Fulbright 2018-2019

[Spike_Junkie]

@poindexter Open Study, yourself? I was doing well not thinking about the award until recently, now I am bugging out trying to figure out if I am going to be overseas in the fall. I gotta make two different plans without a ton of time to change what I am doing if I dont get the award. Either way I am going to be rushed though; c'est la vie. I am going to be in DC in April, if you are still there and we both get an award maybe we can grab a beer. Cheers, or I should say veel succes

[poindexter]

@Spike_Junkie open study as well. i was hoping you'd answer partner award so i could cross you off the competitor list . i live and work in dc, so feel free to drop me a line when you visit--i'm happy to provide recommendations or meet up to celebrate and/or weep. bedanken en veel succes!

[Chris K]

On 2/20/2018 at 1:43 PM, princesslex said:

Hey Chris!

I am also a semi-finalist for research in Greece! This is a late response, but just so you know I did not have an interview. My FPA was asking around for information in interviews and couldn’t find anything, so she told me to email Greece. I did, and this was their response:

“Greetings from Fulbright Greece.  The selection of the US Fulbright ETA Students has an interview component for all applicants that make it to final round.  There is always the possibility of an interview with the finalists of the US Fulbright Student research program as well, but mainly when we need clarifications about your project and/or affiliations in Greece.  In any event, if such a need arises we will inform you and provide best times/dates to discuss.”

What research topic and affiliation did apply with? I’ll be working at the Univeristy of Athens on a geology project.

Good luck to you!!

Sorry for the late reply, I have been swamped with grant proposals, but on a positive note, I received several scholarships from my department (History/Ohio State University) and will be spending a month in Greece and 2 weeks in Albania this summer.

I looked over Fulbright Greece's website and calendar and noticed that on 3-22 there is a note about graduate student interviews--I have not heard anything, though.  

I am a PhD Student in History (modern Europe with an emphasis on the Balkans) and I applied for my dissertation research which is about the effects of a military occupation at the northern Greek border with Albania (1912-1916), such as population displacement, involuntary nationalization, and religious conversions (Muslim to Christian).  I will mainly be doing archival research but I am also looking at memory and commemoration.  If I receive the fellowship, I am spending 6 months in Athens at the University of Athens and 3 months in Ioannina at the University of Ioannina (I secured letters and affiliation at both).  My only concern is that I'm almost fluent in Greek and have been there about 5 times for research (undergrad and MA) and the Fulbright committees tend to want people with less in-country experience.  Not to mention my project can be perceived as touching on a virulent  nationalist debate about about southern Albania belonging to the Greek state, although that is not really what my research is about.

Best of luck to you! And, if we both get the fellowship we will be meeting.  I know Athens like the back of my hand; I would be happy to meet for coffee and show you around.

[ItsAllTheyHad]

On 3/1/2018 at 9:32 PM, dbookworm said:

Longtime lurker, semi-finalist for country in Central Asia, had my interview last week and felt decent about it! It's my second time applying and I was an alternate last time, so I'm really hoping to get it! Sending lots of good wishes to everyone applying, hopefully they're punctual with their notifications.

Best of luck to you! Central Asia is full of raw beauty. I finished my interview for Russia last week as well. Now comes the long wait. 

[dbookworm]

7 hours ago, ItsAllTheyHad said:

Best of luck to you! Central Asia is full of raw beauty. I finished my interview for Russia last week as well. Now comes the long wait. 

Thanks so much!! It's so gorgeous & such a fascinating place, I really hope it works out. Fingers crossed for you and Russia! Did you apply for ETA or research?

[Monsieur Vénus]

On 2/27/2018 at 2:39 PM, Samye23 said:

I am going to defer...I have unofficially heard that I'll likely be able to keep my funding if I defer (aka my boss asked and implied they said yes) so that's pretty awesome. I only applied for one school (since I knew I wanted to go there and work with one person in particular - my mentor for my masters) so if they say no then I'll look at applying again next year. The only downside to that is that my GRE scores expire this year...  

 

Congrats on getting into multiple programs with funding! Are you going to ask to see which will let you defer, or do you think you'll just re-apply?

That's great that you already somewhat know that they will let you defer and keep your funding! I'm probably going to see which programs will let me defer and keep my funding as well, but one of my professors recommended to me that I wait to see if I actually receive the Fulbright before I begin discussing deferment with my programs. It's making me so nervous, though, haha

[ItsAllTheyHad]

14 hours ago, dbookworm said:

Thanks so much!! It's so gorgeous & such a fascinating place, I really hope it works out. Fingers crossed for you and Russia! Did you apply for ETA or research?

Very excited for you. Keep me updated if you become a finalist! I applied for ETA.

[Samye23]

4 hours ago, Monsieur Vénus said:

That's great that you already somewhat know that they will let you defer and keep your funding! I'm probably going to see which programs will let me defer and keep my funding as well, but one of my professors recommended to me that I wait to see if I actually receive the Fulbright before I begin discussing deferment with my programs. It's making me so nervous, though, haha

Yeah, I'm waiting until I hear either way before I officially ask my University (if there is even a need to ask). I am so eager to hear baaaack!! I believe my country takes 30 people, so I keep telling myself "it's 50/50 chance at this point, stay positive" but the closer it gets to notifications the more nervous I get!

[ibette]

Happy March everyone, I expect some of you will be hearing as soon as this week. Good luck to all ! 

[lemoncurdle]

Got an email from my country program this morning.  During my interview they said they would try to notify me this week, but my new email says that they likely won't be able to notify until April due to the State Dept. being on a "continuing resolution" on the topic of funding.  I don't know if this only applies to my country, or if it applies to all of us...

 

The last paragraph of the email really confused me, because they said they look forward to meeting me in person and that they're excited about what I plan to do.  I don't know if this means they plan to except me (if funding works out, of course) or if this was just a stock email they sent out to all semi-finalists for my country.

 

Either way, it was terrifying to see in my inbox, because the email preview said "Thank you for your interview with us. Unfortunately..."

[heretofulbright]

6 minutes ago, lemoncurdle said:

Got an email from my country program this morning.  During my interview they said they would try to notify me this week, but my new email says that they likely won't be able to notify until April due to the State Dept. being on a "continuing resolution" on the topic of funding.  I don't know if this only applies to my country, or if it applies to all of us...

 

The last paragraph of the email really confused me, because they said they look forward to meeting me in person and that they're excited about what I plan to do.  I don't know if this means they plan to except me (if funding works out, of course) or if this was just a stock email they sent out to all semi-finalists for my country.

 

Either way, it was terrifying to see in my inbox, because the email preview said "Thank you for your interview with us. Unfortunately..."

What country????

[thepictureisstill]

1 hour ago, lemoncurdle said:

Got an email from my country program this morning.  During my interview they said they would try to notify me this week, but my new email says that they likely won't be able to notify until April due to the State Dept. being on a "continuing resolution" on the topic of funding.  I don't know if this only applies to my country, or if it applies to all of us...

 

The last paragraph of the email really confused me, because they said they look forward to meeting me in person and that they're excited about what I plan to do.  I don't know if this means they plan to except me (if funding works out, of course) or if this was just a stock email they sent out to all semi-finalists for my country.

 

Either way, it was terrifying to see in my inbox, because the email preview said "Thank you for your interview with us. Unfortunately..."

Yes, please do tell us where you applied. Are you ETA? Research?

Ireland didn't notify until April 10 last year so I'm not holding my breath for any notification until April 1.

[rayodeluna]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am sort of freaking out that Spain applicants will likely be hearing in the next ~2 weeks! It feels like we just made it through the first gauntlet... I'd be content to ride that high for another couple of months. 

[TheaterOfDreams]

Don't mean to panic anyone, but...

 

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-op-0301-trump-fulbright-20180227-story.html

[Chris K]

14 minutes ago, TheaterOfDreams said:

Don't mean to panic anyone, but...

 

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-op-0301-trump-fulbright-20180227-story.html

Yes, I am aware of this.  If this were to happen, it will probably not affect Fulbright IIE until the 20-21 academic year.  Fulbright-Hays, on the other hand, is probably gone now.  I was working with my school rep on writing my Fulbright-Hays proposal (its about 20 pages in all for that fellowship) for next academic year.  However, it is now March and they still have yet to even announce the competition this year, meaning it probably is not going to happen.  Unfortunately, Fulbright-Hays was a really good option for us who research in Eastern Europe and Central Asia because it provided the State Department per diem.  So, with a Fulbright-Hays I would have received $3000/m in Greece (including spousal support) and $2700/m while in Albania compared to Fulbright IIE Greece only providing $1350/m.  Don't get me wrong, I will gladly take the IIE were I to receive it, but it would be nice to have Fulbright-Hays as a another option.

Education spending is being cut everywhere and departments across the country are being downsized while funding avenues are disappearing. For example, my department's budget was slashed from $900k/yr to $200k.  Thus, we are accepting less grad students and our summer funding options are now all but non-existent.  I think that this will continue to be a trend, unfortunately.

[TheaterOfDreams]

27 minutes ago, Chris K said:

Yes, I am aware of this.  If this were to happen, it will probably not affect Fulbright IIE until the 20-21 academic year.  Fulbright-Hays, on the other hand, is probably gone now.  I was working with my school rep on writing my Fulbright-Hays proposal (its about 20 pages in all for that fellowship) for next academic year.  However, it is now March and they still have yet to even announce the competition this year, meaning it probably is not going to happen.  Unfortunately, Fulbright-Hays was a really good option for us who research in Eastern Europe and Central Asia because it provided the State Department per diem.  So, with a Fulbright-Hays I would have received $3000/m in Greece (including spousal support) and $2700/m while in Albania compared to Fulbright IIE Greece only providing $1350/m.  Don't get me wrong, I will gladly take the IIE were I to receive it, but it would be nice to have Fulbright-Hays as a another option.

Education spending is being cut everywhere and departments across the country are being downsized while funding avenues are disappearing. For example, my department's budget was slashed from $900k/yr to $200k.  Thus, we are accepting less grad students and our summer funding options are now all but non-existent.  I think that this will continue to be a trend, unfortunately.

Thanks for the clarification and really sorry to about Fulbright-Hays. But, maybe there's still hope?

What makes you say that about Fulbright IIE not being affect until the 20-21 year? Pardon my ignorance, but is it simply how far ahead these budgets are planned? Essentially, I'm asking if the budget for this cycle has already been allocated in a previous budget?

Thanks!

[ellevine]

9 hours ago, rayodeluna said:

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am sort of freaking out that Spain applicants will likely be hearing in the next ~2 weeks! It feels like we just made it through the first gauntlet... I'd be content to ride that high for another couple of months. 

What makes you feel it'll be so soon? I'm a Spain applicant too (Research), so I'm wondering if I missed something that could give me hope for hearing sooner than I expected (April).

Best of luck!

[Chris K]

1 hour ago, TheaterOfDreams said:

Thanks for the clarification and really sorry to about Fulbright-Hays. But, maybe there's still hope?

What makes you say that about Fulbright IIE not being affect until the 20-21 year? Pardon my ignorance, but is it simply how far ahead these budgets are planned? Essentially, I'm asking if the budget for this cycle has already been allocated in a previous budget?

Thanks!

Don't hold me to this, but my understanding from my uni rep is that funds have been allocated to IIE for another academic year beyond this one.  Plus, host countries also have funding tied up with IIE and are involved in sending their students here as well.  Fulbright-Hays has/had a large budget and was funded solely from the State Department to send American students to what is deemed "critical regions," i.e: areas that the state department wants to get more knowledge about and areas that pose "security risks."  But, at the same time, Fulbright-Hays was supposed to be funded for this cycle, too.

Nothing is set in stone and things can change at any minute, so who knows?!  I am just going to try and exhaust every possible avenue of funding for dissertation research.

[lemoncurdle]

18 hours ago, heretofulbright said:

What country????

 

17 hours ago, thepictureisstill said:

Yes, please do tell us where you applied. Are you ETA? Research?

Ireland didn't notify until April 10 last year so I'm not holding my breath for any notification until April 1.

Ukraine ETA. 

[bbybugbrain]

Has anyone else gotten an email saying that their official transcript wasn't received?  I'm freaking out because 1) I sent mine, and have confirmation that I sent it, and 2) when I went to resend it right now realized I couldn't because my student account is on financial hold (I called financial services at my undergrad and they said it could take a week to resolve this issue).

The email said that not getting my transcript in ASAP could affect when I hear back.  What should I do  I've already emailed Fulbright, my Fulbright Adviser, Financial Services, and the Registrar.

 

[msmith1990]

Yes, there are a few of us over on the spreadsheet chat who got that email. From all of our cases, it sounds like it's probably an administrative error. I've emailed my Fulbright advisor and responded to the email. My advisor's advice was to get in touch with them immediately, and if I don't hear anything soon, she'll get in touch with them.

 

Edited to add that it sounds like Fulbright's just now processing transcripts. Some people who sent electronically through their transcript companies got emails that the links had expired since they'd been sent.

Edited March 6, 2018 by msmith1990

[Chris K]

1 hour ago, bbybugbrain said:

29Has anyone else gotten an email saying that their official transcript wasn't received?  I'm freaking out because 1) I sent mine, and have confirmation that I sent it, and 2) when I went to resend it right now realized I couldn't because my student account is on financial hold (I called financial services at my undergrad and they said it could take a week to resolve this issue).

The email said that not getting my transcript in ASAP could affect when I hear back.  What should I do  I've already emailed Fulbright, my Fulbright Adviser, Financial Services, and the Registrar.

 

I received an email today saying my BA transcripts were not received.  However, my BA and MA degrees were sent as one transcript because they are the same institution, and I just contacted UNC and the registrar rep said my transcripts were mailed on 29 January (by post).  I ordered an electronic copy just now to be sent.  I'm not really sure what is going on but it is making me extra nervous.  Also, the email was sent to my secondary email address and not my primary, so I am not really sure what that is about.  I should note that the email did not mention that my MA transcripts were missing nor was my current doctoral coursework transcript.  Considering the MA and BA are together and my PhD work from my current institution were sent at the same time, I'm a little confused.  I just emailed Fulbright for clarification.

Edited March 6, 2018 by Chris K

[Samye23]

43 minutes ago, bbybugbrain said:

Has anyone else gotten an email saying that their official transcript wasn't received?  I'm freaking out because 1) I sent mine, and have confirmation that I sent it, and 2) when I went to resend it right now realized I couldn't because my student account is on financial hold (I called financial services at my undergrad and they said it could take a week to resolve this issue).

The email said that not getting my transcript in ASAP could affect when I hear back.  What should I do  I've already emailed Fulbright, my Fulbright Adviser, Financial Services, and the Registrar.

 

If worse comes to worst then call Fulbright directly (1-800-272-6994). The guy I called was super friendly. He said they've been getting swamped with calls, but honestly if it'll put your mind at ease then give them a call if you don't hear back soon.

[jbconnor]

2 hours ago, Chris K said:

I received an email today saying my BA transcripts were not received.  However, my BA and MA degrees were sent as one transcript because they are the same institution, and I just contacted UNC and the registrar rep said my transcripts were mailed on 29 January (by post).  I ordered an electronic copy just now to be sent.  I'm not really sure what is going on but it is making me extra nervous.  Also, the email was sent to my secondary email address and not my primary, so I am not really sure what that is about.  I should note that the email did not mention that my MA transcripts were missing nor was my current doctoral coursework transcript.  Considering the MA and BA are together and my PhD work from my current institution were sent at the same time, I'm a little confused.  I just emailed Fulbright for clarification.

I had this same issue. They notified me that they were missing my MA transcript, but it was part of my BA transcript document, which they did not list as missing. I also have confirmation from the transcript company that the file was read and downloaded. I emailed Fulbright and my advisor, as well as calling today and leaving a message. Hopefully it will get resolved soon, but I'd hate to have to pay for yet another transcript, as I've already sent two in this process and it gets quite pricey after a while.

[bbybugbrain]

I emailed my registrar last night and they just got back to me. Apparently the electronic transcript I sent was delivered, but never opened, so it expired. They were nice enough to resend it, but I'm definitely going to call Fulbright today to make sure they don't miss this one.