasons are worth it. Don't Polyanna-out on me here, guys! You know you're curious too!)

[bdoll]

Did you guys see that a Fulbright scholar just died while on her grant?

[legallyproper]

Did you guys see that a Fulbright scholar just died while on her grant?

Sad story it's always dangerous for getting in a vehicle abroad prayers to her family and friends http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2012/03/18/fulbright-scholar-parkville-native-dies-in-a-car-accident-in-morocco/

[kate89]

For some reason, I have this overwhelming feeling that I'm going to get an email (Germany ETA) in the next couple of hours. Crazy, or reasonable? We'll see. If not today, my money's on Thursday.

I had that feeling yesterday about today and no such luck! Obviously I'd rather it be Thursday than Friday or later, but I work all day Thursday and if that's what we're counting on it's going to be a miserable day for me! I'm crossing my fingers for tomorrow or Wednesday!!

[StephanieJ]

I agree and I disagree with this. When we started this process, we WERE all aware that there would be long periods of waiting with no communication with IIE. However, that knowledge doesn't make this process any less frustrating or tortuous.

I think the thing that's important to keep in mind is that IIE is dealing with international committees - many of which are located in developing countries. Anybody who has done work in the developing world knows that things are often less organized, unpredictable, and almost always move at a slower pace than they do here in the US. Consequently, I don't think IIE even knows when the country-specific Fulbright committees will arrive at a decision, except based on past history (which is presumably highly variable). Since they don't have reliable information, the applicants don't have information either. Hopefully IIE is getting their notification letters out within a reasonable timeframe from when they themselves are notified, though one can never be sure. However, it doesn't seem as though calling program officers would significantly delay any part of the process - it's probably just irritating for them.

Nevertheless, 6 months is an excruciatingly long time to wait for a decision that is (for many of us) going to direct the trajectory of our graduate school careers for the next year and (possibly) beyond.

Not even developing countries...Poland is awful about keeping things together. The first time I went there, the embassy lost my passport for a solid month and found it in the mailroom waiting my visa.

[caramel08girl]

ok guys, so this is INSANELY nerdy, but I also did some statistical calculations on notification times. Taking the data from 2010 and 2011 applicants who had response dates recorded on our spreadsheet, I looked at the mean date of notification, the standard deviation (how far, on average, the notification dates are from the mean date), the earliest and latest dates, and the skew for the dataset (indicates whether an outlier or a concentration of responses on the low or high end pull the mean in one direction or another...a negative skew indicates that it is likely that dates past the mean are more likely to cluster closer to the mean than those before, and vice versa). I did an overall analysis, and disaggregated by region.

You can find my results here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArDtL6Kx8D_HdFBERXQxX08zX0FlSXFFQUo0ZzRrRFE#gid=0

So, this might not be too off! Since I was told by the program manger that sub-sah. Africa is generally in April, that is exactly what your stats predicted! And, it looks like early on in April, yay! Maybe I will know what I am doing before graduation day.

thanks for your nerdiness ;-)

[Lia19]

has anyone managed to get jonathan akeley on the phone?

I always ask my FPA whatever questions I have, and she contacts Jonathan directly for me. He will typical always let phone calls go to voicemail, and if it's an FPA he calls them back within 24hrs, same with emails. I think I got one email response from him about a week and a half after I emailed him, and by then I learned that it's quicker to go through my FPA.

Edited because I called him "Jake!"

Edited March 20, 2012 by Lia19

[CairoKid]

Did you guys see that a Fulbright scholar just died while on her grant?

It is very sad and tragic. But I'm sure at least some of you are familiar with the story of Amy Biehl -- a Fulbright scholar in South Africa who was brutally murdered right before what would have been her return home. She was mistakenly seen as a symbol of oppression by whites, but was in fact in SA to study/promote the need for government reform and social equality: http://www.lindavergnani.com/amy-biehl-story.html

[MedievalHistory1124]

Did you guys see that a Fulbright scholar just died while on her grant?

Very sad, indeed.

[rll2866]

I received a notification by email today that I am an alternate for the ETA in Ecuador.

[kbui]

From what I remember (i can't verify right now because I don't have access to my fulbright folder - i'm at work), students are ranked by their schools (if applying through schools). This ranking is not relative to any other student that the committee is reviewing - it is a stand alone ranking out of 10 or 5, or possibly A-F or something.

Then, fulbright board goes on to decide who is recommended and who is a non-select. They notify all those people and then forward their recommendations to the in-country committees. As part of the recommendation those selected are all ranked in order. So all applicants to germany ETA would be ranked as the IIE sees them, but they would only be ranked against other applicants to germany ETA, not france ETA or spain ETA or greece full grant applicants.

So, recommended applicants are ranked US-wide, but only in relation to their specific program. From what I understand some countries pretty much take the recommendations as they receive them, others have a little bit more debate about it, some may evaluate the applicants without taking the recommendation ranking into account at all. It is within the purview of the in country board. Certain things might not stick out to the IIE board because they do not have high level expertise for every country who hosts Fulbrighters, and that may cause the in-country board not to go with their recommendation. For example, an applicant's research project might be recommended by the IIE, but those in country may find it too sensitive a topic or something.

I never knew about this ranking system. With my Vietnamese background, I assume that the Fulbright committee in Vietnam will take these rankings very seriously (since they LOVE putting numbers on students to see how good they are). Hopefully the U.S. was kind when ranking my application. My advisers said that they ranked me "extremely high," so we'll see how far that gets me. I hope the best for others too, has other people heard from their advisers on how they were ranked with the on-campus committee?

*fingers crossed for early notification of acceptance*

[CairoKid]

I never knew about this ranking system. With my Vietnamese background, I assume that the Fulbright committee in Vietnam will take these rankings very seriously (since they LOVE putting numbers on students to see how good they are). Hopefully the U.S. was kind when ranking my application. My advisers said that they ranked me "extremely high," so we'll see how far that gets me. I hope the best for others too, has other people heard from their advisers on how they were ranked with the on-campus committee?

*fingers crossed for early notification of acceptance*

I didn't know about this ranking system either. But I know my advisers said I was the strongest candidate from my school, and I got a letter from the dean saying something about how they were endorsing me as the top candidate. I had no idea what that meant. I hope the U.S. Fulbright board felt similarly, and thus the Turkish commission, as well. =)

[kbui]

I didn't know about this ranking system either. But I know my advisers said I was the strongest candidate from my school, and I got a letter from the dean saying something about how they were endorsing me as the top candidate. I had no idea what that meant. I hope the U.S. Fulbright board felt similarly, and thus the Turkish commission, as well. =)

From the DEAN? Lol, that's a great honor! Congratulations! What school are you from?

[Bessie Reina]

i really hope bulgaria finds out this week.. I am feeling.. thursday....

[junemichelle]

in regard to the ranking---what if you applied at large?

[Kexin Renlei]

Just a gut feeling, nothing more, but...at this point it's hard to imagine that school rankings matter much anymore. Fulbright USA took that info into account, chose us, and sent us off (ranked) to our potential host programs...I really doubt there's a ranking system WITHIN a ranking system. Right??

(Then again, maybe this is just what I'm telling myself since I missed my on-campus deadline for the interview!)

What I really wish is that if I'm the one ranked 70th out of 70 for my program where there are 40 available, that I weren't here pressing refresh 7 times a day and making you all read my soon-to-be-loser postings. I'm just sayin - rankings sure would be useful info.

[akche]

So, this might not be too off! Since I was told by the program manger that sub-sah. Africa is generally in April, that is exactly what your stats predicted! And, it looks like early on in April, yay! Maybe I will know what I am doing before graduation day.

thanks for your nerdiness ;-)

Caramel08girl: maybe I missed it, but where in SSA are you applying? I'm a research applicant to Sierra Leone -- and am similarly going a bit crazy with this wait, despite knowing that we probably won't hear until sometime in April.

[Biz]

I agree with Kexin. At this stage I think the rankings our schools gave us are no longer relevant. They would probably only have impacted us in the first round. And that is where I think it impacts those who apply at-large. They don't get the benefit of having their schools rank them and it's basically like a 4th letter of recommendation (but from the institution) I take it.

However, once we make it to the next round I've heard we're ranked. So all previous rankings would be discarded for the new one. Who knows.

Woooo... let Tuesday begin!

[bdoll]

With my Vietnamese background, I assume that the Fulbright committee in Vietnam will take these rankings very seriously (since they LOVE putting numbers on students to see how good they are).

http://www.aminef.or...d-of-management

This is the board of management for the Fulbright (administrator, AMINEF) in Indonesia. As you can see, there are Americans and Indonesians on there - my feeling is that the highest priority for being appointed to the Indonesian board is expertise in Indonesia, its needs and who would best fulfill those needs within the mission of the Fulbright program. The Fulbright in Vietnam is administered by the Public Affairs Office of the American Embassy in Hanoi - I would be surprised if their board is not similarly comprised.

Edited March 20, 2012 by bdoll

[Busti Bustamante]

So... let me see if I have this correct.

US Fulbright Commission recommends up to 2x the amount of potential Fulbrighters..

If Portugal ETA has 2 grants available and they recommend 2x that amount... I'm 1 OF 4?!

On top of that, we're ranked... :|

Nervous/scary/anxious, much?!?!

[CairoKid]

From the DEAN? Lol, that's a great honor! Congratulations! What school are you from?

Thanks! haha. Though it's probably less impressive considering I go to somewhat of a small liberal arts college. We had a decent number of people apply though.

[mkt123]

http://chronicle.com/article/Top-Producers-of-US/129452/