Fulbright 2018-2019

[erein42]

@Jjrrjrj what country did you submit for?

[Jjrrjrj]

@erein42 to Mexico!

[gotmilk332]

57 minutes ago, Jjrrjrj said:

@erein42 to Mexico!

Mexico applicants already heard back. Did you check your spam folder? If not contact your advisor maybe

[Jjrrjrj]

@erein42 @gotmilk332, I just emailed Fulbright (FBstudent@iie.org)  1/31 asking them if they had an update on initial notification emails that have not yet been sent, and within 3 minutes the department of state forwarded me an acceptance email! Mexico ETA. Since so many Mexico ETA applicants had already heard back and were already being scheduled for interviews, I assumed I was rejected,  but that just goes to show that you can only decipher so much about the selection process from a forum. 

 

If you haven't heard back, maybe try reaching out to Fulbright! It was helpful for me.  Good luck! 

Edited January 31, 2018 by Jjrrjrj

[poopmuncher69]

I was rejected on the 26th. Then I just got an email today saying that there was more funding and I am now a semifinalist for Brazil. Did this happen to anyone else?

[ellevine]

4 hours ago, imagata said:

So for those who are semi-finalists, who exactly is reviewing our application in our host country? I applied to Spain and was wondering if it was this group of people: https://fulbright.es/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Junta-de-Gobierno-y-Secretariaagosto2017-1.pdf .

Hi @imagata, I'm a Spain Research semi-finalist too!

First off- I'm wondering where on the fulbright.es site you found this?

After doing a little searching, these seem to be predominantly diplomatic figures (e.g. Minister of Higher Education)...I'm not sure how knowledgeable they'd be in evaluating our proposals. That being said, perhaps they don't need to be qualified as such; the American NSCs are so thorough perhaps they do most of the legwork so that these political committees in-country can simply choose what seems most aligned with their agenda and goals.

Just speculating, of course.

[dam03170]

3 hours ago, Jjrrjrj said:

has anyone still not received an initial notification email? Still waiting for one..

I still haven't heard anything back. I applied for Norway ETA.

[erein42]

I sent an email about 3 hours ago and I haven't heard a thing ???

[ginahyena1]

@erein42 @AMill @MeltaMarky I also applied for an ETA in Turkey and just got this email from my FA: 

I received an email [from Fulbright] yesterday stating, “As you know, the ETA Program in Turkey has been suspended for the last two years due to security concerns.  The Fulbright Commission and U.S. State Department are evaluating the situation and hoped to have a decision this week regarding the viability of the 2018-19 ETA program. If Turkey ETA candidates reach out to you, please let them know that we will have an answer for them as soon as the status of the program has been decided for 2018-2019.”  

Hope this helps!

[b_dos_lattes]

1 hour ago, poopmuncher69 said:

I was rejected on the 26th. Then I just got an email today saying that there was more funding and I am now a semifinalist for Brazil. Did this happen to anyone else?

yes. also Brazil. wonder how many additional awards there will be... 

[ibette]

3 minutes ago, b_dos_lattes said:

yes. also Brazil. wonder how many additional awards there will be... 

Just FYI, Brasil sometimes randomly comes up with money for ETAs. I remember on the application cycle of 2013-2014, they randomly added 40 additional spots and encouraged other ETA applicants from different regions to apply to that country. Last year, Fulbright sent out a call for 90 spots to go to Brasil in the middle of March because additional funding surged (I believe the deadline was in June so participants could start their Fulbright in January). 

[dam03170]

2 hours ago, erein42 said:

I sent an email about 3 hours ago and I haven't heard a thing ???

The same thing happened to me. I’m going to call tomorrow. I’m glad I found this forum, or I would have waited forever to find out! 

 

[Kathleen517]

I emailed their general application inquiries team earlier today (before noon CST) and did not receive a response until after 4:30.  In case anyone else is waiting on an email response from them, I think that it may just be taking them a while to respond.  They're probably being flooded with questions now.  But I'm a semi-finalist for Georgia, so I was happy to receive the good news no matter how long it took

[MeltaMarky]

I still have yet to hear anything regarding Turkey. I sent them an email tonight, hopefully something will come back this week. Wishing all my possible Turkish compatriots the best of luck! Inshallah we'll see each other one day! Keep you posted

[Tada77]

Help!  I just got a notice to interview for a Colombia ETA.  I'm excited but I wasn't expecting it so fast.  Anybody else for Colombia get one?  Any advice or knowledge would help.  My Spanish is conversational, but I do get stuck, so I'm a little nervous and of course want to prep.  Good luck everyone!

[heretofulbright]

2 hours ago, MeltaMarky said:

I still have yet to hear anything regarding Turkey. I sent them an email tonight, hopefully something will come back this week. Wishing all my possible Turkish compatriots the best of luck! Inshallah we'll see each other one day! Keep you posted

Merhaba, selamlar Ben de biraz Turkce konusorum. Sen de? I honestly would had applied for Turkey, but the program cancellations felt too risky for me.

[rosalyn]

16 hours ago, ibette said:

I would suggest keep doing things and planning for job applications with little consideration to the grant at this point. There are 1.5x-2x the amount of applicants that are in the same semi-finalist pool as you so things are still up in the air at this point. The ETAs in my country said they had already applied for jobs and admitted to grad schools before they knew about their finalist status and some were able to defer. I think in the end, it is better to have options on what to do next. The only thing I would avoid is signing a rental lease of some form because that happened to one of the last year applicants in my cohort. She got the grant for Ireland and had to continue paying her rent during her Fulbright since Ireland took forever to disclose final notifications. 

Yeah, I’m just wondering what others are doing. Most of the positions I’m looking at would require relocation. I didn’t expect to make it to the second round because of the nature of my project, so I’d planned to throw myself into looking for jobs once I’d been rejected. Developed a coping mechanism before anything bad had even happened. Lol.

My friends who are moving on to grad school from the work force have been saying that, in their experience, giving two weeks’ notice (nothing more) is the best idea if I don’t hear back from Fulbright before I have to accept an offer/start work. I SHOULD hear back before whatever my start date would be, though, unless I end up being an alternate... Of course, this is assuming anyone wants to hire me!

This is so stressful! ? I didn’t think anything could be more stressful than waiting for the alternate results for CLS; I was so wrong.

[cafelove]

On 1/30/2018 at 2:55 PM, French_Wannabe said:

Hi @whale_shark @Monsieur Vénus and @cafelove - I am also a semi-finalist for ETA in France! For TAPIF I believe I put Strasbourg as my #1 and cannot remember the others. I was too focused on actually getting the application completed and forgot to save a copy of it for myself. In any case- best of luck to you all! I'm not very familiar with grad cafe yet so i'm not even sure if this is the correct way to reply. Have any of you studied French/in France or have traveled there? If so, where? Just curious  

Hi! Yes, I've done two study abroad summer programs in Avignon, offered by my college. It was an amazing program, and since it was during their famous theater festival, I got to see a bunch of plays and other performances. I think I want to be in the northern part of France, if accepted for Fulbright/TAPIF - just for a change    Also if I had known the extent to which Fulbright looks at our TAPIF applications, I think I would have put more care into my TAPIF essay. lol. I'm not even sure I checked for grammar. whoops 

[French_Wannabe]

2 hours ago, cafelove said:

Hi! Yes, I've done two study abroad summer programs in Avignon, offered by my college. It was an amazing program, and since it was during their famous theater festival, I got to see a bunch of plays and other performances. I think I want to be in the northern part of France, if accepted for Fulbright/TAPIF - just for a change    Also if I had known the extent to which Fulbright looks at our TAPIF applications, I think I would have put more care into my TAPIF essay. lol. I'm not even sure I checked for grammar. whoops 

@cafelove Yeah that's one thing i'm also concerned about now... I don't understand why they would focus on a completely separate application, but I also should have spent more time on it now that i'm reading these things. Oh well, I can only hope for the best. Best of luck to you! 

I was able to study abroad in Marseille one summer during undergrad. I double majored in Art History and French so I didn't have time for a full semester. I'm now finishing my MA in Art History and I am ready for a change in pace. So we'll see what happens!

[MeltaMarky]

15 hours ago, heretofulbright said:

Merhaba, selamlar Ben de biraz Turkce konusorum. Sen de? I honestly would had applied for Turkey, but the program cancellations felt too risky for me.

@heretofulbright Merhaba! Bende biraz Turkce biliyorum! Undergrad icinde Turkce ogrendim. Sen nerede Turkce ogrendin? What Fulbright program did you apply for?

[savay]

I've noticed a few more Iceland applicants on the spreadsheet. If y'all are on the forum it'd be great to connect and commiserate during the wait! Our projects seem excitingly disparate!

 

[AMill]

On 1/31/2018 at 1:14 PM, ginahyena1 said:

@erein42 @AMill @MeltaMarky I also applied for an ETA in Turkey and just got this email from my FA: 

I received an email [from Fulbright] yesterday stating, “As you know, the ETA Program in Turkey has been suspended for the last two years due to security concerns.  The Fulbright Commission and U.S. State Department are evaluating the situation and hoped to have a decision this week regarding the viability of the 2018-19 ETA program. If Turkey ETA candidates reach out to you, please let them know that we will have an answer for them as soon as the status of the program has been decided for 2018-2019.”  

Hope this helps!

Thank you, this helps a LOT. Silence is often more uncomfortable than hearing unfortunate news of a pending program. But thank you, I appreciate this as I'm sure the other applicants do as well. 

[ibette]

On 1/31/2018 at 10:34 PM, Tada77 said:

Help!  I just got a notice to interview for a Colombia ETA.  I'm excited but I wasn't expecting it so fast.  Anybody else for Colombia get one?  Any advice or knowledge would help.  My Spanish is conversational, but I do get stuck, so I'm a little nervous and of course want to prep.  Good luck everyone!

I am a current Colombian researcher in Medellin. There are a couple of ETAs I know here in case you want to connect with them you can send me a PM. I am sure some of them would like to help. There weren't any interviews last year so this is new and I don't blame you for being a bit nervous. Also feel free to ask me any questions, I met the ETA coordinators during orientation too and they're very nice. 

[MeltaMarky]

On 1/31/2018 at 4:14 PM, ginahyena1 said:

@erein42 @AMill @MeltaMarky I also applied for an ETA in Turkey and just got this email from my FA: 

I received an email [from Fulbright] yesterday stating, “As you know, the ETA Program in Turkey has been suspended for the last two years due to security concerns.  The Fulbright Commission and U.S. State Department are evaluating the situation and hoped to have a decision this week regarding the viability of the 2018-19 ETA program. If Turkey ETA candidates reach out to you, please let them know that we will have an answer for them as soon as the status of the program has been decided for 2018-2019.”  

Hope this helps!

@ginahyena1 @AMill @erein42 

I can now validate this message as I've received the same :

Hello  Marcus,

 

For the last two years, the ETA Program in Turkey has been suspended due to security concerns.  The Fulbright Commission and U.S. State Department are evaluating the situation and hope to have a decision shortly regarding the viability of the 2018-19 ETA program.  Consequently, the State Department has requested that IIE delay notifying applicants to Turkey pending the outcome.

 

Applicants to Turkey will be notified once an update is available.

 

All the best,

Sarah

 

I hope they don't cancel it again... It's been my dream since undergrad to live and work in Turkey

[Maverick_88]

Hey all,

I received an interview date earlier this week for Research in Luxembourg and was wondering how those of you, whose host countries interview, are preparing for the big day