Fulbright 2009-2010

[water_rabbit]

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[rugby]

Any idea whether India notifications were send at the same time as Bangladesh?

Thank you.

Just curious, are you waiting on a Research or ETA grant?

[water_rabbit]

I am waiting on an ETA.

Just curious, are you waiting on a Research or ETA grant?

[Albanski]

When I called charles two days ago, he said another two week waiting time for India!

[summernights77kt]

ok so i'm a Germany ETA applicant who has been creeping around this discussion since there were like 4 posts up (whether or not this was ethical is a question for another discussion topic).

the main reason for my "shyness" is that while everyone in the discussion was posting good news (congrats of course!) or venting about the rigors of the waiting process (something which we've all experienced to some degree at this point in the game), MY Fulbright letterS served to repeatedly remind me that I was named an ALTERNATE for the opportunity that we are all so passionate and excited about. so while other people on the board contemplated grad programs or what was actually meant by the oh-so-vague acceptance emails and medical forms, I sat around wishing I had been flat-out rejected so that I could move on with my life.

and we wonder why there aren't more people who post rejections - maybe I'm not as brave as some others on this board, but I had trouble coming to terms with the alternate notification, so I can only imagine how someone who received a rejection would feel about re-typing the news when the last thing they probably want to do is think about everything Fulbright put them through over the past 10390 months.

people posted that most alternates eventually received notification, that we have a 1/3 chance, that we have less than a 1/3 chance...while these odds seem to be steadily declining, I am here to write that if you are reading this and you are wondering what to think about your alternate status, YOU DO HAVE A CHANCE!

just as I began making plans for the upcoming year (looking for a place to stay, looking for roommates, etc) I received an email. the email was from Ines Horbert in Berlin. and it told me I was moved onto the principle list.

I write this for two reasons. first, as a thank you to everyone on this discussion board who has kept me company and shared (and continues to share) the roller coaster of an emotional experience that Fulbright has put us on over the last several months. may everyone out there continue to contribute to painting as complete a picture as possible for everyone else waiting for news or clarification.

second, I write this as a message of hope to the nameless and faceless alternates out there who have been asking themselves whether they'll ever hear back from their respective countries. the alternates who are hesitant about "moving on" with their lives out of fear that as soon as they commit to another opportunity, they'll end up hearing back about the fellowship. YOU HAVE A CHANCE. don't stop looking into plan Bs, Cs, and Ds, but don't stop holding on to the possibility that the Fulbright people will come to their senses and make up their minds on your application. we're all rooting for you guys.

I'm glad you finally decided to make a post and a worthwhile one at that. I know I've been terribly worried about getting a alternate status. For the longest time I felt like a rejection would be much better that way I can move on with my life but I want this Fulbright so badly that it would be much more heartbreaking to get a rejection than to have at least hope by being an alternate. Good luck to you- I really hope that you get it and sounds like you're a good position by being on the principle list.

[Albanski]

I suspect that saturday or monday, people will be less anxious once they get some letters. That is the beauty of this forum, that we are all in this together. I think all of us want this fulbright so bad! We should join forces and write a letter to the State department urging them to hurry up!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dreydenn]

I suspect that saturday or monday, people will be less anxious once they get some letters. That is the beauty of this forum, that we are all in this together. I think all of us want this fulbright so bad! We should join forces and write a letter to the State department urging them to hurry up!!!!!!!!!!!

Indeed. And in the meantime, I think I'll go just a bit mad. :-)

[cschields]

I just checked my email and saw "U.S. Fulbright Program" in my inbox. My heart skipped a beat and I nervously clicked on the message. Turns out to be an advertisement for next year's program. I think they should have a law against doing things like that.

Ah, how I feel your pain.

After much speculation about envelope size, etc., you can imagine my delight when I saw a large manila envelope sticking awkwardly out of my mail slot. Delight, yes, but also anxiety; months and months of nerves compounded into one sweeping crescendo...all of this was going to be over! My hands were shaking too much to even open the envelope. I fumble into the elevator, still pawing desperately at the tape, tearing, prying.

And, finally, the letter emerges.

The first word: "Congratulations!"

The next words...blah, blah, something, blah about graduation at my college.

I'm still recovering from this false alarm. I can't believe, after months...nay, YEARS of not receiving a large manila envelope, one happened to arrive today. The one week I happen to be expecting, that's right, a large manila envelope. And it's not the large manila envelope I want.

I can at least say that, even if I don't get the Fulbright, I knew how excited I would have been to receive it.

[Albanski]

so when you get the prized manila envelope, what does the letter inside actually say. I understand they give you some medical forms, but how bout research forms,( for any of you research grants). What do you expect next after you send the medical? Do they make you wait seven more months? (I wouldnt be surpised)

Does anyone know? (Not that I recieved anything in the mail yet..still waiting....)

[samma]

so when you get the prized manila envelope, what does the letter inside actually say. I understand they give you some medical forms, but how bout research forms,( for any of you research grants). What do you expect next after you send the medical? Do they make you wait seven more months? (I wouldnt be surpised)

Does anyone know? (Not that I recieved anything in the mail yet..still waiting....)

I think it depends on the country. There is a person at my school who got a grant to Indonesia and most of hers was done online. For me, I got a letter saying they accepted me, that my grant is contingent upon completing the medial form and sending in the official grant acceptance form that I should get sometime soon from Argentina, and a lot of stuff about how Fulbright was so great. :wink: There was also the medical form, instructions for completing it, and a reminder to send transcripts to IIE when I graduate. I think that was about it. This was for an ETA so it may be different for research grants and between different countries.

For now, I am supposed to wait for more information from Argentina. That was about a month ago... but my grant doesn't start until March 2010 so I am not really worried about it. I'm sure if your grant starts in September they will be much faster.

[schenkgrant]

Oh my goodness, I'm so excited to hear from someone else applying to SL. Where have you been hiding?? I'm proposing a psychology research project looking at meditation based therapy for people with depression. If I get the FB, I'll be in Kandy. I'm affiliating with a professor at the University of Peradeniya in Kandy. I am also affiliating with an NGO focusing on mental health called Basic Needs. I speak Tamil, but it's Indian Tamil and I've been warned that Sri Lankan tamil is very different. I don't know any Sinhala (except for "Ayubowan" which means hello ).

What about you? What, where, with whom? How badly do you wanna go to SL? I pretty much have all my hope pinned on this Fulbright to SL. I'm gonna be CRUSHED if don't get it. I guess we'll find out very, very soon!!

REALLY?!?!? I cannot believe that. I'm affiliating with a professor at the University of Peradeniya in Kandy too!!!! Professor Asoka Dangolla! So I'd be in the same location, at the same University. Craziness. If I received the Fulbright I would be working to combat the monkey menace terrorizing the cities of Sri lanka, specifically the Torque Macaque species. I would be working locally capturing, translocating and monitoring primates, as well as trying to working with local communities in finding ways to implement means of deterring this species away from their villages and pattys without harming the viability of the species since it is a threatened endemic species, which can provide economically by means of ecotourism and other routes if a balance can be struck between human and primate livelihood (actually - all endemic primate species in Sri Lanka are either threatened or outright endangered, its a huge problem with little work being done on it)

I only speak English but am actively trying to pick up Sinhala, and know no Tamil (hearing you know it already put your proposal ahead of mine in the ranks!)

As for how badly I want go to to Sri Lanka, you have no idea. I am getting sick to my stomach daily with worry of rejection! I am not going on to Grad school because i focused all my attention on the Fulbright that I put off taking GREs and I NEED this to go through. I have done primate research in Buffalo, NY the last couple years and am graduating in psychology/anthropology/animal behavior/ zoo biology - so this is my passion. I have no alternatives right now if I don't get it and so this is one of the scary endeavors I have ever undertaken. I also am becoming a military girlfriend this summer - my boyfriend is accepting a position as a US Navy Flight Officer, and so the Fulbright will ease his being away at training and active duty. I have worked for everything I have ever been able to accomplish so receiving a Fulbright would be such an accomplishment.

[boethian]

ok so i'm a Germany ETA applicant ... just as I began making plans for the upcoming year (looking for a place to stay, looking for roommates, etc) I received an email. the email was from Ines Horbert in Berlin. and it told me I was moved onto the principle list.

Jesus, I hope this only exists for ETA applicants...

[boethian]

apparently every year extra money opens up in late spring, so some alternates get a grant because of newly available grants, not because a grantee turned down the Fulbright (this might only apply to research grants, but I'm not sure). both my advisor and the notification letter said this. of course this year isn't like every other year, with the recession and all, so i'm guessing the chances are less than 1/3 this year.

well, again it would be nice if someone actually has some data. my advisor said last year at my school 8 got fulbrights, and 3 were alternates. 3/8=37.5% of people who get it are alternates. this is *not* the chances of getting a fulbright given you are an alternate. i don't know how many alternates there were, but the worst case is that there were ~15, giving 3/15=20% chance of alternates get it. the two huge caveats for this are that (1) all these people are from the same school, and (2) the sample is tiny. so i'm sure it's not that indicative. it would be nice to have more numbers to look at.

[nemolover]

Jesus, I hope this only exists for ETA applicants...

what?! why would you say that?! i hope that alternates for BOTH research and ETA get the opportunity to be bumped up to a principle grantee!!

also, for alternates: the Fulbright advisor here said that there is a "second round" of funding in May and June. when i asked if this additional money would not open up this year due to the economic situation, she said that this money was earmarked before the crisis. she said she asked IIE about this issue before, and they promised that this additional funding would still be available. so maybe some of us alternates do have a chance?? personally, i keep swinging back and forth between utterly devastated and slightly hopeful. i really don't know what to do...

where the 1/3 figure came from: the advisor at my university said this is the average percentage of alternates who end up getting a grant from my university every year, and she's been the advisor here for several years. my school has about 60-90 people applying each year, so i guess that's a slightly bigger sample size.

[nemolover]

PS: if any of you Nepal research grantees out there are engineers or scientists, kudos to you for overcoming Nepal's not-explicitly-stated preferences! i found a list of all the Nepal grantees ever, and out of the 100 grantees, there was ONLY ONE engineer, and only three natural scientists (and they were all ecology/environmental studies, no biology, chemistry, physics, etc). and that lone engineer won the grant ten years ago. i wonder if being an engineer seriously hurt my chances for Nepal... ugh i wanted this so badly. being an alternate is so painful. :'(

[Johanna]

Does anyone with an ETA in Germany know which Bundesstaat they've been placed in yet?

Also, regarding accepting the grant, has anyone gotten any confirmation that their acceptance has been received? From either Fulbright or PAD?

Good luck to all you guys still waiting! Hang in there and thanks for all the support over the past weeks and months.

[boethian]

what?! why would you say that?! i hope that alternates for BOTH research and ETA get the opportunity to be bumped up to a principle grantee!!

Because I'm research and did not receive an email. If there is principle status for research, then I'm not on it. If there isn't, then I could potentially have better chances.

[nemolover]

Because I'm research and did not receive an email. If there is principle status for research, then I'm not on it. If there isn't, then I could potentially have better chances.

principle = winner. the principle list is not an intermediate list between alternate and grantee; there is no intermediate list. a principle is a grantee.

[unruhestifter]

principle = winner. the principle list is not an intermediate list between alternate and grantee; there is no intermediate list. a principle is a grantee.

just to clarify - the German Fulbright Commission emailed me from Berlin informing me that my status as an applicant had been changed from "alternate" to "principal" (not "principle," which I had originally written and which may have caused some confusion - in my excitement I used the wrong word in my post).

anyway, when informing the Germany ETAs of whether or not they have been awarded the grants or not, it appears that the German Fulbright Commission has used the term "principals" for initial recipients of the grant and "alternates" for the names initially placed on the waiting list, at least for ETAs. alternates have a chance at being bumped up if a principal candidate drops out or if more funding becomes available, a scenario mentioned by nemolover regarding the "'second round' of funding" (btw nemolover - the insider info from your advisor has been very interesting - thanks!).

hope that clarifies things ... I'm not even sure if this language is used outside of the German Fulbright Commission, so take it for what it is.

[nemolover]

also, for alternates: the Fulbright advisor here said that there is a "second round" of funding in May and June. when i asked if this additional money would not open up this year due to the economic situation, she said that this money was earmarked before the crisis. she said she asked IIE about this issue before, and they promised that this additional funding would still be available.

i just got an email from the director of the Fulbright Commission in Nepal that contradicts the above information. he said, "Last year the situation was completely different, as there was additional money that we received at the last minute. This year, that is extremely unlikely to happen." but he's in Kathmandu, not in New York. and my advisor talked to the IIE people in New York. so to be honest, i now have no idea what to think. the rational part of me is inclined to believe the guy in Nepal, but the part of me filled with hopes and dreams wants to believe my advisor... yeah, i probably believe the Fulbright director in Nepal. our chances as alternates are probably lower this year. :cry:

i feel like there are very few alternates sharing any information. and i know you're out there!! please share your wisdom with us. i could use some support from other alternates.

[summernights77kt]

REALLY?!?!? I cannot believe that. I'm affiliating with a professor at the University of Peradeniya in Kandy too!!!! Professor Asoka Dangolla! So I'd be in the same location, at the same University. Craziness. If I received the Fulbright I would be working to combat the monkey menace terrorizing the cities of Sri lanka, specifically the Torque Macaque species. I would be working locally capturing, translocating and monitoring primates, as well as trying to working with local communities in finding ways to implement means of deterring this species away from their villages and pattys without harming the viability of the species since it is a threatened endemic species, which can provide economically by means of ecotourism and other routes if a balance can be struck between human and primate livelihood (actually - all endemic primate species in Sri Lanka are either threatened or outright endangered, its a huge problem with little work being done on it)

I only speak English but am actively trying to pick up Sinhala, and know no Tamil (hearing you know it already put your proposal ahead of mine in the ranks!)

As for how badly I want go to to Sri Lanka, you have no idea. I am getting sick to my stomach daily with worry of rejection! I am not going on to Grad school because i focused all my attention on the Fulbright that I put off taking GREs and I NEED this to go through. I have done primate research in Buffalo, NY the last couple years and am graduating in psychology/anthropology/animal behavior/ zoo biology - so this is my passion. I have no alternatives right now if I don't get it and so this is one of the scary endeavors I have ever undertaken. I also am becoming a military girlfriend this summer - my boyfriend is accepting a position as a US Navy Flight Officer, and so the Fulbright will ease his being away at training and active duty. I have worked for everything I have ever been able to accomplish so receiving a Fulbright would be such an accomplishment.

It's absolutely crazy how similar our interests are. I have so much to say, I'm gonna email you. I really hope we're both successful in getting the fulbright!

[summernights77kt]

i feel like there are very few alternates sharing any information. and i know you're out there!! please share your wisdom with us. i could use some support from other alternates.

I agree. I know there are a lot of you out there who read the forum but don't make posts. I'm sure you have similar experiences that would be very helpful for people to hear. So start posting please!

[wdia]

Anyone get a letter for the Netherlands yet?

[cschields]

Anyone get a letter for the Netherlands yet?

Nope...I was hoping it would come today. Mail should arrive in a couple of hours.

[wdia]

I live in NY (just outside the city). No Netherlands letter today. This is just cruel.