Fulbright Public Policy Fellowship 2012-2013

[k99jm06]

Hi all, I've been following the Fulbright 2012-2013 thread on and off but have not seen anyone there or in other threads here talking about the Fulbright Public Policy Fellowship. This is the first year for the program, which is geared towards professionals with an advanced degree interested in working with a government ministry on policy issues in one of 11 different countries. More info is available here: http://us.fulbrightonline.org/fulbright-public-policy-fellowships.html

I've applied for a position in Thailand and was recently notified that I have reached the recommended candidate stage. Is there anyone else out there who has applied for this and if yes what kind of feedback have you received so far and where are you hoping to go?

[Venerableladyb]

I only just saw that the fellowship existed and am planning to apply for the 2013-2014 batch. Congrats on being a recommended candidate. What do you think made your application stand out? Have you lived and worked in thailand before and do you speak the language?

[k99jm06]

Hi, glad you discovered this fellowship and I'm wishing you good luck in advance for your application next year. What country are you interested in? I have lived and studied in Thailand previously and have a reasonable level of skill with the language. To be honest, I also think it helped that not too many people seemed to know about this one and therefore I'm competing against a lot fewer candidates than in the standard US student Fulbright program (where I was not recommended when I applied a few years ago).

[smashie]

Hi k99 -

Congrats! If you're comfortable sharing, I'd be really interested to know more about your background. I'm planning to apply in a couple of years (once my wife and I finish judicial clerkships), and am super curious about what the inaugural class will look like. Partly I'm hoping to lay a bit of groundwork between now and 2014 by doing some coursework and/or writing. What kind of background have you got? Any info would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

smashie

Edited March 26, 2012 by smashie

[phoenix12]

I'm with smashie. I am anxious to see the general background of the first class. I was definitely tempted by the fellowship! Maybe next year...

[k99jm06]

So here's an update. I've made it to the next step in the application process. First there was a 30 minute Skype interview with representatives from the US embassy in Thailand, the IIE in the US, and also a Thai citizen Fulbright Alum. The interview was partly in English and partly in Thai. A few days later I was contacted again and told that there would be a follow-up language evaluation in the form of a Thai reading and writing test. That involved reading a short article in Thai, summarizing it in English, and then writing a 1 page commentary on the subject in Thai that needed to be completed in three hours. Suffice to say, they are very serious about host country language fluency for this program! In the interview they mentioned one of the possible job duties as a special assistant in the government ministry could involve policy speech writing in the host language!

As for the questions on my background, I studied in Thailand for seven months as an undergraduate and have been back multiple time since then for travel and work. Most recently I've been working on a dual Master's degree in Urban Planning and Southeast Asian Studies. I would say my language skills are high intermediate.

[Kilosanative]

That is interesting... I had a US Embassy Tunis-US State Dept Skype interview for the Tunisian Program (BTW they State Dept rep said there are 8 grant countries this go round not the 11 listed on the website) and then they asked for my CV to send to the US Embassy Tunis... Now I am in a holding pattern ... Fingers are crossed!

[k99jm06]

Hi! Great to finally hear from someone who is applying for the fellowship this year! DId they give you any more info on when they might try to notify you or when exactly the pre-departure orientation would be? They really couldn't give me any dates at all except that the D.C. orientation would probably be sometime in August.

[evginny]

Hi!  Great to read your comments about the FPPF.  I too have applied for a fellowship in Samoa and made it past round one of the interview process.  I have my phone interview tomorrow afternoon and am curious to know what kind of questions they will ask.  Any tips on what I should prepare for?  Samoa's language requirement is English, so I will be ok on that front.  Just wondering if the interview is to further access my skills, interests and abilities - or is it to test my knowledge on Samoan government and policies.  

[smashie]

I applied to Malawi this year, but haven't interviewed yet. I hope you'll post some info about your interview - I'm curious about the same things you mentioned. Break a leg!

[smashie]

People who interviewed - did you find a way to send thank you notes to the interviewers after?