Fulbright 2016 - 2017

[kbui]

@wildchartermage Your research project does sound interesting. It's something that I never even thought about, and I'm sure it will keep the committee reading until the very end of your proposal! I wish you luck in the upcoming months.

[SmarterChild]

On 12/10/2015 at 1:29 PM, alpinestart said:

Long time forum listener, here.

I was recommended for Switzerland for the last two application cycles, and I received the additional Swiss Government Research Fellowship application on the 4th of December the first year (a Friday) and on the 15th last year. I'm not sure if they make only the recommended candidates do it, or everyone (in the e-mail, it seems to suggest everyone) but it's a pretty hefty application (8+ page questionairre, plus a 5 page proposal, and a health certificate, and a passport headshot... all in triplicate copy), so I would hope they wouldn't make everyone turn it in! Either way, here's the e-mail from last year if you are curious. I haven't received any notice yet--my thought was perhaps tomorrow?

Dear Fulbright Applicants to Switzerland,

 

The screening of candidates for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program is still underway and notification of status will be sent to all candidates in January.  The Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER) will ultimately award the scholarships. Recommended candidates for the Fulbright/Swiss Government Awards will be forwarded to the Swiss Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students (FCS) for final selection.

 

In the meantime, in addition to the general Fulbright application that you have already submitted and as stated on our website, you must also complete a Swiss Government grant application. You will find the application package attached as well as instructions for applicants.   You must provide this additional documentation in order to continue to be considered for a Fulbright award to Switzerland.  Please complete and submit the following documentation by January 8^th, 2015. Applicants should send the required items, in hard copy, as listed below directly to the Embassy of Switzerland at the following address:

 

Embassy of Switzerland

 

iiiiiiinteresting.

If I understand correctly, the past two years you applied, you got an email about the Swiss scholarship form in December, but nothing official saying you were recommended. Then in January you were indeed recommended; you suspect that only the recommended people get the email in December, but it is not official and we can't really be sure. Did I get all that? 

So did you hear any news on Friday?

[wildchartermage]

On 12/12/2015 at 4:58 AM, kbui said:

@wildchartermage Your research project does sound interesting. It's something that I never even thought about, and I'm sure it will keep the committee reading until the very end of your proposal! I wish you luck in the upcoming months.

Thank you!  I would love to hear about other people's projects here (regardless of what countries you applied for). 

[hobakie]

Hi guys I am just a lurker and future applicant with a question

When deciding to choose your respective countries to do research in, how greatly should I consider the amount of awards/grants given? I can apply my project to two countries (Hong Kong & Mainland China). Athough, I would have great connections/affiliations for exactly what I want to research, and a topic that has not been really explored before (my topic involves public health) by Hong Kong fulbrighters there were literally 2 grants given out of the 11 who applied last year.

On the other hand in China while I would likely have equally as great connections , it would relate to what I want to do yet wouldn't be as exact as it would be  in Hong Kong. plus I would at least have a fighting chance for one of the 60 something grants for mainland China. 

I dont want to assume my project idea would be so great and different that I would automatically get one of the 2 ,yet I feel like the connection to my topic is stronger there. How should I go about this?

[Horb]

On November 29, 2015 at 10:01 AM, Bluefit said:

SoWell applied under scholar program and two years in a row, I was selected as an alternate, losing out to people much older then me. Talked to Fulbright this past time, and the person said well your project is solid, maybe make mention you have previously applied, as Fulbright likes that. Well I did, and this year not selected to move on past first round.  Either they thought,  this guy has not gotten the nod twice before so let someone else go through, or since my proposal deals with intelligence and such, maybe with the de-stabilization of Europe with terrorism recently, they thought to unsafe. Or maybe i was outclassed.  I saw who got the selection last year, some 50 year old lady, who was a researcher.. That's not real experience... I have worked in the field for the past 6 years, thus I had to apply for scholar, and I have a Masters,and am an ABD now.  Another benefit was, my work would of let me go for the 4 months.  Anyways, I will  call and ascertain what I can, and send it ion minus my statement of applying twice before.  Fulbright has said, the reviewers do not know if one has applied the year prior, so maybe the statement ruined me.. Will we'll seee..Good luck to all 

The odds are much better if you applied to China (98 applicants for 60 slots), assuming the odds stay the same. However, as someone you has read many a Fulbright application, I would recommend choosing the country that has the best resources and that you can make the most compelling argument for. I have read many applications in which the applicants apply to Taiwan because China doesn't offer ETAs. No matter how hard they try, I can usually spot from a mile away that this is their reason, not that they are interested in Taiwan. Research grants are certainly different; there are many more factors to consider for what makes a country a good fit, but my advice still applies. If you don't have reasons just as strong, if the committee can see that you're project is not perfect for China/could be done somewhere else, odds won't really matter. 

 

[hobakie]

Yeah its really hard to say. Both countries have the need and interest for this type of project and the resources. I originally planned to apply for China but was recently given some new resources and suggestions to think about hong kong as well. If china was around 90% as far as resources/affiliations for my project, hong kong would be a perfect 100 ,but the number of grantees honestly scares me???? im going to have to a bit more research and go from there.

[alpinestart]

On 12/13/2015 at 8:03 PM, hollyberryz said:

iiiiiiinteresting.

If I understand correctly, the past two years you applied, you got an email about the Swiss scholarship form in December, but nothing official saying you were recommended. Then in January you were indeed recommended; you suspect that only the recommended people get the email in December, but it is not official and we can't really be sure. Did I get all that? 

So did you hear any news on Friday?

That is correct--got an e-mail both times, nothing saying that I had been recommended or not, but I was recommended both years. So... who knows?

[brett.coffee]

This might be a bit of a silly question, but it's been bugging me...

I applied for an ETA grant to Korea for the 2016-2017 cycle and am graduating this month. My GPA will have gone down a slight bit (less than 0.05 points, if I'm guessing correctly). I remember reading the policy regarding informing Fulbright about any significant changes to what you listed on your application - is this something that I should report immediately? It doesn't really make sense as most people will graduate in the spring and have a different GPA when they applied, and they will receive a final copy of my transcript before I would depart. 

Thoughts? 

[Horb]

On November 29, 2015 at 10:01 AM, Bluefit said:

SoWell applied under scholar program and two years in a row, I was selected as an alternate, losing out to people much older then me. Talked to Fulbright this past time, and the person said well your project is solid, maybe make mention you have previously applied, as Fulbright likes that. Well I did, and this year not selected to move on past first round.  Either they thought,  this guy has not gotten the nod twice before so let someone else go through, or since my proposal deals with intelligence and such, maybe with the de-stabilization of Europe with terrorism recently, they thought to unsafe. Or maybe i was outclassed.  I saw who got the selection last year, some 50 year old lady, who was a researcher.. That's not real experience... I have worked in the field for the past 6 years, thus I had to apply for scholar, and I have a Masters,and am an ABD now.  Another benefit was, my work would of let me go for the 4 months.  Anyways, I will  call and ascertain what I can, and send it ion minus my statement of applying twice before.  Fulbright has said, the reviewers do not know if one has applied the year prior, so maybe the statement ruined me.. Will we'll seee..Good luck to all 

Key word: significant.

If you dropped from a 3.9 to a 3.0, I'd call that significant. If you ended up having a medical condition that a particular country stated you can't have (some have weird requirements), then you would report it. 

An extremely small GPA change is not a concern.

[Messerchmitt309]

Hello all,

Does anyone know the time frame we should expect to receive an email from IIE regarding our status or does anyone have experience on specific timelines of the notifications? Btw I'm not sure if it matters, but I applied for the education research grant for a Masters program. 

Thanks! 

[Kj002]

I am late to the forum this year. Do we have an excel documenting to which program everyone applied? 

Edited December 24, 2015 by Kj002

[Kj002]

On December 23, 2015 at 3:16 PM, Messerchmitt309 said:

Hello all,

Does anyone know the time frame we should expect to receive an email from IIE regarding our status or does anyone have experience on specific timelines of the notifications? Btw I'm not sure if it matters, but I applied for the education research grant for a Masters program. 

Thanks! 

In the past, the first round of results have come out middle/late January. It depends on the region for which you applied. 

[Messerchmitt309]

On 12/24/2015 at 4:20 PM, Kj002 said:

In the past, the first round of results have come out middle/late January. It depends on the region for which you applied. 

Great, thanks for the information Kj002! fyi, I applied for Taiwan. 

Anyone else do the same?

 

[BigSwan0509]

Hey all! I am applying for an ETA in Russia and was wondering if there are any other Eastern European applicants on here?

[Photogeographic]

On 12/24/2015 at 3:14 PM, Kj002 said:

I am late to the forum this year. Do we have an excel documenting to which program everyone applied? 

I was wondering the same thing 

[cc2016sr2017]

On December 27, 2015 at 6:29 PM, BigSwan0509 said:

Hey all! I am applying for an ETA in Russia and was wondering if there are any other Eastern European applicants on here?

Me! I'm applying to the Slovak Republic, but I actually studied Russian for a number of years. What made you decide on Russia?

 

Also, does anyone have any information when it comes to the actual stipend we would receive if selected? That's the part I'm the most confused about. I know it says that we receive a stipend based on the living costs of our country, but is there any information for what that number is for each country?

[Horb]

9 hours ago, cc2016sr2017 said:

Me! I'm applying to the Slovak Republic, but I actually studied Russian for a number of years. What made you decide on Russia?

 

Also, does anyone have any information when it comes to the actual stipend we would receive if selected? That's the part I'm the most confused about. I know it says that we receive a stipend based on the living costs of our country, but is there any information for what that number is for each country?

It varies year to year and grant to grant (ETAs may make less/more than study/research awardees, based on a friend who won a grant to Germany).  Additionally, not all countries determine the cost of living the same way. For instance, in Germany, everyone received the same stipend amount, yet someone placed in Munich has a much higher cost of living than someone in Stuttgart. However, if in the UK, you get a larger stipend for being in the London area. 

This is all to say that it changes each year and they usually don't post it (excepting the UK, which has it on its Fulbright page). 

[lyonessrampant]

I'm applying for Italy and it says the award amount on the Fulbright page, breaking it down by amount for rent, travel, and living, but it isn't in a super obvious place, so maybe go search through the webpage for your country/area and you can find out?  Maybe not all places update their pages with funding amounts, though.

[Photogeographic]

Took the liberty to make a 2016-2017 spreadsheet. Its a basic attempt. If someone knows excel/google docs better feel free to make changes but its a start ? 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AlU2xDiiVhQjK3quPy6qXJuhgXYghzzG8L4YNT0unX0/edit#gid=1893879233

Edited December 31, 2015 by Photogeographic

[hkcool]

How essential was it that my references specifically talked about my proposal and its feasibility? I'm a moron and didn't realize there was an instruction sheet to send to my references beforehand, so their letters talk mostly about the past research I've done and my capacity to conduct independent research. Two of the references were past research mentors, and as their work is in a similar field, they had a couple of sentences in their letters about how they thought my proposal would be interesting to collaborate on if I got funded, but it was 1-2 sentences at most. 

My third reference was my undergrad advisor who I know well, and who knows of my previous research experience, but isn't directly in the same field as me. Since I actually showed him my proposal, I think he did write a few lines about in his letter, but I'm not sure how much weight that actually carries since as I said, he's not in the same field.

So how badly did I screw up here? I worked pretty darn hard on my proposal and personal statement and can't believe I didn't even bother to follow basic instructions on the rec letters *facepalm*

 

[PennyPressure]

Hello! 

I cannot wait to hear back from Fulbright this month! I am applying for a Reseach/Study grant in South Africa. Is anyone else applying to South Africa? I know it's a competitive country, but I am hopefully!

[Positivethinking]

Happy new year, everyone! I applied to teach in Spain! Did anyone else?? I am SOSOSO excited to receive the first notification this month!! 

[wildchartermage]

On 12/31/2015 at 5:44 PM, lyonessrampant said:

I'm applying for Italy and it says the award amount on the Fulbright page, breaking it down by amount for rent, travel, and living, but it isn't in a super obvious place, so maybe go search through the webpage for your country/area and you can find out?  Maybe not all places update their pages with funding amounts, though.

Applying for Italy as well for the academic grant (9 months)! 

[Photogeographic]

On 1/1/2016 at 1:21 AM, hkcool said:

How essential was it that my references specifically talked about my proposal and its feasibility? I'm a moron and didn't realize there was an instruction sheet to send to my references beforehand, so their letters talk mostly about the past research I've done and my capacity to conduct independent research. Two of the references were past research mentors, and as their work is in a similar field, they had a couple of sentences in their letters about how they thought my proposal would be interesting to collaborate on if I got funded, but it was 1-2 sentences at most. 

My third reference was my undergrad advisor who I know well, and who knows of my previous research experience, but isn't directly in the same field as me. Since I actually showed him my proposal, I think he did write a few lines about in his letter, but I'm not sure how much weight that actually carries since as I said, he's not in the same field.

So how badly did I screw up here? I worked pretty darn hard on my proposal and personal statement and can't believe I didn't even bother to follow basic instructions on the rec letters *facepalm*

 

I don't know if mine talked about the feasibility too much. I think its probably not a deal breaker ! 

[Gingerenroute]

First time applicant here (ETA to Norway). Anyone else giving themselves physical anxiety and stress just thinking about the first round of decisions? I'm literally having chest tightness every night just thinking about it!