Fulbright 2016 - 2017

[miracle18]

Hello everyone, 

I'm currently a UK Fulbright. I just realized today makes one year since I found out I was a semi-finalist, and it made me think of this forum. This was a great support system throughout the waiting period. I know how stressful it can be to wait for so long, but it will be over before you know it. Good luck to everyone during the semi-finalist, finalist, and interview stage. 

And congrats to everyone that made it through the first stage. 

[onno]

Hi everyone!

I was just notified that I am a semifinalist for the Bangladesh ETA. I was wondering if anyone here has done an ETA in Bangladesh before and if so, where in Bangladesh you were placed and what your experience was like. Also (this is for everyone who has done an ETA), what careers did you end up pursuing afterwards? I know many people who apply are specifically interested in going into becoming teachers but personally I am looking to go into a career in international affairs, ultimately working on women's rights and education.

[rotbart]

6 hours ago, ミハエル said:

nice me too! where are you hoping to do research? and in what?

congrats!!! Berlin on contemporary migrant literature. how about you?

[ミハエル]

1 hour ago, rotbart said:

congrats!!! Berlin on contemporary migrant literature. how about you?

Congrats to you too!! Cologne on the biology of aging

Edited January 17, 2016 by ミハエル

[Jocelot]

Congratulations to everyone who has gotten good news  

Throwing in my two cents as a semi-finalist ETA for Morocco! 

Edited January 17, 2016 by Jocelot

[oco25721]

13 hours ago, onno said:

Hi everyone!

I was just notified that I am a semifinalist for the Bangladesh ETA. I was wondering if anyone here has done an ETA in Bangladesh before and if so, where in Bangladesh you were placed and what your experience was like. Also (this is for everyone who has done an ETA), what careers did you end up pursuing afterwards? I know many people who apply are specifically interested in going into becoming teachers but personally I am looking to go into a career in international affairs, ultimately working on women's rights and education.

Hi Onno,

Congrats on being a semifinalist! I was an ETA to Germany for the 2010-2011 cycle and while some other ETAs did go on to work as teachers, you're definitely not limited in that regard. I worked in education for a few years but recently finished my MA in PoliSci and am working in international development. Other ETAs I know from Germany have pursued varied careers (educational policy, public policy, law, etc.) What really matters is 1) how you use your time as an ETA in-country, what activities you pursue, to what extent you make an effort to integrate yourself and 2) how you use the lessons you learned from your ETA once you get back to the States (or wherever you end up). Working in the fields of women's rights and/or especially education is very doable and realistic after having been an ETA. Good luck!

(Also, feel free to keep the Clinton Fulbright in mind afterwards if you're interested in international public policy. That's what I applied for this year- still haven't heard anything back yet though.)

[Dilemma1]

Now that the semi-finalist have been selected when should we expect interview notifications?  I know some countries do not require them but I haven't found a definitive statement for when the interviews should take place other than February.  Thank you in advance  

[Dostoprimechatel'nosti]

On 1/16/2016 at 4:10 PM, SmarterChild said:

Wow, that was enlightening. I'm surprised in the two cycles I've applied my advisors have never mentioned this! Do you know if those documents for previous years are still available, or did you happen to save them?

Sadly, I didn't think to save them! It looks like when it was updated, the old link was updated also.

[lsatings]

Just discovered this forum, I am also a semi-finalist! About how soon do we usually find out about whether we have been selected or not? 

[bgp5]

Also a UK semi-finalist. Any ideas on when we hear back for interviews? 

[Yaya OK OK]

semi-finalist for Turkey ETA. Does anyone know if Turkey is a country that conducts interviews? 

[bgp5]

 

On 1/15/2016 at 5:18 PM, Carterware said:

I'm another UK semifinalist! Do we have to interview in the next round?

Congratulations! What program? 

[onno]

12 hours ago, oco25721 said:

Hi Onno,

Congrats on being a semifinalist! I was an ETA to Germany for the 2010-2011 cycle and while some other ETAs did go on to work as teachers, you're definitely not limited in that regard. I worked in education for a few years but recently finished my MA in PoliSci and am working in international development. Other ETAs I know from Germany have pursued varied careers (educational policy, public policy, law, etc.) What really matters is 1) how you use your time as an ETA in-country, what activities you pursue, to what extent you make an effort to integrate yourself and 2) how you use the lessons you learned from your ETA once you get back to the States (or wherever you end up). Working in the fields of women's rights and/or especially education is very doable and realistic after having been an ETA. Good luck!

(Also, feel free to keep the Clinton Fulbright in mind afterwards if you're interested in international public policy. That's what I applied for this year- still haven't heard anything back yet though.)

Thanks so much! And the Clinton Fulbright definitely looks like something I want to apply to in the future!

[Dilemma1]

From what I have been looking at UK semi finalist can expect to receive notifications for interviews early Feb. (this is based on the spreadsheets from previous years) with interviews being in mid to late Feb.  I'm a first year applicant so this is only based on what I have found.

 

I also found the following quote on last years thread posted by Dbloom:

 

"I second that! 

 

To summarize for any future Fulbright UK applicants looking at past threads, the evidence suggests (at least for this round), no interview = not on the shortlist of candidates. I only say this because it's something concrete about the interview process that would've been useful for me to know. For this round, the time in between interviews and notification was... significant. I would definitely encourage future UK applicants to get the ball rolling on plan B if no interview is granted. They may change their interview process in the future given the increasing number of applicants, so make of this what you will."      Posted 31 Mar 2015 (edited)

 

Further info:

 

http://www.fulbright.org.uk/fulbright-awards/exchanges-to-the-uk/faqs/interview-faqs

 

It doesn't seem to be a total deal breaker though with the interviews.  If there is no interview there is still the possibility of being shortlisted.  Again, I'm a first year applicant so this is only based on what I have found.  If anyone is more experienced or has better info, please correct me!  I hope I have not mislead anyone....

[oco25721]

8 hours ago, lsatings said:

Just discovered this forum, I am also a semi-finalist! About how soon do we usually find out about whether we have been selected or not? 

In past years, the notifications have started to come out around mid-end of March. You can check the spreadsheet here for more info: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AlU2xDiiVhQjK3quPy6qXJuhgXYghzzG8L4YNT0unX0/edit?pref=2&pli=1#gid=1893879233

Since Fulbright is waiting to hear back from the individual countries as to which candidates they've accepted, the notifications usually vary on a country to country basis.

[oco25721]

On 16.1.2016 at 8:02 PM, Isabella16 said:

Does anybody know which countries generally interview? (specifically Germany)

And congratulations to everyone!!  

Hi Isabella16,

Germany does not (usually) conduct interviews. In fact, I don't know of any applicants (ETA or research) who have had to do a country interview. I don't want to tell you 100% for sure that it won't happen, just in case they decide to introduce them this year, but I'm pretty sure you're safe.

Good luck!

[Isabella16]

6 hours ago, oco25721 said:

Hi Isabella16,

Germany does not (usually) conduct interviews. In fact, I don't know of any applicants (ETA or research) who have had to do a country interview. I don't want to tell you 100% for sure that it won't happen, just in case they decide to introduce them this year, but I'm pretty sure you're safe.

Good luck!

Thank you so much for the information!  

[lsatings]

8 hours ago, oco25721 said:

In past years, the notifications have started to come out around mid-end of March. You can check the spreadsheet here for more info: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AlU2xDiiVhQjK3quPy6qXJuhgXYghzzG8L4YNT0unX0/edit?pref=2&pli=1#gid=1893879233

Since Fulbright is waiting to hear back from the individual countries as to which candidates they've accepted, the notifications usually vary on a country to country basis.

Thank you so much! This is perfect! 

[sairam94]

So does anyone know what criteria the country committee bases their final decision off of? I'm a finalist for the Spain ETA, I'm getting super anxious!!

[lsatings]

3 hours ago, sairam94 said:

So does anyone know what criteria the country committee bases their final decision off of? I'm a finalist for the Spain ETA, I'm getting super anxious!!

I'm not 100% sure about this, but from what I understand -- at this point in the process they are merely collecting final official transcripts and sending off the semi-finalists to the target country U.S. consulates for review. From there, I'm not entirely sure what the criteria is for selection but I'm sure its about who they think is the best fit for their program in terms of language, ability to fulfill the project, etc. I think maybe checking back on the us.fulbright.org website may be beneficial? I too am interested in what some final selection criteria might be after this point. I know I read online that many times the committee reviewing applicants overseas always looks favorably on those who are able to navigate the country, find housing, communicate, etc without too much hand holding. 

[sairam94]

3 hours ago, lsatings said:

I'm not 100% sure about this, but from what I understand -- at this point in the process they are merely collecting final official transcripts and sending off the semi-finalists to the target country U.S. consulates for review. From there, I'm not entirely sure what the criteria is for selection but I'm sure its about who they think is the best fit for their program in terms of language, ability to fulfill the project, etc. I think maybe checking back on the us.fulbright.org website may be beneficial? I too am interested in what some final selection criteria might be after this point. I know I read online that many times the committee reviewing applicants overseas always looks favorably on those who are able to navigate the country, find housing, communicate, etc without too much hand holding. 

Interesting! How would they determine who would be able to function independently through the application though? 

[sat0ri]

I was selected as a semi-finalist for UK - open award.

Does anyone know what was entailed in the selection process for semi-finalists (formerly called finalist)? For instance, was our entire application read through before being selected, or was it based on some standard metric like GPA?

Also it says here ( http://us.fulbrightonline.org/information-for-recommended-candidates ) that 1.5-2.0 candidates where recommended (i.e., semi-finalist) compared to how many would be offered the fellowship. For the UK - open award where there is only 2 openings, does that mean ~4 people were recommended? ("What is the ratio of candidates recommended to grants given in each country? The National Screening Committees typically recommend 1.5-2 times the number of candidates as there are grants available for a particular award.")

Finally, anyone want to hazard a guess what the average GPA is for UK awards? 3.5? 3.9?

[Tahlain]

1 hour ago, sat0ri said:

I was selected as a semi-finalist for UK - open award.

Does anyone know what was entailed in the selection process for semi-finalists (formerly called finalist)? For instance, was our entire application read through before being selected, or was it based on some standard metric like GPA?

Also it says here ( http://us.fulbrightonline.org/information-for-recommended-candidates ) that 1.5-2.0 candidates where recommended (i.e., semi-finalist) compared to how many would be offered the fellowship. For the UK - open award where there is only 2 openings, does that mean ~4 people were recommended? ("What is the ratio of candidates recommended to grants given in each country? The National Screening Committees typically recommend 1.5-2 times the number of candidates as there are grants available for a particular award.")

Finally, anyone want to hazard a guess what the average GPA is for UK awards? 3.5? 3.9?

The applications were definitely reviewed extensively before getting to this stage. There's an entire committee that screens all the applications and decides who to recommend as a semifinalist. It's based on much, much more than GPA. That's one of the least important aspects, or so I've heard. (Not that it doesn't matter too). I'm pretty sure once you're to this stage the largest things evaluated will be institutional/program fit and the strength of your proposal. The average GPA is likely quite high, but will not be a key delimiter from this point on.

Mas far as number of UK semi-finalists, I have no clue. There are likely more than the website states for awards generally, but beyond that, I don't really know. Good luck! 

[sat0ri]

25 minutes ago, Tahlain said:

The applications were definitely reviewed extensively before getting to this stage. There's an entire committee that screens all the applications and decides who to recommend as a semifinalist. It's based on much, much more than GPA. That's one of the least important aspects, or so I've heard. (Not that it doesn't matter too). I'm pretty sure once you're to this stage the largest things evaluated will be institutional/program fit and the strength of your proposal. The average GPA is likely quite high, but will not be a key delimiter from this point on.

Mas far as number of UK semi-finalists, I have no clue. There are likely more than the website states for awards generally, but beyond that, I don't really know. Good luck! 

Thanks, I wanted to make sure I was getting disproportionately excited by the news, for instance, if the semi-finalist only had a perfunctory review of their applications.

PS. EDIT - Above it stated that for UK awards, GPA might figure in more prominently. However, I have found absolutely nothing regarding quantified GPA's of successful applicants.

Edited January 19, 2016 by sat0ri

[gradschoolyaya12]

Hey guys, has anyone NOT heard back from Fulbright yet? Is this unusual?