Rachelrushing Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 Hey all, Current Fulbrighter here. I would suggest that if you have not heard anything yet, and if you are applying for a Fulbright in a country that is NOT a commission country, then you may want to politely contact the embassy itself in that country to check on the status of your Fulbright application, explain that you are trying to make decisions about jobs/Fulbright/future/etc, and ask if there is anything you can do to assist them with the process. I did this last year and discovered that some secretary at my host affiliation basically never completed the paperwork for me to get approval to be at the university even though the U.S. Embassy (I assume?) had selected me for a Fulbright. If I didn't call the US Embassy and find out this information and then follow up by politely pushing the university and aforementioned secretary to get my paperwork and approvals done, I do not think I would have obtained the Fulbright. So now is the time folks! Best of luck. What an amazing experience this has been. Hm. I've already emailed the embassy contact for my country and she told me to speak to the Fulbright program manager. Would you take this as a sign that paperwork has been taken care of? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuscaTiger Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 Hm. I've already emailed the embassy contact for my country and she told me to speak to the Fulbright program manager. Would you take this as a sign that paperwork has been taken care of? I'm not sure exactly. I was just trying to speak from my experience, but if it has been a week or so since your last email with the embassy, I would just try to call the embassy on the phone (try to find out who handles Fulbright at that embassy first. For me it was public affairs, I think). Sometimes people are more willing to speak on the phone more freely than to type in an official email. Ask if there is anything else they need, if your host affiliation has been responsive, and if there is anything else you can do on your end. I'd also say to talk to your host affiliation (international office? supervisor? both?) and ask if they've been contacted by the embassy at all. Thank you for sharing! Kind of scary to think about how some of this comes down to a few forms going one place or an email not getting filtered as spam. Yeah it is a pretty scary thing to think about, but the sad reality. I don't know if my case is unique or not, but I know that sometimes, especially in these smaller non-commission countries, the final "decision" can have nothing to do with the application. For instance, last year a girl I knew applying to Bahrain was ultimately denied because of a policy conflict between the president of her university affiliation and the US government - nothing to do with her or her application. That university (after applications were finalized) decided not to support any Fulbrights (or American students maybe? unclear). Hope this helps. Just speaking from my experience here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sine Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 NS and my car just got towed. Thanks everyone. No words. *Hugs* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheerios Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 ALTERNATE TO ACCEPTED --> GERMANY olioliwoo, Sine and coopfing 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miri1776 Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 Thanks everyone. This forum has been wonderful. I wasn't joking about getting towed. When i got the NS, i parked in a random parking lot and ran crying to my adviser's office. We i walked back, my car was gone. $390 bucks to get it back. You know what though, it meant nothing. I am starting to realize that i just need to reapply, have better options, and use this as a maturing experience. It hurts, but, as you all have said, we are passionate people. I can get back up. For all the NS, life goes on. Here's to 2015-2016 Shogun1, raymondnorth, coopfing and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozartgirl53 Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Hi Mozartgirl! First off: you are just the most awesome and sweetest person I have met on here. Second: It was a UK one, which is already competitive, but perhaps I would have applied slightly differently had I known they cut the grant from 2 to 1. I was accepted into graduate school for a PhD, so I'm going to do that next year and then later in the program, reapply. I'm actually viewing my rejection as a blessing because I found another program at York Uni in the UK that is a much better fit that I did not know about, and I feel like it'll be better for my research and future studies. Hey Horb, what a great attitude! It's awesome that you have found this other school that would actually be better. What will your PhD be in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozartgirl53 Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Rachelrushing....LOVE the gifs!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hina Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Hey all, Current Fulbrighter here. I would suggest that if you have not heard anything yet, and if you are applying for a Fulbright in a country that is NOT a commission country, then you may want to politely contact the embassy itself in that country to check on the status of your Fulbright application, explain that you are trying to make decisions about jobs/Fulbright/future/etc, and ask if there is anything you can do to assist them with the process. I did this last year and discovered that some secretary at my host affiliation basically never completed the paperwork for me to get approval to be at the university even though the U.S. Embassy (I assume?) had selected me for a Fulbright. If I didn't call the US Embassy and find out this information and then follow up by politely pushing the university and aforementioned secretary to get my paperwork and approvals done, I do not think I would have obtained the Fulbright. So now is the time folks! Best of luck. What an amazing experience this has been. Thanks for telling us about your experience. I'm gonna take your suggestion and contact the embassy in the country I applied to. better to be safe than sorry, that's for sure. Thanks for sharing!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnosisExchange Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 I'm not sure exactly. I was just trying to speak from my experience, but if it has been a week or so since your last email with the embassy, I would just try to call the embassy on the phone (try to find out who handles Fulbright at that embassy first. For me it was public affairs, I think). Sometimes people are more willing to speak on the phone more freely than to type in an official email. Ask if there is anything else they need, if your host affiliation has been responsive, and if there is anything else you can do on your end. I'd also say to talk to your host affiliation (international office? supervisor? both?) and ask if they've been contacted by the embassy at all. Yeah it is a pretty scary thing to think about, but the sad reality. I don't know if my case is unique or not, but I know that sometimes, especially in these smaller non-commission countries, the final "decision" can have nothing to do with the application. For instance, last year a girl I knew applying to Bahrain was ultimately denied because of a policy conflict between the president of her university affiliation and the US government - nothing to do with her or her application. That university (after applications were finalized) decided not to support any Fulbrights (or American students maybe? unclear). Hope this helps. Just speaking from my experience here Thank you so much for giving all of this information. It is really good to be informed even after finding out our statuses. I know several people with really cool project ideas who are applying next year and will make sure to pass on some of this stuff. Even though we've all been complaining about how late notifications have been this year, it is pretty amazing to think about this program. So much work goes into it every year! It is actually a huge accomplishment that so many more things don't go wrong considering all of the coordination between various US government agencies as well as with all of the other embassies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hina Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 ALTERNATE TO ACCEPTED --> GERMANY CONGRATS!!!!!! so great to see alternates getting accepted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnosisExchange Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Thanks everyone. This forum has been wonderful. I wasn't joking about getting towed. When i got the NS, i parked in a random parking lot and ran crying to my adviser's office. We i walked back, my car was gone. $390 bucks to get it back. You know what though, it meant nothing. I am starting to realize that i just need to reapply, have better options, and use this as a maturing experience. It hurts, but, as you all have said, we are passionate people. I can get back up. For all the NS, life goes on. Here's to 2015-2016 I like your attitude! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnosisExchange Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 ALTERNATE TO ACCEPTED --> GERMANY CONGRATULATIONS!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozartgirl53 Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 NS and my car just got towed. Thanks everyone. Oh miri1776! I'm so, so sorry! I was rooting for you! Plus your car?!?! What a horrible day! I hope you have a place where you can scream it all out! Just remember it's not a rejection of YOU as a person. They just can't fund your project right now. I know it must feel crushing right now. It's OK to sit with those feelings and feel them, painful as they are. Sit, cry, scream, punch a pillow--- whatever you need to do to help process this. There will be a light at the end of this tunnel; I promise. This is NOT the end of miri; this is just the beginning. I BELIEVE IN YOU MIRI1776!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozartgirl53 Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 What is a gif? I have never heard of that abbreviation/acronym before. Hi Shogun, GIF, or graphic interface format, is how most photographs on the internet used to be saved, and many still are. You'll see a .gif at the end of your picture files. Saving something as a gif also compreses the file. So now, in slang, a gif is one of those little looped mini-vids people post all over Facebook and here. I like them! They always make me laugh!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozartgirl53 Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Going back a few pages to the whole living-in-a-country-for-a-certain-amount-of-time question. Just for reference, I got the Spain research Fulbright. And congrats to all the other recipients (especially mozartgirl - you keep this thread bumping!) and continued best wishes for the alternates and condolences for the non-selects! Hey Neurovivor, thanks for the congrats! I feel increasingly humbled that the people of Zambia are allowing me to be a part of preserving a beautiful culture. I think when it comes down to brass tacks, we really just don't know why a particular person or project is chosen. Neurovivor has never been to Spain. I've been to Zambia twice, for a month each time. We both got grants. So what does this mean? NOTHING, in my humble opinion. Lol. sirmixalot 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozartgirl53 Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 YEAY!!!It's great to know alternates are starting to get good news! Now if only we had good news for Oliowoo... AMEN!!! C'mon Olioliwoo!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozartgirl53 Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Looks like Central America is notifying today! Unfortunately for me, it's an NS. Best of luck to everyone! Awww, sorry bahlam! Best of luck to you! Being a recommendee is such an amazing fete that I know you will recover from this momentary blip and go on to accomplish wonderful things!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozartgirl53 Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 I just received the best news in my inbox this morning. FULBRIGHT TO GERMANY! Breenok! CONGRATULATIONS!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozartgirl53 Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Boyfriend here. I'm going to study the evolution of Ukrainian circus after the fall of the Soviet Union while training at the National Circus Academy in Kyiv. Here's my favorite act to come out of their program recently: http://youtu.be/JLkU1kZrsWU In other news, I'm quite good at being optimistic, so here's what keeps me going: Barring an all out war or country-wide insurgency, which seems unlikely, there is no way the state department would cancel its "flagship educational exchange program" with a fledgling pro-western government. They want soft power in Ukraine, so i don't see why they would cancel. If your project was in eastern Ukraine, I would be white-knuckling it until the May 25th elections to see what Putin does next. But it's not. Hooray! In case anyone's reading who based their project in the East, more optimism: i imagine your project could be modified to be based out of the west.[/quote Irockafe! WOW!! What a wonderful project!! THIS IS WHY WE NEED FULBRIGHT!!! Cultural and educational exchange leads to friendship and that can have a HUGE impact on international relations. I truly believe that friendship is the key to solving the world's problems. Corny as it may be, LOVE IS THE ANSWER! You can't love someone and let them go hungry or expose them to malaria or allow them to be marginalized in any way. But it's easier to hate, easier to discriminate, easier to maintain western privilege, easier to close our eyes to what happens every single day. 25,000 children died today of starvation or easily preventable/treatable childhood diseases. Guess what's going to happen tomorrow? And THIS is why we need Fulbright! By these thousands of student educational exchanges, we not only help (I hope!) erase "the Ugly American" abroad, but we also learn the beauty and wonder of other cultures, of our neighbors on this planet. And when "the other" becomes "our neighbor," good things will happen. And that's why we need the Fulbright to carry on. Shogun1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozartgirl53 Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 My emotions are on such a roller coaster right now... I can't concentrate on anything else! Hang in there Rachelrushing! Hang in! I'm pulling for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozartgirl53 Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Today I went to a Fulbright info session being led by Tony Claudino, Outreach Director for the U.S. Student Program. It seems he is going to be going to different universities around the country to do these type of sessions in the next few months and I'd recommend attending one to all the re-applicants/lurkers. He was really helpful and honest about the different topics we discussed related to the application (e.g. this process is a marathon, grants with low application numbers, language requirements). I also received confirmation that IIE is definitely aware about our forum here on gradcafe and of people sharing what has been stated by IIE staff. Hi Olioliwoo! Very interesting, LOL! Did he say they know about our forum in a good way or in a those-people-are-crazy kind of way? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozartgirl53 Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 ALTERNATE TO ACCEPTED --> GERMANY Cheerios! CONGRATULATIONS!!! I'm so excited for you! Way to go! This must be SUCH a relief-- alternate to accepted!! We're cheering you on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hina Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 AH ... so just called the US embassy in Bangladesh and the woman I spoke to said "oh, we already processed the applications, conducted interviews and sent our results back to IIE in the US"....which is all great and fine, EXCEPT THAT I DIDNT HAVE AN INTERVIEW. So of course I start to freak out, and try my hardest to casually ask this nice lady if they interviewed everyone. She says they only interviewed those candidates that they needed further clarification from regarding their project. Not sure if she just said that because she could sense the panic in my voice, or if that's really the case. In any case, needless to say, I'm slightly freaking out. :/ Was anyone else in this situation? Where other people from your country got interviews but you didn't? Is this a horribly bad sign? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donthatedontkill Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Hey, everyone! I found out at today that my A changed to a P for a Colombia ETA! :-D hopefullywandering, sirmixalot, traveler_5563 and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnosisExchange Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Hey, everyone! I found out at today that my A changed to a P for a Colombia ETA! :-D Congratulations! normando13 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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