Foreign Fulbright student AY2013-2014

[phmhjh85]

After reading threads from previous years , I realized how grueling the process will be even for those of us who are already nominated and passed the Fulbright application process

So far all I have seen are American students , mainly ETAs sharing tips and I believe the process is totally different and much harder for us who either want to Pursue graduate education in the states or are FLTAs

I hope we can use this space for support and advice regarding the long road ahead

Please share your experience and information regarding :

Toefl

GRE preparation and test scores

Applications process

Universities

SOP

Acceptance or rejections

IIE responses ...etc

And hopefully at some point we can exchange tips about visa , accommodations and travel plans

Good luck every one

[zeynep6]

I'm going to be applying for Fulbright scholarship this year for grad school in the US. Can anyone share their experiences?

[flip-a]

Hey there, I'm also applying for a Fulbright scholarhip this year (I'm from Portugal) - would be great to hear some advice or just share the experience!

When are your applications due/in what part of the process are you at the moment?

[Psych2013]

Hi!

 

I am also a fulbright nominee. I am eagerly waiting to start receiving news from my schools.. especially since interview invitations should be starting early this month... Has anyone received any news from their schools here? 

[phmhjh85]

I have just started finishing applications since my chosen masters programs have later deadlines. ( Mostly late Jan) I am so dreading the waiting game once I finish all my apps and have nothing to distract me from worrying

Does anyone know if having a Fulbright can compensate for incomplete app by deadline ( My GRE results are delayed due to name problems )?

[Psych2013]

zeynep6 - Can you still appy for this years fulbright in your country? what psychology programs are you looking into?

 

sarah859 - haha the waiting is horrible! I guess IIE might be able to negotiate that, but arent they applying on your behalf?

[lillahund]

Today is January 7, 2013. I applied for a Fulbright in October 2012. Should I be worried?

[chaetzli]

I am a Fulbright Foreign Student Scholarship 2013-2014 grantee. If you have any questions regarding the application process, just PM me. I am happy to help!

[phmhjh85]

Now my gre results are thankfully up and reached Schools (at least JH Says so)

And the last App will be finished tomorrow thus the waiting games really start.

Has anyone heard from Schools with earlier deadlines?

I am an obcessive worrier ,So it is really hard for me when that much is on Stake here !!

I Keep thinking About doing one of those dreadful "what are my chances?" Posts .

l Know nobody Can give You an Answer to that question except may be the Admission office at the university, but the process is just Sooo looooong!! I don't Know about you guys but I started my application last February So....

Anyway.-ignore this post it is for venting purposes I had the roughest month of my life. [swamped at Work, Master Exams, GRE, Toe fl, Applications and a breakup ,though that was actually for the best]

Good luck you all and if anybody is applying this year and questions please PM as well I would happy to share anything I can and don't worry,I am not usually that crazy.

[Babar_Suleman]

Just wanted to contribute my experience:


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!

[Greenarg]

Hi there!

Getting in touch a little late.

I am kind of a particular fulbrighter since I share a Fulbright and Argentinean National Presidential Cabinet Award.

Slightly different to the traditional fulbright scheme, applying through IIE, we had to apply by our selves with some overview from LASPAU.

Luckily addimisions ruled ok, and we are now in the definition stages.

Stipends will vary case on case, so negotiations will be harsh...

 

How are you all on choices? Are other fulbright programmes flexible in allowing personal choices?

[Babar_Suleman]

They do account for preferences but, ultimately, it's up to them which school we go to.

[phmhjh85]

So did anybody hear any decsions so far? I only heard from my top choice - one program Fulbright applied to and another as self-application ( only knew through the applyyourself website)

I tried pushing for an earlier decision them but let's just say the response was not ideal. They do understand the long beaurocratic process they have, but they have no idea the kind of beaurocracy I have here in my country and my current job. Not to mention Visa procedure, apartment hunting , booking a flight at a reasonable price..

My dream program- to which I was accepted- starts in the Summer and with less than 10 weeks, I have no clue if I am going to make it or not so I am puzzled now whether to be ecstatic that I was accepted or continue my miserable existance in Limbo!

[mpumie]

hi 2014/ 2015 nominee cycle here. can anyone tell or advice me on when I can receive notification on my Fulbright status.the last step we did was in September when we sent in our dossiers to the American Embassy. I have been told IIE does not correspond with us directly.....this waiting is torture

[Istoleart]

I'm so angry I couldn't finish my application for a Fulbright. The process was so similar to applying for graduate school! My advice: start early. It's well worth the effort and helps the grad applications.

 

 

hi 2014/ 2015 nominee cycle here. can anyone tell or advice me on when I can receive notification on my Fulbright status.the last step we did was in September when we sent in our dossiers to the American Embassy. I have been told IIE does not correspond with us directly.....this waiting is torture

 A friend of mine was a Fulbright Student and he said he didn't get his money and award until September when he's one-year into his PhD program.

[mpumie]

thanks Istoleart , what country was your friend applying from?

I'm so angry I couldn't finish my application for a Fulbright. The process was so similar to applying for graduate school! My advice: start early. It's well worth the effort and helps the grad applications.

 

 

 A friend of mine was a Fulbright Student and he said he didn't get his money and award until September when he's one-year into his PhD program.

[Istoleart]

He's canadian

[marsmat]

Hi all!

 

I was informed in December that I am nominated for a Fulbright scholarship for the first year of my masters in the US. As far as I understand, this nomination has to be confirmed by the central Fulbright board in the US which I also think is mostly a formality, since the board in my country have already informed me of nomination. However, the system seems a little different here. We apply independently to universities and then just notify Fulbright of our acceptance and where we choose to enrol. If you have any questions about the Fulbright application process, the interview or anything else, let me know. I will try to help out!

[mpumie]

just received an email from IIE, they have selected 4 schools including one which was my choice.so am back to writing essays again.it really seems the procedures vary with each country.

Hi all!

 

I was informed in December that I am nominated for a Fulbright scholarship for the first year of my masters in the US. As far as I understand, this nomination has to be confirmed by the central Fulbright board in the US which I also think is mostly a formality, since the board in my country have already informed me of nomination. However, the system seems a little different here. We apply independently to universities and then just notify Fulbright of our acceptance and where we choose to enrol. If you have any questions about the Fulbright application process, the interview or anything else, let me know. I will try to help out![/quote

I will thanks...

[elisewin]

hi guys--another Fulbrighter here! From Spain and accepted so far in the only university the IIE chose for me. I only had a certain level of control over one application: Harvard. The rest, I don't even know the password or username.

[SgtP3pp3r]

Hey,

 

I'm a Fulbright nominee from Honduras. I'm applying thru the Fulbright-LASPAU program, so it's a little different than the straight Fulbright treatment.

 

I started the application process to Fulbright last year (2013), around April. By this time I had to have my GRE and TOEFL Scores (which I did since Oct 2012). After about 2 months waiting, I got thru the first "filter" and was contacted about doing some additional standardised tests. This was yet another part of the screening process for the scholarship, and was contacted about 2 or 3 weeks later about programming an interview. My interview was programmed for a monday morning in Mid-August. At the interview phase, I suppose (from having peeked at the receptionists sign-in sheets) that there were 6 people lined up for interviews. 

 

I went in for mine, and later that day I received another email notifying me of my status as a Nominee. I don't know if it's standard procedure that they make a decision and notify on the same day, but I don't think it is. I think they were just running late on their decisions. In the end, 3 nominations were made for the category of scholarship I was applying to, and I was fortunate enough to be one of them.

 

Since my scholarship is a Fulbright-LASPAU, much of the application process is overseen by LASPAU. After being nominated, the contact with my Application Specialist (LASPAU employee) began in November. Here we decided what programs I could apply to from among my original choices (selected and submitted during the scholarship application in April 2013). I had to eliminate a couple of schools on account of the tuition fees, and settled in on 5 schools: TAMU, NCSU, LSU, Purdue, and UTAustin. Once this was done, I had to contact faculty at each of these universities, and seek their support (i'm applying for a PhD program, and will require support as the scholarship only covers the first two years of the PhD). 

 

During this part of the process, I had to scratch Purdue and UT Austin from my list as I did not get much in the sense of encouraging responses from faculty. However, NCSU, TAMU and LSU all came thru. 

 

As the Fulbright-LASPAU scholarship allows up to 5 slots for university applications, the other two came by suggestion of the Placement Specialist at LASPAU. She recommended two additional programs (WPI and UIC) to which I am currently in the process of applying. The other three applications (TAMU, NCSU and LSU) all went out about 2 weeks ago, and now I have itchy fingers checking my mail every 10 seconds waiting for a response.

 

This in a nutshell is my experience. Oh, my stats when nominated for the scholarship were:

GRE: V:158 Q:156 AW:4.5, TOEFL iBT: 113, and 5 years of teaching experience at university level for the discipline I am applying to (structural engineering).

 

After nomination I retook the tests (as part of the scholarship covers these costs), but only improved marginally:

GRE V:159 Q:158 AW:4.5; TOEFL iBT 114

 

Anyone else out there in forum land looking to share?

[mpumie]

hi guys--another Fulbrighter here! From Spain and accepted so far in the only university the IIE chose for me. I only had a certain level of control over one application: Harvard. The rest, I don't even know the password or username.

wow,when did you receive your acceptance notifications. am biting my nails right now waiting for an acceptance from a university,right now any acceptance would do! is it possible not to get accepted? has it ever happened before

[elisewin]

wow,when did you receive your acceptance notifications. am biting my nails right now waiting for an acceptance from a university,right now any acceptance would do! is it possible not to get accepted? has it ever happened before

 

Yes, it can happen. It happened to me last year, but for some reason they gave me a second chance to re-apply this year. Applying to five unis, so far haven't heard from four of them, although I'm quite sure I didn't get in Boston University. I heard from Ohio State University on January 30th.

 

I really hope it doesn't happen to any of you guys, having a Fulbright scholarship and not being accepted anywhere is the most painful thing I've ever been through. And if it does happen, I send you guys all my love and support.

[mpumie]

Yes, it can happen. It happened to me last year, but for some reason they gave me a second chance to re-apply this year. Applying to five unis, so far haven't heard from four of them, although I'm quite sure I didn't get in Boston University. I heard from Ohio State University on January 30th.

 

I really hope it doesn't happen to any of you guys, having a Fulbright scholarship and not being accepted anywhere is the most painful thing I've ever been through. And if it does happen, I send you guys all my love and support.

congratulations on making it the second time around,and how fortunate to be given a chance to realise your dream. am scared right now,really terrified. thank you for your support

[marsmat]

Congrats on the acceptance elisewin, and so glad you got a second shot of this!

 

Obviously it can happen that Fulbright scholars get no acceptances, but really dont be too worried mpumie! I have a friend who used to work in the selection committee and he made it very clear that it VERY VERY rarely happens that a Fulbright scholar doesnt get any acceptances. You will be fine