Foreign Fulbright 2012 anybody?

[JerusalemS]

Hi Everybody, I noticed that there isn't a Fulbright thread yet for this year for us foreigners, and was wondering if anybody else is biting their nails off waiting for answers from universities and from Fulbright.

Maybe we can worry together, and share useful tips, of what we know and what we don't know.

Any takers?

[TakeruK]

Do you mean the Fulbright Foreign Student Award? I got a notice in January saying that my application has been forwarded to the next stage and that I won't hear from them again until April 15, where the final decisions will be announced.

[Elmirg]

My app was sent to 4 universities,now waiting for the results...Must be out already..Hope to hear something from IIE this week.

Edited March 7, 2012 by Elmirg

[metamorfoz]

I have 6 applications sent and heard from two of them so far. Now waiting for the other results to be announced but as I already got accepted to a department of preference, I feel good right now and no worries

Great topic btw, thanks for it.

A question maybe: How much do you think average Fulbright stipend will be? I know it mostly depends on the State you will be living but any idea? Let's say New York, Florida and Arizona?

[BruceWayne24]

I'm a Fulbright scholar from Germany, but we can actually apply to our preferred universities individually. And our stipend does not vary with the state you'll be living in, but is fixed at $21.500. Some people get better stipends at about $30.000, but they are very, very rare.

[Dea Januari Verina Ismail]

I'm from Indonesia. I have been accepted to UPitt and Brandeis. However, I think Fulbright has allocated a certain budget for every student and unfortunately for me, I have shortfalls to cover and it's not cheap. So.. am waiting for funding. desperately.

[metamorfoz]

Good to find fellow Fulbrighters here!

@Dea, I wish you good luck with the upcoming results. I know they have allocated a certain budget for every student but they have told us that if some Fulbrighters are offered extra scholarship or less tuition (like in-state tuition), they use the rest of the budget to help the others. I remember something like that. You may ask to the commission in Indonesia and see if it is same there. Worth a try!

@BruceWayne24 thanks for the heads up! $21.500 for 10 months I guess.

Where are the other foreign Fulbrighters? Show up and say "Hi"

[JerusalemS]

I've been applied to 4 schools by IIE, and will only hear back once all of them get back to them. I'm scared that the cheapest school will be what Fulbright will pick (simply because it's the worst school of the bunch - and then I might have to cancel the whole thing), so I desperately needs the other schools to offer atleast some form of cost sharing.

So I'm sitting here waiting to hear from them, basically going nuts.

But I will say this, we're all are very lucky for this opportunity. I've said before that it feels like winning the lottery. With similar odds.

[Madrilena25]

Hi there, Im a fulbright grantee from Spain. I applied to schools through the IIE. I've been admitted in two and Im waiting for three more. Good luck guys! All the best

[JerusalemS]

Hey Madrilena, how does it work in Spain? do you hear directly from the schools? do you hear from the IIE as school results come in?

Do you get to choose the school or does he IIE choose for you?

[Madrilena25]

We choose the schools and the IIE submits applications on our behalf. We don't usually hear directly from universities, but in my case NYU contacted me last week, so I guess it depends on the school. Normally, the IIE receives the results and they contact the Fulbright Commission in Spain. The commission forwards us the results. For example, George Washington University released their decisions on March 9 but I received mine yesterday… 11 days later… I’m still waiting for three schools. What about you?

[Madrilena25]

JerusalemS, are you sure you can't pick the school? It doesn't make sense... You should check this but I think it would be too unfair if you can't freely choose the school you wanna attend...

[JerusalemS]

Yep, here the Fulbright comission chooses for you. Ofcourse you can always turn it down and still go to the school once you're accepted, which is what I might do if they decide to send me to a school outside of DC if I get one of the DC schools.

It's just a really long waiting game.

[Dea Januari Verina Ismail]

Today I found out that I've been accepted to AU (SIS) and Clark University. There is still shortfall that I have to cover even after AU awards me with 9 credit remission. But it's better than nothing at all. I hope all of you find out soon enough where you will go to. Keep us posted!

[Dea Januari Verina Ismail]

And I agree the waiting part is the worst possible part of the whole thing. Best of luck, everyone!

[HFH]

So, are fulbright grantees notified when other applicants are? Or do unis give early decisions for fulbrighters?

[metamorfoz]

So, are fulbright grantees notified when other applicants are? Or do unis give early decisions for fulbrighters?

I don't think they give early decisions for fulbrighters although there may be rare exceptions. On the contrary, fulbrighters usually learn later because we can't simply log in to univ. account and check application status or colleges will not send direct mails to us. IIE gets the news first, they forward the result to Fulbright representative in your country and they let you know as soon as possible

[Elmirg]

I got accepted to 2 from 4 univ. Unfortunately,not the the two I wanted to get into...((((

[Dea Januari Verina Ismail]

has anybody made a decision on accepting their offers?

[HFH]

i think that would happen by late april

[alkaff]

Hi there!

I'm also grantees from Indonesia but still stuck in Holland for work. I'm almost freaked out since it's already april but I haven't received any news from IIE and I have to inform my company two months before quitting. Just got email from IIE that I "unofficially" accepted into Northwestern. Any idea why they said unofficially?

I already asked the local representative but as usual I receive no answer *sigh*

[HFH]

It's okay, dont worry. If Northwestern has accepted you, even unofficially, its only a good news

[Babar_Suleman]

Really useful thread. Hope to see it more active. 

 

I got into Carnegie Mellon and Pratt (for studying Design) last year but I declined my acceptances because I wanted to see if I can get funding from the Fulbright program. Luckily, I won the grant and am now waiting to hear back from the four schools the Fulbright committee applied to on my behalf this year (which includes the two I got into last year). Carnegie Mellon is my first choice but the other three schools are great as well. 

Last year, I received acceptance decisions from CMU on March 14 and Pratt on March 24. A friend of mine (who also won the grant) has received a couple of acceptances from his business schools via IIE already.

 

Since I already have a good idea about the decisions-schedule for my design schools, I'm not too vexed about the lack of news but I really hope IIE will forward me the decisions as soon as they come because even one acceptance would put my mind at ease. I took a big risk declining my acceptances last year and I don't want to suffer for that decision. 

 

Good luck to all of you!

[phmhjh85]

Hi everyone! Glad there are many of us here. I just had a disturbing email from amideast ( the IIE equivalent in the middle east) after finishing all applications saying that I have to be patient while they recieve news from all schools and negotiate and then choose for me!! I thought I would get to decide from the acceptances since they already approved those schools to begin with. I am very worried now that my school of choice (johns Hopkins) would accept me and they would send me to my safety school- for example just to save some bucks. I understand how lucky we are for this opportunity that I could have never afforded or went through with it if not for Fulbright but this waiting game and the uncertainty is really draining me. Any one here with a similar experience ? When do I start worrying ? And if the schools I applied on my own want me to decide before Fulbright has contacted me , what then? Good luck everybody with your process

[Babar_Suleman]

Hi everyone! Glad there are many of us here. I just had a disturbing email from amideast ( the IIE equivalent in the middle east) after finishing all applications saying that I have to be patient while they recieve news from all schools and negotiate and then choose for me!! I thought I would get to decide from the acceptances since they already approved those schools to begin with. I am very worried now that my school of choice (johns Hopkins) would accept me and they would send me to my safety school- for example just to save some bucks. I understand how lucky we are for this opportunity that I could have never afforded or went through with it if not for Fulbright but this waiting game and the uncertainty is really draining me. Any one here with a similar experience ? When do I start worrying ? And if the schools I applied on my own want me to decide before Fulbright has contacted me , what then? Good luck everybody with your process

 

The Fulbright committee will decide which school you go to but they will take your preference into account. You will know all your admission decisions though and you might be able to influence where you go. Don't start worrying till the start of April as most schools send their decisions in March. 

Also, if you have the choice to go to your preferred school independently and you'd prefer that over a 'safety' school Fulbright wants you to go to, you should have enough time to make that decision.

 

Basically, hold tight till end of March.