Fulbright 2017-2018

[DogsArePeopleToo]

Hello everyone,

I'm an international Fulbright finalist starting my master's degree in the US this fall, hopefully. I was wondering if any of you have received your final placements yet. In the case of our cohorts, we just received our "submission plans" but no information on where we might end up.

[hank.img]

1 hour ago, Dash123 said:

I'm sure it's different between countries (I'm an alternate for Czech ETA). But the email I received seemed to imply that the finalists are encouraged to give their answers within a month. I take that to mean that our best chance is in the next month, if someone denies their grant (maybe because they found another opportunity or can't go). After a month, I'll probably give up hope personally and then just treat it like a lottery that I might magically win but probably won't hah.

@Dash123 Yeah I agree. I also came to a conclusion that even if someone denies his/her grant, I would only get it if that person had the similar profile as me.

For example, if a certain university is in need for a STEM background ETA more so than Humanities/Language background ETA, that university probably picked someone from STEM. Since I am also a STEM major, I would only get the award if the selected individual for that university denies the award for whatever reason. Although the official Fulbright website states my country's current need/preference is someone from STEM background, not all universities are looking for a STEM major so there's the reduction in my probability already. Furthermore, my major is not the only thing that defines my profile. It could easily include race, school level, side-project type, or whatever else that might meet their own "quota". So I am very curious as to how they specifically picked out the alternates. Therefore, it also made me wonder if there is basically an alternate (or two) for every university/institution that wanted an ETA and if we would only move up when our specific "finalist pair" declined. 

On that note, let's not forget that our new political leadership in America is not a huge supporter for expansion in Department of Education. It's leaning towards either a cut or maintenance of the current funding from the articles I've been reading. It would be most likely for extra spots to open up if more universities/institutions from the host country decides to participate and contribute somewhat financially to this program.

Please don't get me wrong, I am very grateful for the status I got as an alternate. I just want to decode the mystery of alternate selection process. Also OBVIOUSLY we won't be able to figure out completely what is going on here but I thought I'd share what is going through my head at the moment.

Oh and one more thing... It's an honor to be surrounded by such self-driven and dedicated individuals on this forum.  

[Horb]

Had a dream last night that my subject line said PNSA. Not sure what that means, but thanks subconscious.

[yoh_rrg]

7 hours ago, Jess2323 said:

So this may be readily available somewhere- but - does anyone know how ETA placement works? Do you find out with an acceptance what region your placed in or does this come later? 

I think it depends heavily on country.  For example I am a semi-finalist for the Netherlands where ETAs are being selected by the schools themselves because the schools are actually the ones paying the fee (as opposed to the education department putting up the funding where schools are less involved).  So if accepted, I would be able to almost immediately find out what school (and therefore what area) I would be in. From my conversations with former ETAs in Thailand and Poland (or was it Poland? I can't remember with certainty), that was not the case for them because they were not specifically selected by a particular school so they had to wait a while to learn exactly what school they would be placed in.  I imagine that once you are accepted you can ask the country what their process or timeline is.

[beamurray]

@yoh_rrg Do you think we will hear from the Netherlands today? 

[AKACaz]

8 hours ago, gogotime said:

We didn't have any special hoops to jump through.  Placements just won't be offered in the Donbass region/Crimea.  Everywhere outside of the Donbass is calm and chill. I think I got asked a few questions based off of my interest to go to Ukraine given that I work in Russia, but otherwise nothing special or overly whack.

Interesting! Thanks, and best of luck :-)

[Horb]

Does anyone know when they open? Or when the earliest release of results is?

[catsbloom]

9 minutes ago, Horb said:

Does anyone know when they open? Or when the earliest release of results is?

Unless there's some sort of delay due to the weather, I imagine the office must be open by now. Fingers crossed we don't have to wait until the afternoon to see new notifications. 

[thepictureisstill]

6 minutes ago, catsbloom said:

Unless there's some sort of delay due to the weather, I imagine the office must be open by now. Fingers crossed we don't have to wait until the afternoon to see new notifications. 

I assume they will send notices beginning at 10/10:30am.

[srhkdr]

8 hours ago, Jess2323 said:

So this may be readily available somewhere- but - does anyone know how ETA placement works? Do you find out with an acceptance what region your placed in or does this come later? 

So I haven't gotten my placement yet (notified on Monday), but after talking with a current Czech ETA, it sounds like they already have placements for us, we just haven't heard yet. I'm assuming I'll hear soon because they ask the city of placement on a couple different forms that are due pretty quickly. 

Hope that helps!

[ACF]

Anyone on this thread waiting on announcements for Turkey ? 

Edited March 15, 2017 by ACF

[yoh_rrg]

@beamurray I certainly hope so.  I have the day off today for snow so I'm even more anxious than if I could at least go in to work!

[thepictureisstill]

1 hour ago, ACF said:

Anyone on this thread waiting on announcements for Turkey ? 

I'm not waiting on Turkey, but I lived in Kadikoy, Istanbul this past summer and it was such a wonderful experience. The Turks have an exceptional sense of hospitality and, the food, omg! Sending you positive energy for your award.

[Horb]

Germany pretty much always notified this week...really hoping they don't do it late!

Side note: what does the highlighted blue mean on the spreadsheet?

Edited March 15, 2017 by Horb

[Lab6214]

Any tweet saying if they are open or not today? If they are closed I can at least stop refreshing my email even if the nerves don't go away... 

[Horb]

1 minute ago, Lab6214 said:

Any tweet saying if they are open or not today? If they are closed I can at least stop refreshing my email even if the nerves don't go away... 

If they were open yesterday, they should be open today.

[edon16]

10 minutes ago, Horb said:

Germany pretty much always notified this week...really hoping they don't do it late!

Side note: what does the highlighted blue mean on the spreadsheet?

The only pattern I can make out is those are countries whose dates from last year have already passed (or are coming up soon)... I think the hope is that they will announce soon.

[daishahistory]

I had a dream two nights ago that the UK will release today. I kept repeating March 15th... 

[jmhawkin24]

Surprised that none of the Asian countries have released...waiting anxiously!

[Promixmagus]

4 minutes ago, jmhawkin24 said:

Surprised that none of the Asian countries have released...waiting anxiously!

From what I saw in the google doc, most are early-mid April. 

[gogotime]

From what I heard from my interview, most of us should be hearing back by the end of March this year so that applicants can remain competitive and prepared for all sorts of different positions and fellowships.

[theanine]

For anyone else waiting to hear about Korea ETA, looks like the last three years notification has been given on a Wednesday. 4/16/14, 4/1/15, 3/23/16.

So I'm thinking it'll be the 22nd, 29th, 5th, or 12th. It would be tite if we could know today but I sincerely doubt it. I'm so sick of the uncertainty!!! I submitted my app in like early August so it's just been a whole lot of waiting for the past eight months. Grateful to still be under consideration though, of course! Last year I wasn't so lucky

[Horb]

2 minutes ago, theanine said:

For anyone else waiting to hear about Korea ETA, looks like the last three years notification has been given on a Wednesday. 4/16/14, 4/1/15, 3/23/16.

So I'm thinking it'll be the 22nd, 29th, 5th, or 12th. It would be tite if we could know today but I sincerely doubt it. I'm so sick of the uncertainty!!! I submitted my app in like early August so it's just been a whole lot of waiting for the past eight months. Grateful to still be under consideration though, of course! Last year I wasn't so lucky

Whoa! Why did you submit it so early?

[theanine]

1 minute ago, Horb said:

Whoa! Why did you submit it so early?

I was confident about my essays and wanted to wash my hands of it! Well, my institution had a deadline in September and so I had an interview with them, but they didn't recommend any changes to my application so I effectively submitted it in August. If only it was a rolling application lmao. 

[Horb]

1 minute ago, theanine said:

I was confident about my essays and wanted to wash my hands of it! Well, my institution had a deadline in September and so I had an interview with them, but they didn't recommend any changes to my application so I effectively submitted it in August. If only it was a rolling application lmao. 

Ah, I see! Yeah, I started my app in May and finished the first week of September for my internal deadline, but I mainly only changed some wording thereafter.