Fulbright 2017-2018

[ciaochristine]

Hi everyone, 

Christine here - I'm a semifinalist for study in Italy.  This is my first time applying for a Fulbright, so many thanks to all of you for the wealth of information you've shared here.   I've been hesitant to chime in (though I've been following along for a while), but I wanted to share an article I came across from The Atlantic about the State Department under the Trump Administration.  Apparently things are pretty quiet there these days.  Not sure if this means anything for Fulbright, but it's an interesting read nonetheless.  

[Sigwarz]

On 2/10/2017 at 0:49 PM, jlking9 said:

Hello all! First time poster and this was the first time I applied for a Fulbright. I was selected as a semi-finalist for research at a UK institute (Bristol, specifically). I haven't received an email about an interview and I'm wondering what this means for me, realistically. Anyone have advice on what to expect? Thanks and congratulations/good luck to everyone going through interviews/experiences similar to mine!

@inkstainedarm and @jlking

I applied this year for the first time as well. I was selected as a semi-finalist for University of Exeter, Cornwall, and was interviewed via Skype on February 17. I've been waiting (very impatiently) for May to come because that is the absolute latest I have read for them to notify if you have been accepted or not. 

I think my interview went fairly well, standard questions, although due to my time difference (I am from Guam) I was interviewed at 2am.

Has anyone else had an interview? And how did you feel it went? Good luck to us all!!!

[kgiombetti]

@ciaochristine I am a finalist for Study in Italy too! What program did you apply for? Good luck to you!!  I hope we find out soon!

[ciaochristine]

@kgiombetti It's nice to meet another Italy applicant!  I applied for the MPA at SDA Bocconi.  Which program did you apply for?  Last year Italy results came out on March 11th, so fingers crossed that we hear soon.  Good luck to you as well!

[Horb]

11 hours ago, ciaochristine said:

Hi everyone, 

Christine here - I'm a semifinalist for study in Italy.  This is my first time applying for a Fulbright, so many thanks to all of you for the wealth of information you've shared here.   I've been hesitant to chime in (though I've been following along for a while), but I wanted to share an article I came across from The Atlantic about the State Department under the Trump Administration.  Apparently things are pretty quiet there these days.  Not sure if this means anything for Fulbright, but it's an interesting read nonetheless.  

I, too, wonder what pretty quiet means. Not a ton of disturbances so results will come out sooner?  

[kgiombetti]

@ciaochristine I'm also a semifinalist for the MPA at SDA Bocconi! Good luck to you, I hope results come out soon!

Edited March 8, 2017 by kgiombetti

[ciaochristine]

50 minutes ago, Horb said:

I, too, wonder what pretty quiet means. Not a ton of disturbances so results will come out sooner?  

@Horb Let's hope so! 

[lyonessrampant]

Hello fellow Italy semi-finalists! I applied for the general research grant to work at University of Bologna. Hope we all get good news soon!

 

[inkstainedarm]

10 hours ago, Sigwarz said:

@inkstainedarm and @jlking

I applied this year for the first time as well. I was selected as a semi-finalist for University of Exeter, Cornwall, and was interviewed via Skype on February 17. I've been waiting (very impatiently) for May to come because that is the absolute latest I have read for them to notify if you have been accepted or not. 

I think my interview went fairly well, standard questions, although due to my time difference (I am from Guam) I was interviewed at 2am.

Has anyone else had an interview? And how did you feel it went? Good luck to us all!!!

Hey Sigwarz! 2am--how did that go?? Did you choose to stay up all night or wake up (extremely) early? I had my interview last Monday at 9:10am my time, and I think (I hope) it went ok--I don't feel like my answers were outstanding though, and so now I'm filled with the admittedly predictable self doubt and self recrimination. Best of luck to you!! Based on past years, we could hear as soon as by the end of March!

[jarp729]

Hey all! I just wanted to get some insight about whether or not I should attempt to contact my regional coordinator. I'm currently a semi-finalist for an open research grant to Peru (which I'm super excited about!). However, Peru's release dates are incredibly non-predictable. I'm talking anywhere between March 3rd and April 18th. 

I recently found out I was accepted to my top choice PhD program and awarded a prestigious fellowship along with it. They require notification of whether or not I am going to attend by April 1st. Would it be appropriate to ask when Peru expects to announce? I don't need to know my own status right now, but it would be really helpful to know if I need to go through the process of petitioning for a later decision date. 

[srhkdr]

I was just invited to a dinner for fellowship and scholarship recipients at the university's president's house.... If I don't get it, at least I can pretend for one night! 

[Jess2323]

I'm wondering if today will be the day some notification start coming out! Its March 8th everybody- time flies when your stressed.

[morelani]

15 hours ago, ciaochristine said:

Hi everyone, 

Christine here - I'm a semifinalist for study in Italy.  This is my first time applying for a Fulbright, so many thanks to all of you for the wealth of information you've shared here.   I've been hesitant to chime in (though I've been following along for a while), but I wanted to share an article I came across from The Atlantic about the State Department under the Trump Administration.  Apparently things are pretty quiet there these days.  Not sure if this means anything for Fulbright, but it's an interesting read nonetheless.  

"This is probably what it felt like to be a British foreign service officer after World War II, when you realize, no, the sun actually does set on your empire,” said the mid-level officer. “America is over. And being part of that, when it’s happening for no reason, is traumatic.”

Wow, that's heavy.

[Sigwarz]

12 hours ago, inkstainedarm said:

Hey Sigwarz! 2am--how did that go?? Did you choose to stay up all night or wake up (extremely) early? I had my interview last Monday at 9:10am my time, and I think (I hope) it went ok--I don't feel like my answers were outstanding though, and so now I'm filled with the admittedly predictable self doubt and self recrimination. Best of luck to you!! Based on past years, we could hear as soon as by the end of March!

It went well, but naturally I have my doubts. Everyone was friendly and I did get some feedback from them when I asked them questions. One person from the panel thought my project was very clear and that I was well-informed in my field. The question regarding US politics was tricky, with the current political atmosphere not supporting environmental initiatives (I am doing my Masters in Conservation and Biodiversity), however I think I answered diplomatically. I tried to take a nap before the interview, which did not happen (too excited). So I basically stayed up. Good luck to us! Thanks for the heads up for late March. This is something to look forward to! 

I saw the spreadsheet on fulbright applicants. Do I add myself to the spreadsheet? 

Thanks for all this great info/fulbright forum!

[Sigwarz]

On 3/3/2017 at 10:09 PM, shaynes007 said:

HI everyone,

 

New to this entire process, this is my first time applying for a Fulbright? Anyone here apply to partner awards in the UK? Scotland, specificially?

 

Thanks and best of luck to everyone here!

 

Shauna 

@shaynes007 This is my first time as well. I am applying for a partnership award to the University of Exeter for an MSc in Conservation and Biodiversity. It's my first time that I applied as well and got interviewed a couple of weeks ago. The wait is horrible! I am crossing my fingers. Best of luck to you. What course are you applying for and why? This is so exciting to be a part of this forum!

Gera

[Sigwarz]

On 1/25/2017 at 6:28 AM, sat0ri said:

I've interviewed at Cambridge and Oxford, accepted at both, and interviewed unsuccessfully with the US-UK Fulbright commission if you had any specific questions for me (either publicly or privately). The general tip I would have, is make sure they are impressed by how impactful your work is. My first project was on synthetic chemistry to improve cancer outcomes (no one in the panel was even remotely STEM-related), but based on their follow up questions I don't think they really understood why I thought my project was important and generally seemed bored (so I wish I explained it more fundamentally and was more engaging). Interestingly though, when they found out I started my academic career in the humanities, mentioning an award I won on postmodern American fiction, they lit up like a match. So I guess a major tip is know your audience. If you have any specific questions, let me know!

Great answer! Thank you! I felt that my panel was engaged, so I'm hoping this increases my chances for an award.

[catsbloom]

@Sigwarz - Yes, you can add yourself to the spreadsheet!

[catsbloom]

On 3/5/2017 at 6:55 PM, edon16 said:

Thanks! It's tomorrow (Monday) morning at 9 a.m. EST. No, they didn't give a range of dates - they pretty much offered Monday between 4-6 p.m. (GMT +2), but I'll be sure to ask them about their anticipated timeline for decision making. 

@edon16 - I forgot to ask, how was your interview?

[Horb]

Hopefully people hear today! Looking through the spreadsheet, it looks like today and tomorrow would be popular notification days as well as next week.  

[Photogeographic]

20 minutes ago, Horb said:

Hopefully people hear today! Looking through the spreadsheet, it looks like today and tomorrow would be popular notification days as well as next week.  

I really hope so!!!

[edon16]

25 minutes ago, catsbloom said:

@edon16 - I forgot to ask, how was your interview?

Hi! It ended up feeling like a really good conversation and less of an under-the-microscope kind of interview, for which I was thankful. They asked me questions similar to what they asked you (what led me to Bulgaria, host community engagement, etc.), but then also a few specific to my application/answers. I tried my best, and that's been a primary goal throughout this process. They seem confident that IIE will notify us by the end of March.

Def. gonna get a "~no regERts~" tattoo or something to commemorate post-interview life.

[inkstainedarm]

9 hours ago, Sigwarz said:

It went well, but naturally I have my doubts. Everyone was friendly and I did get some feedback from them when I asked them questions. One person from the panel thought my project was very clear and that I was well-informed in my field. The question regarding US politics was tricky, with the current political atmosphere not supporting environmental initiatives (I am doing my Masters in Conservation and Biodiversity), however I think I answered diplomatically. I tried to take a nap before the interview, which did not happen (too excited). So I basically stayed up. Good luck to us! Thanks for the heads up for late March. This is something to look forward to! 

I saw the spreadsheet on fulbright applicants. Do I add myself to the spreadsheet? 

Thanks for all this great info/fulbright forum!

Wait--were you asked a question on US politics? That's so interesting, because I definitely was not asked that, and yet their interview FAQ say that interviewees are all asked the same questions! My questions were more about what I would bring to the UK, where I would travel in the UK, leadership experience/style, and why the Fulbright was important to me.

[Dilemma1]

2 minutes ago, inkstainedarm said:

Wait--were you asked a question on US politics? That's so interesting, because I definitely was not asked that, and yet their interview FAQ say that interviewees are all asked the same questions! My questions were more about what I would bring to the UK, where I would travel in the UK, leadership experience/style, and why the Fulbright was important to me.

For my interview they asked the same questions about what I'd bring to the UK, where I would go, leadership experience/style, and why Fulbright was important but the US question was: "What is a current US issue/topic that you would have to* explain once you were in the UK.    *(need to? I can't exactly remember what word they used)   I chose to talk about immigration.  I was prepping for a question about a current UK topic or something about the current administration, so it was a slightly different twist.  I think we are asked the same questions from a list but maybe they can't get to all of them in the 15 minutes if they ask a lot side questions or if the interviewee's response takes up a larger portion of the interview.

[UWI17]

Hey All!

Is timing about the same as it was for the Semi-finalists? Should I expect the afternoon or has it varied from year to year?

-C

[Dilemma1]

16 minutes ago, UWI17 said:

Hey All!

Is timing about the same as it was for the Semi-finalists? Should I expect the afternoon or has it varied from year to year?

-C

It varies greatly between awards.  Last year I found out in the morning and from the spreadsheet it seems like afternoons are just as common.  It's a hard thing to prepare for since there's no way of knowing what day the announcements for each country will happen!