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Fulbright Program: U.S. Applicant Podcast
Transcript For: Applicant Guidance Session, 2009 - Part 1
June 18, 2009
Applicant Guidance Session, New York, June, 2009 - Part 1
Walter: Alright, good morning or good
afternoon everyone. Welcome to the Institute
of International
Education, IIE. My name is Walter Jackson, I’m a program manager here at IIE
New York with the U.S. Student Programs division. I’d like to introduce you all
to Theresa Granza, who’s the Director of the U.S. Student Programs division
here at IIE. On behalf of the Department of State Bureau of Educational and
Cultural Affairs which is the world wide administrator of the Fulbright Program
and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board which is the 12 member
presidentially appointed policy making body for the Fulbright Program, I’d like
to thank you all for coming today. We’d like to thank you for your interest in
the Fulbright Program.
What we are going to do
today is we are going to talk about the program, we’re going to talk about the
application, all of its parts. We’re going to be joined a little bit later in
this session by the individual country program managers. These will be the best
people when we get to our question and answer session to ask country specific,
project related questions. They work with countries in their world regions on a
day to day basis and they are the experts. But what we would like to talk to
you today about, to start with today is a general overview of the program, the
competition cycle, the deadlines we’re all going to be dealing with and then
we’ll move on to the application. We have now, as of May 1, opened the
2010-2011 competition for Fulbright U.S. Student Program grants. These would be
grants which will be tenable during the 2010-2011 academic year abroad which
means that most of you who apply would be getting your grant in September or
October of 2010. Some of you who are applying to some of the southern
hemisphere countries may not begin your grants until February or March of 2011.
OK.
The deadlines that we’re
working with this year, the national deadlines are October 19 for electronic
submission of your application and October 21 for the receipt of the hard copy
and all hard copy support documents. If you are currently enrolled in a U.S.
college or university and applying through the office of the Fulbright Program
Advisor at your campus, you’re going to have an earlier deadline date because
you will be submitting your electronic and your hard copy applications to that
individual and then they are charged with getting them to us for the October 19
and October 21 national deadline dates. So if you are currently enrolled in a U.S.
college or university, please go to our website, follow the prompts, find the
name and the contact information for your campus Fulbright Program Advisor and
get in touch with that individual as soon as possible. Let them know that you
are interested and thinking about applying for a Fulbright grant. Let them know
what you are thinking of applying in, what field of study and what country you
are interested in.
Part of the application
process for currently enrolled students on campuses with a Fulbright Program
Advisor is, in addition to submitting the application materials through the
Fulbright program advisors, an on-campus interview prior to the application
coming to us, again for the 19th and the 21st. So you
want to find out what your campus deadline date is and you’re going to want to
find out what the interview schedule is going to be. So that is important, OK?
Basic eligibility in the
Fulbright program is U.S.
citizenship at the time of application and your bachelors degree or its
equivalent by the beginning date of the grant.
Since we’re talking
today about study or research awards and not the English Teaching
Assistantships it’s important to remember that these full grants are self
designed projects of study or research. You tell us where you want to go, what
you want to do, how you propose to do it, and why you need to travel abroad for
an academic year to carry out this particular project.
All Fulbright grants are
written for a full academic year. The minimum amount of time that any Fulbright
grant can be written for is 6 months and that’s only for individuals who are
proposing a practical training in one of the creative and performing arts or
for individuals who are proposing doctoral dissertation research. Otherwise,
everyone goes for a full academic year. The length, the tenure of an award, of
awards vary from country to country and they can be anywhere from 8 or 9 months
up until a full calendar 12. You can find information on grant tenure contained
in the individual country summaries on our website and in the brochure. While
we’re talking about the website and the brochure, we know that everybody likes
to have a hard copy of the brochure. It’s very handy, you can carry it around
with you and you can read it. But we want to remind you that the Fulbright U.S.
Student program is a very dynamic program. Lots of things can happen over the
course of that May to October competition cycle. And when changes occur, we are
not re-printing the brochure. So we use our website. We use our website, we use
our online application system, we use the applicant blog to get updated
information out to you. So the point of this conversation is to remind you that
while the brochure is very nice and it’s very handy, you are always to defer to
the information on our website as the most current and the most up to date.
Theresa: And in fact the information on the
website is slightly more complete than the application… then in the brochure,
I’m sorry, especially in terms of
descriptions of institutions and special opportunities that might be available.
Walter: Yes, there is far more information
on the website than in the brochure, so that’s important to remember.
There are basically two
types of Fulbright grants. There are Fulbright full grants and Fulbright travel
grants. Fulbright full grants provide for round trip transportation to the
country of assignment. They provide for a monthly living stipend based on the
cost of living in the host country. They provide some additional funds for
incidental expenses, settling in, some grants come with modest research
allowances, tuition waivers. Tuition may be covered in some instances if you’re
enrolled in a university that’s charging tuition, there are a number of
countries where if you are going to be enrolled in a university and tuition is
not covered you may be responsible for it. Once again you will find all this
information contained in the individual participating country summaries on the
website. So you should be extremely familiar with the information contained
there.
There are also Fulbright
travel grants which are tied to a maintenance award from another source, and
provide for round trip transportation, settling in, and incidental expenses.
Fulbright travel grants, as I said, are tied to an academic year’s worth of
study as well. Once again, minimum amount of time, 6 months.
Theresa: Travel grants are not necessarily
tied to another award. Travel grants can supplement your own funds for study,
but it needs to be for a full academic year.
Walter: Exactly and there are only a couple
of countries where travel only grants are now available: Hungary, Italy
and Germany.
If you’re applying for any of the other countries you should be applying for a
full grant, for study or research. As I said, grants are for a full academic
year of study, 6 months minimum. You must take the award up within the
competition cycle for which it was awarded. You cannot defer a Fulbright grant
to a subsequent academic year. Depending upon what you’re proposing to do and
where you’re proposing to go, there may be a window of opportunity, anywhere
from September or March. But if you are proposing following a course of study
at a university, going and enrolling in a course of study at a host country
university, and you can propose to do that- you can propose to do coursework,
you can propose to do independent research, a combination of the two. Once
again, the design of the project is entirely up to you guys. But if you are
going to be enrolled in a university would then go in conjunction with the
academic year at that particular
institution. Once again you will find very specific information on grant
tenures and when you’re expected to be in country contained within the individual
participating country summaries on our website, ok.
A couple of the things
that Theresa mentioned that there’s a lot more information on the website than
in the brochure. Yes, a lot more, believe us when we say that. Parts of that
website are very crucial to you in this process. Specifically, the program
overview, I’ve already mentioned the individual participating country summaries
in the preparing an application section. You are going to find a lot of
information in preparing an application, a huge amount. It’s going to take you
through before you get started, general tips on applying, the Fulbright project
itself, you know, your activity, your affiliation, your community engagement.
It’s important to
remember when you come into the Fulbright program that it is more than just an
educational exchange program. Yes, we are looking for very bright people with
very interesting projects, but we are also looking for individuals who are
going to go abroad and be representatives of the Fulbright program and citizen
ambassadors for the United States. So they’re not just going abroad and sitting
in a classroom 24/7. They’re going abroad and they have a sense of getting out
and about, of involving themselves, and engaging themselves with the host
country community both with whom they work and with whom they live. So keep that
in mind as you’re working through this process, that it’s more than just an
educational exchange program. You are going abroad as citizen ambassadors for
the United States and you’re
there to help further that mission of the Fulbright program to increase mutual
understanding between the people of the United States and the peoples of
other nations. OK.
Back to preparing an
application. You’re going to find a lot of information there on the structure
of the application. And you will actually find samples, pdf samples, of our
complete application there and I would strongly encourage you to print out a
pdf version, sample version of the application. And use it as a visual aid
while you’re working through the application. You’ll get a sense of flow and
where it is most appropriate to place bits of information about yourself and
your project. So use it as a visual aid.
Print out the
instructions. Please follow the instructions. They are very important and once
again they are going to help you work your way through that application itself.
When you’re working online, and remember we’re submitting both electronically
and in hard copy and there are reasons for this. The electronic version is used
to do an upload of data about you and your application into our database. And
it’s from that database that we then create all the documents that we use
throughout the competition cycle. It is the actual hard copy that is read by
the members of the national screening committee. The national screening
committee meets during November and December. They’re going to begin meeting
the 14th or 15th of November and will meet throughout the third week
in December. There are currently about 113 subcommittees within the National
Screening Committee and they meet across the United
States, they meet at all of our regional centers around
the United States.
And they are charged with reviewing the applications and making recommendations
to the Fulbright Commissions or the supervising agencies in the host countries.
There are currently 50 Fulbright commissions around the world. The Fulbright
U.S. Student program operates in approximately 130 countries. So in those
countries where there are no Fulbright Commissions, the supervising agency is
the American Embassy and specifically the Public Affairs, or the Cultural Affairs
office at the American Embassy in the host country. So the national screening
committee is charged with reviewing all of the applications for the country, the
world region or the discipline for which they might be reviewing ‘cause they
are organized in a number of different ways. They’re charged with reviewing all
of those applications and then making recommendations. Everyone that applies
will get an email from us at the end of January letting you know whether or not
your application has been recommended for further consideration. Unfortunately
if you get an email from us that says your application was not recommended, it
is no longer under consideration. But that does not mean that you cannot
reapply in a subsequent competition. You can reapply again next year. There is
absolutely no prejudice in reapplication. It happens all the time.
So, you get an email
from us at the end of January that says you’ve been recommended. Don’t pack
yet! This is a three tier selection process. And the reason I am telling you
not to pack yet is because the National Screening Committee is going to be
charged with over-nominating. Nominating at least two times the number of
candidates as we anticipate there will be grants available for. So if you’ll
look at the statistics on the website you’ll see that a certain number of
grants are going to be awarded to a specific country, just simply double that
number. So if the individual country summary for Italy says that 15 Fulbright full
grants are going to be awarded for 2010-2011, you can rest assured that we’re
gong to nominate at least 30 people. If you get recommended, the application
and all of your support documents are forwarded abroad to the Fulbright
Commission or the supervising agency in the host country where selection takes
place. Selection can take place any time from March through June. Not all
countries make their decisions at the same time. But most of you will hear
March, April, May. It is rare that a decision is delayed until June, but it
does happen.
Theresa: Especially for people who are
designated as alternates. Alternates are offered awards only when principal
candidates have declined an award, or if additional funding becomes available,
which does happen.
Walter: That two times number of candidates
as award opportunities gives the Fulbright Commissions and the American
Embassies a broader slate of candidates form which to choose, number one.
Number two, it does take into account attrition. It is not unusual for people
to apply, be recommended and ultimately say, “well, you know, I’ve changed my
plans. I’ve decided I’m not going to accept the award.” So alternates are then upgraded
to principal status in that instance, ok. As I said if you are selected you
would then travel to and remain in the host country for the full tenure of your
award. OK? Did you want to add anything?
OK, we were talking
about the cultural side of the Fulbright program, being citizen ambassadors for
the United States.
This talks directly to your ability in the language of that host country, your
ability to be that effective citizen ambassador, a lot of that has to do with
your ability in the language of that country. This will become evident as we actually
get into the application, but you can find very specific information on
language requirement in the Fulbright program contained within the individual
participating country summary on the website. OK? Language is important. Your
ability to communicate effectively is important.
Theresa: And that’s why I’m going to say to
you despite the fact that some countries say that English is sufficient, if
it’s a non-English speaking country, we are going to require you to have at
least a hospitality level in that language because you need to be able to
communicate with the people among whom you are living and working on a daily
basis. So you may be applying to go to Denmark
to, I don’t know, the Denmark
Technical University,
where a lot of the coursework happens to be in English. But outside of that
English classroom, people don’t speak English. So you need to have a
hospitality level of the language in order to communicate. You will be very
unhappy if you cannot communicate with the people in the country.
Walter: And how much richer will the
experience be for you if you can just carry on a conversation in Danish with
the Danes that you meet on the street? So, once again, keep that in mind. And
when we get into the application you’ll see that there is a place for you to
let us know how you plan on acquiring that hospitality level in between that
time that you submit the application and might travel abroad should you be
selected. Keep in mind that you’ve got almost a year in between that October
application deadline date and the September or October grant start date. You
can get a hospitality level in a lot of languages in a year. OK? So keep that
in mind.
OK, so let’s talk about
the application. You have thoroughly gone through the program overview. You’ve
looked at eligibility, you’ve looked at ineligibility. Ineligibility can be
very important so take a look there. Dual citizenship in some countries can be
an issue. If it is, it’s noted, not only in the ineligibility section on the
website, but within the individual country summaries. So you’ve gone through
the program overview. You’re thoroughly familiar with all of the information in
the individual participating country summary for the country in which you wish
to apply. You’ve gone through preparing an application, and you’ve read all the
sublinks within it. You’re moving on now to apply, you’re going to start
working on the actual online application. You create your own specific user
account in our online application system. It will give you your own specific ID
and password. You can work on that application throughout the competition
cycle, you do not have to complete it in one sitting. You can go in and out of
the system. It will allow you to do so. When you’re working in the online
application system you’re going to be working in an HTML data entry format. It
is not going to look at all like the final hard copy pdf version of the
application that you will ultimately print out directly from the site, ok?
That’s the reason why early on I suggested you print out that sample and you
have that as a visual aid while you’re working online. You’ll see flow, you’ll
see content.
Print, read and follow
the instructions. There are some very specific instructions for data entry,
keeping in mind that whatever you put in that application, we’re going to
upload into our database. So it’s going to be representing you. Last year we
received close to 7400 applications. The deadline was the 21st last
year too, wasn’t it?
Theresa: 20th…
Walter: 21st, 22nd….
We’ll hedge on the date. The first screening committee meeting was November 14th.
We don’t have time in that 3 week span to read every application to make sure
that all of the information that you’ve put in is correct. So take those
instructions, read them, and follow the instructions. There are some very
specific instructions for entry. For instance we do not like abbreviations. No
abbreviations. And we are terribly fond of upper and lower case when they are
used appropriately. OK? Just a couple style points, so follow them, ok?
After you’ve created
your access, you’re familiar with the instructions, you’re ready to get going,
one of the first questions that you’re going to be asked is the country in
which you wish to study and you will see that there are three boxes there.
Those three boxes are not for you to select primary and alternate countries.
Those three boxes are there for those of you who are proposing multi country
projects. Most of you will be applying with a specific project to a particular
country. However the option does exist within this particular program to
propose a multi country project. It is one application and one project that
requires your presence in up to three countries to complete. However, there are
a couple of things to remember about multi country projects. They are only
available in certain world regions
Theresa: Only 2.
Walter: Only 2, the western hemisphere and Eastern Europe. And they are only available to specific
countries within those specific world regions that will entertain a multi
country project. So you need to check the list and make sure that the countries
that you’re thinking about will entertain that type of a project. If you have
any question whatsoever, before you file the application get in touch with us
just to confirm that the countries you’ve selected are ok. Because the system
will not give you an error message. Alright?
Now remember earlier on
I mentioned that if you do get recommended, your application is forwarded
abroad to the country to which you’ve applied where selection takes place. Well
if you’re applying with a multi-country project, that application is then
simultaneously forwarded abroad to all the countries involved. And all of the
countries involved need to select that application for funding. So it’s
something to remember. It’s a nice option, but it does come with additional
responsibilities on your part.
Theresa: More than just getting approved by
all of those countries, it will require you to obtain affiliations in all of
the countries, it will require you to get research approval in all of those
countries, and if you do finally get selected, it means moving from one country
to another, setting yourself up in each of the countries, so just keep those in
mind. And if you have applied to more than one country, say you applied to
three countries and one country doesn’t select your application, you’ll be
given the opportunity to re-write for the other two, if they select you. If 2
reject you, you’re out of the competition.
Walter: So, just something to… just keep it
in mind OK?
Theresa: The minimum you can spend in a
country is three months as well, so….
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