Fulbright 2017-2018

[ibette]

2 minutes ago, Horb said:

idk. I've kinda of given up getting it. I shot myself in the foot discussing far-right politics, so I worry about final stages of approval and even just approval in general...At this point, I just want to know

My personal statement discussed my experiences as an immigrant crossing the border. And with all the recent changes in administration, I feel ya. 

[imshively]

Hey friends! I've been following this forum for a while and this is my first post - Malta ETA announced this morning. Like many of you, I received the dreaded (A). Good luck to those of you who are still waiting and best wishes to everyone else. All of you have been a great source of solace for me throughout this process - even if I essentially just watched you guys talk!

[momo25]

Earth to the U.K.!! Where are you?!?!

[Horb]

13 minutes ago, ibette said:

My personal statement discussed my experiences as an immigrant crossing the border. And with all the recent changes in administration, I feel ya. 

I hope you get your grant! The PS is so hard because we pour so much of ourselves into it and I can't imagine having to write that back in August/September. I really hope you get that (P) in the subject line!

[King Sahl Sociology]

8 minutes ago, momo25 said:

Earth to the U.K.!! Where are you?!?!

Where did you apply

[momo25]

3 minutes ago, Stormtrooper1138 said:

Where did you apply

Royal Holloway

[lexkour]

Andorra ETA was announced today!!! Any other finalist here? 

The clarity, despite what fate, was much needed. Good luck everyone who awaits with impatience. 

[Lab6214]

Looks like Armenia just came out! Congrats to any of you who got one!

[Lab6214]

2 minutes ago, lexkour said:

Andorra ETA was announced today!!! Any other finalist here? 

The clarity, despite what fate, was much needed. Good luck everyone who awaits with impatience. 

Congrats! I'm a Spain ETA and am hoping to visit Andorra at some point. Maybe we will run into each other!

[pengpolaruin]

Looks like Ukraine ETA also was just announced?? CONGRATS all

[aheather]

8 hours ago, edon16 said:

oh my god hahahaha. Please tell me you've used the carbonated bubble clay mask (elizavecca), and I'm super into the belif line right now. HI NEW FRIEND.

I haven't gotten that one yet!!! Is it actually any good? I was worried it was just gimmicky. I did get a skinfood mask that I adore

Haven't tried the belif line, but I'm in the market for a toner and eye cream if theirs are any good!

[minswho]

I'm considering drinking scotch at 2 pm at a professional conference at this point 

Fulbright should really give out voucher for meditation clinic or something with the semi-finalist notifications 

[Horb]

Whelp. I guess no Germany today. OH WELL.

[thepictureisstill]

2 minutes ago, minswho said:

I'm considering drinking scotch at 2 pm at a professional conference at this point 

Fulbright should really give out voucher for meditation clinic or something with the semi-finalist notifications 

I support both of these sentiments. 

[Lab6214]

I made this in case anyone is interested. Feedback welcome! I'm pretty new to couchsurfing myself but there was no group for Fulbrighters. Now there is!

https://www.couchsurfing.com/groups/fulbrighters

[ibette]

3 minutes ago, Horb said:

Whelp. I guess no Germany today. OH WELL.

Should we wait for 5:30PM? I am so confused, how can they release ETA and not Research for the same country? FFS what is going on

[Horb]

1 minute ago, ibette said:

Should we wait for 5:30PM? I am so confused, how can they release ETA and not Research for the same country? FFS what is going on

There's actually a few countries that release ETA and Research separately (Germany, for one example). I guess we can wait until 5.30pm EST.

[jmhawkin24]

Did anyone call East-Asia by chance? Not a single country yet 

[ibette]

1 minute ago, Horb said:

There's actually a few countries that release ETA and Research separately (Germany, for one example). I guess we can wait until 5.30pm EST.

I've noticed that this year. I was looking at past years and it seems like the office waits right before they close to release e-mails. Knowing that Colombia ETA has been released but not the Research makes me think I am going to get the dreaded NS. It doesn't help some of the previous notification dates on the spreadsheets don't indicate the time (as in, if ETA is released earlier in the day, then Research later, or simultaneously??). I just find it very annoying I am the only one right now in the Research category for Colombia this year and don't have a fellow peer to gripe about our decision e-mails (or find out if they actually know their status because they are (P) or (A) and I happen to be NS). 

[aheather]

2 minutes ago, jmhawkin24 said:

Did anyone call East-Asia by chance? Not a single country yet 

I haven't called them, but the sheer force of my will is going to result in Malaysia notifications one day soon

[Horb]

1 minute ago, ibette said:

I've noticed that this year. I was looking at past years and it seems like the office waits right before they close to release e-mails. Knowing that Colombia ETA has been released but not the Research makes me think I am going to get the dreaded NS. It doesn't help some of the previous notification dates on the spreadsheets don't indicate the time (as in, if ETA is released earlier in the day, then Research later, or simultaneously??). I just find it very annoying I am the only one right now in the Research category for Colombia this year and don't have a fellow peer to gripe about our decision e-mails (or find out if they actually know their status because they are (P) or (A) and I happen to be NS). 

I know I'm not a Colombia research person, but feel free to gripe with me! I don't understand why they'd separate it either.

[ibette]

4 minutes ago, Horb said:

I know I'm not a Colombia research person, but feel free to gripe with me! I don't understand why they'd separate it either.

It makes me think they are unhappy with the country's choices for their Research awards and are going back and forth with them to re-arrange the finalists order. Don't know, but Colombia is in CT so they better be finalizing their list I just really want to know so I know if I have to renew my apartment lease or what. Also, it seems like the latest e-mail they have released was for Poland at 5:42PM ET so we have another 20 minutes or so to stress. 

[maelia8]

23 minutes ago, ibette said:

Should we wait for 5:30PM? I am so confused, how can they release ETA and not Research for the same country? FFS what is going on

Oh, did they already release Germany ETA? When? Congratulations to the successful ETA applicants!

[Horb]

1 minute ago, maelia8 said:

Oh, did they already release Germany ETA? When? Congratulations to the successful ETA applicants!

That was in reference to Colombia. 

[mckenna81]

As someone who was responsible for admissions for a very large university program, maybe I can help shed some light on the notification gaps.

Granted, I was working on a much smaller scale than Fulbright in terms of people to notify, but I was responsible for sending 600-800 notifications each year via email. This also involved multiple emails to those accepted, sort of like the emails to principal candidates.

It is an excruciatingly slow process, even when you're using automated mail merges and things like that, which I'm sure the Fulbright coordinators are. Each letter has to be checked, and often the emails have to be individually crafted. If I was in charge of sending the emails, I would separate the awards (student/ETA/scholar/etc) in order to ensure that the work was being done in batches and that people weren't being unnecessarily kept waiting. 

Someone mentioned that maybe it means that they're deliberating more about the ones that haven't gone out. I doubt that's the case. I would imagine it's more organizational than anything and - though I understand people's instincts - the coordinators are likely slowed down by all the people calling. 

Like I said, I was an admissions coordinator, not a Fulbright coordinator, so I'm sure they have different processes. But I want to encourage people not to try to prognosticate too much based on the order or timing of notifications. It's probably got nothing to do with us. I also understand the instinct to call (I, too, am going nuts waiting to hear) but really the best thing is to let the coordinators do their work, particularly since we've seen that calls rarely yield useful info.