|
Fulbright Program: U.S. Applicant Podcast
Transcript For: Applicant Guidance Session, 2009 - Part 2
June 18, 2009
Applicant Guidance Session, New York, June 2009 - Part 2
Walter: Alright, the next … there are a
number of… Throughout our application there are a number of drop down lists and
when there is a drop down list you are required to use that information. You do
not have the option for putting in any sort of free text. And one of the drop
down lists that you are going to be required to use is the drop down list which
identifies the field of study. Now this is the field of study for your project
that you’re proposing to do. It’s a pretty good list but it’s not necessarily
all inclusive so you might not find your very specific subset within those
general fields. What we want you to do is just go with the field that is most
closely related to the nature of what you’re proposing to do. It will in no way
pigeonhole your application. Those fields are there for administrative purposes
only.
If you are applying
through a U.S.
college or university, you’re going to have to identify the institution through
which you’re applying. If you are not applying through a U.S. college or
university and you are applying as an at large candidate, which simply means
that you are not currently enrolled in a U.S. college or university, or you
might be enrolled in a U.S. college or university but there is no Fulbright
Program Advisor there, in that instance you would apply at large. When you
apply at large, you apply as an at large candidate from your state of permanent
residence in the United
States. So you need to identify the
application that way. For those of you that are currently enrolled and will be
working with your Fulbright Program Advisor, there are a number of information
bits that must be put into the application before your Fulbright Advisor will
know that you are applying. And that specifically is your name, your field of
study, your country of application. You need to make sure that your institution
has been identified as well as the name of your Fulbright Program Advisor and
there are searchable databases contained within the online application system
so you can get this information right there and get it in. The system works and
identifies you through your application and through the institution and the
advisor through whom you will be applying. So it’s important that you get that
information in there if you’re applying through your campus advisor otherwise
they won’t know that you’re in process, ok.
I don’t think that there
is terribly much—oh, excuse me, there are a couple other things. There’s a
special programs drop down list. If you are applying for any one of these
special programs it is extremely important that you identify your application
for one of these particular awards: the bi-national business awards to Mexico, the Instituto d’Empresa business awards
to Spain,
some of the teaching assistantships. If you happen to be applying for a
Fulbright-mtvU award you need to identify your application for one of those
special programs. This tells us very early on which particular screening
committee is going to be reviewing your application. So that’s important. If
you’re applying for one of the Critical Language Enhancement Awards and we’ll
talk a little bit more about that later, and we will be joined later by the
program manager for Critical Language Enhancement. If you are applying for one
of these awards it is very important that you identify your application
accordingly. Number one, on the cover sheet, that you identify that you are
applying for Critical Language, and also complete the Critical Language
Enhancement supplemental form in the application.
Theresa: Before I forget, and keep your eye on
the website on this, we think that Japanese and Indonesian are going to be
added to the list for Critical Language Enhancement Awards for next year. So if
anyone is interested in those two, you’ll be able to apply. But we haven’t got
specifics on that yet, just keep your eye on the website.
Walter: Keep your eye on the website or as
I mentioned earlier subscribe to the applicant blog. When it happens, we’ll
blog you. So you don’t have to worry about checking the website although I
would do it anyway.
Theresa: Well, it’s going to have all the
particulars on the website so…
Walter: Right, right. OK. You can find
subscription information for the applicant blog in the podcast-blog section on
our website.
Your degree level is
also important and you will find very specific instructions for identifying
whether you will be a graduating senior, masters, PhD candidate. You’ll find
that in the application instructions; that’s also very important. Because in
those country competitions where the applicant pool warrants it there are
special screening committees that only review applications by degree level.
There are special committees for graduating seniors, MA and PhD students. You
want to make sure that your application gets to the correct committee. So that
is important.
Ah, before I forget,
please make sure before you send the hard copy in to us that you sign it. You
sign the bottom of page 1, the applicant statement. We need a signature.
I don’t think that
there’s a lot of other confusing, or anything counterintuitive in the
application, the basic bio data up front. You will be, as you’re working
through, you’re going to come to a section where we are going to ask you for an
abstract of what you are proposing to do. A one paragraph abstract of what
you’re proposing to do. This is a very handy paragraph. It should be the what,
the where, the why, the when and the how of your project, of your grant
purpose. And it’s a handy paragraph because what it does is it tells, in one
paragraph, everything about your project, your grant purpose. It’s also a very
handy paragraph to use as the lead paragraph in your project statement. Let’s
talk about those two essays. These are probably the two parts of the
application that are most important to you as applicants. There’s a statement
of grant purpose and there’s a personal statement. You guys are interested in
study or research, so that personal statement, that statement of grant purpose,
that what , where, why, when, and how, maximum two pages, single spaced, in a
type that is legible to the human eye. You will find within the online
application system some very specific instructions for formatting the essays.
Follow them. I would encourage you to create your two essays as separate documents,
separate Word documents, and save them that way and then upload them into the
online application system when you are totally satisfied with their content. In
doing so it will allow you a little bit more freedom to bold, to italicize, use
diacritical marks. You can also manually enter your essays directly into the
online application system but then it is preformatted and you do not have the
latitude to use bold characters, to italicize, or to use diacritical marks. I
would also encourage you to have these two documents as separate pieces of
information so that you can share them not only with your Fulbright Program
Advisor with whom you will be working, but if you happen to be applying to one
of those countries where you are responsible for securing your own affiliation,
you can share this project very early on with those individuals or institutions
with whom you might be interested in working in the host country. So there’s a
couple of reasons why I think it’s a benefit to create them in separate word documents
and save them that way.
Theresa: And you should also be sharing these
documents, at least the statement of grant purpose, with the people you select
as your referees because they need to comment on the project and your ability
to carry it out, your preparation for it, and so forth. So they need to know
what you’re planning on doing in order to be able to do that.
Walter: So the statement of grant purpose
for study or research, max two pages. If any of you change your mind and you
decide that you don’t want to go for a traditional study or research and you’ve
decided, “well, I think instead I’m going to apply for one of the English
Teaching Assistantship opportunities,” then the statement of grant purpose is
limited to one page.
The personal statement
for all applicants is one page, once again single spaced in a type that is
legible to the human eye. It’s not a resume. It’s not a c.v. It’s not a rehash
of the other bio data information that we have in other places in the
application. It’s really an intellectual biography in narrative form. It’s a
personal essay about who you are as an individual.
There are no interviews.
The national screening committee does not bring you in and does not interview
you. So this is the one place in our application where they get to know you.
And remember, you’re being selected because you’re going to be an effective
citizen ambassador for the United
States. So they want to get to know you. And
it’s probably, of the two essays, it’s probably the one that you will labor
over the most. You’re going to tell us everything about yourself, everything
that’s interesting, that’s remarkable about yourself and your life and you’re
going to do it all in one page.
You will find a lot of
tip sheets on the website that are going to tell you about the talking points
for these two essays. Lots of information on the points that you need to touch
on throughout the two essays. And once again you’re going to find them in the
preparing an application section on our website.
Now, we spoke earlier
about the importance of you being able to communicate. Theresa mentioned how
important language was in the Fulbright program. There’s a foreign language
evaluation in the application which must be completed by a college or
university language professor or a professional language teacher. They need to
interview you. They need to see what you are proposing to do. And then they
need to evaluate your ability in the language of that country, either in
relationship to the project, day to day hospitality, whatever. It depends. It
depends on the country. You will find
very specific information on language requirements contained in each one of the
individual country summaries on the website.
Theresa: But remember what I said before, even
if they say no, I say yes. And the screening committees say yes. And the
screening committees are going to look at your application and if you don’t
even indicate in the application that you’ve at least begun the study of the
language or have some intention to learn some of the language, they’re going to
question your sincerity in applying for Fulbright given the major purpose of
the Fulbright which is mutual understanding. So keep that in mind as you
prepare your application too and it doesn’t hurt you to begin the language even
if you don’t wind up getting a grant. So keep those things in mind. It’s a very
important part of the application, especially for people who might be proposing
projects where interviewing is a component. We do not support translators in
this program so you need to be able to, first of all, prepare your
questionnaires in the language of the host country, and then administer them on
the same basis. So, if you haven’t gotten the message yet, language is
important.
Walter: There is within the application,
there is a language background report form. And this is the form where you make
your case for acquiring either that hospitality level or that level
commensurate with what you’re proposing to do prior to the beginning date of
the grant. So this is… The language evaluation is an evaluation of your current
ability in the language, the language background report is your opportunity to
make your case for how you’re going to acquire the level of language that
you’re going to need to ultimately carry out the project or be that effective
citizen ambassador for the Fulbright program. OK?
If you happen to be
applying for one of the Critical Language Enhancement Awards, and they are only
available in specific languages, and you will find the list of all the eligible
languages on our website within the program information for Critical Language
Enhancement, they are only available in specific languages. They are not
available in all languages. So the language and the country have to be a match.
If you are applying for one of them you are also going to then need to complete
the Critical Language Enhancement Award form which specifically asks about how
you plan to use this award. Are you going to be using it before, during,
following? How many months of study do you want, do you propose? Where would
you propose to carry it out? How is this study related to not only your ongoing
study of the language but how is this award related to the project you’re
proposing. How is this award related to an ongoing effort on your part to
continue to master this particular language? Critical Language is not a one
off- it’s not, “OK, I’m going to Korea now I want to learn Korean.”
Critical Language is there so that- for people who have started studying the
language, are going to continue to study it during their Fulbright award, and
have plans either in their academic or their professional futures to continue
to work in that language, to learn that language. So keep that in mind. That is
important. Alright, that’s language. Important, obviously. We’ve got three
forms about language. It must be important.
There are also three
letters of recommendation that must be submitted by college or university
professors or professionals in the field who know you, who can comment not only
on you but on the project that you’re proposing, your academic preparation to
carry out the project, the worth of the project to your academic, artistic,
professional development, the importance of the resources in the country to
which you’ve applied to carry out the project. I think one of the best bits of
advice that we can give you is to take a look, and you can find this
information on our website, take a look at the instructions for the individuals
who are writing your letters of recommendation. Take a look at what we’re
asking them to comment on before you decide who are the best individuals to be
your advocates in this process, ok? Cause you can only submit three. That’s it.
The foreign language evaluation and the letters of recommendation must be
requested using the online system. They need to be not only submitted
electronically, but in hard copy as well. So you will find complete
instructions on the website in regard to letters of recommendation.
OK. Now, Theresa
mentioned earlier, affiliation. Affiliation, let’s talk about that. All
Fulbright grantees, regardless of where they’re going, regardless of what
they’re proposing to do must have a host country affiliation. There must be an
individual, an institution, an organization in the host country, a host country
individual, institution, organization with whom you’re going to be working.
Your responsibility in securing that affiliation varies from country to
country. In a number of instances that affiliation will be secured for you by
the Fulbright commission or the Fulbright office in that particular country.
For those of you who decide later on in this process that you’re not going to
apply for a full or a study award, a full study or research award, and have
decided well now I’m going to apply for an English teaching assistantship, well
you don’t have to worry about getting affiliation. It’s secured for English
Teaching Assistants by the Fulbright office in the host country. But if you’re
applying for study or research, your responsibility in securing that affiliation
is going to vary. You need to check the individual participating country
summary in the section on affiliation to see where your responsibility lies.
Will it be secured for you? Must you secure it and have documentation by the
time that you apply to us? Or can it be something that you can secure later on
in the process. So it varies from country to country. Letters of affiliation
should be in hard copy on letterhead with a signature. An email from an
individual to you doesn’t tell us very much. Very hard to verify the
authenticity of an email. But something on letterhead with a signature, pretty
safe bet, ok. Letters of affiliation are not attached electronically to the
online application, they are only submitted in hard copy. Alright? So if you want
to get it to yourselves quickly my best advice is to tell those individuals or
institutions to scan it and send it as an attachment to an email. You can print
it out that way. But just make sure it’s on letterhead with a signature, ok? If
you have any questions about affiliation, the best people to talk to are the
country program managers. They know the process in their countries. So they can
be very, very helpful in regard to affiliation. But it must be a host country
affiliation, and not an American organization
or entity abroad. And it varies. There are a number of countries that if you
take a look at the affiliation section- take a look at the affiliation section
for Germany.
It says you will be affiliated with a German university. The Germans are not
negotiable on that. You will be affiliated with, at a German university. You
might not necessarily be sitting in a German university classroom, but you’re
going to have that affiliation. They’ll help you secure it if you haven’t
already secured it. But if you’re applying for any one of the countries in
sub-Saharan Africa, you’re responsible for
securing that affiliation. Now it does not necessarily need to be an academic
institution. It could be a host country research institution. It could be a
host country non-governmental organization. It could be a host country
government ministry. It depends on the project. So, there are 130 different
countries that participate in the Fulbright exchange for U.S. students each year. There are
130 different answers to “what’s an affiliation?” And then multiply that out by
all the different types of projects that might be proposed to a particular
country. So it’s very, very specific to what you’re proposing to do, to your
grant purpose, ok?
The last document that
we are going to require from you is a complete academic record above high
school. One complete official academic transcript. They want to know every
course you’ve taken and every grade you’ve received. So if you’ve transferred
from one institution to another and all we see on that final transcript is a
transfer of credit and we’re not seeing courses or grades, then we need to go
about getting transcripts from all the institutions involved. But if you did
transfer in courses and grades have followed you, fine. Just keep in mind,
basically, what we’re looking for is a record that shows every course you’ve
taken and every grade you’ve received. One official copy. You will see that in
the print out of the supplemental forms there are labels to help facilitate
requesting transcripts. You’ll see there are 4 labels there, those are for
individuals who have gone to more than one institution. And let me say that for
those of you that are graduate students, we want both your undergraduate and
your graduate academic record.
Theresa: And we will hunt you down to get it.
Walter: And we’ll hunt you down to get it,
OK? Now, we spoke very early on in our meeting that these are self designed
projects and it could be course work, independent research, or a combination of
the two. Well you can also apply for a practical training in the creative and
performing arts in this particular program. I want to go abroad to paint. I
want to go abroad to sculpt. I want to go abroad to study opera. Whatever. For
those of you that are applying for a practical training in one of the creative
and performing arts, in addition to that written application we just spoke
about, you are also going to submit work samples: photographs, CDs, DVDs,
portfolios. There are very specific instructions on the submission of
supplementary materials contained in the instructions on our website. The
supplementary materials, the work samples, are crucial for candidates who are
proposing projects in the arts.
The national screening
committee in the arts is organized by discipline. Painters screen painters.
Sculptors screen sculptors. Singers screen singers. Unlike the academic
committees where the applications are mailed out so they have an opportunity to
read them before they come to the meeting, in the arts, the committee members
have not seen the applications beforehand. They come to the meeting and the
first thing in the arts that they will do is they will either look at or listen
to those work samples, those supplementary materials. If they don’t like what
they see or they don’t like what they hear, they might not even pick up the
written application. So if you are in the arts, the presentation of that
material is crucial for recommendation by the national screening committee.
They are making their decisions largely on what they see as talent, potential
for development. That is not to say that the application is not important.
Because the application is extremely important should you get recommended. Once
that application goes abroad to either the Fulbright commission or the American
Embassy, they’re very interested in where you’re going to go, what you’re going
to do, and how you’re proposing to do it. They’re not necessarily going to be
making a selection based on, “ well this is an extremely talented individual.”
They’ve had experts who’ve told them that this is a talented person. So it’s a
twofold thing here. The quality of the supplemental material as well as the written
application for candidates in the arts and you will find very specific
instructions by discipline on the types of materials we want. If we say to you,
“if you’re a painter and you’re applying in painting, we want a PowerPoint
presentation with 10 images,” and you send us 12 images, we’re going to show
the first 10. If you’re a sculptor and we say to you, “we want supplementary
material in the form of a PowerPoint with 15 images” and you send us 18 we’re
going to show the first 15.
Theresa: Keep I mind that the screening
committees are not just looking at your application. In the case of the painters
they may be looking at 100 applications. And they need to accomplish their task
all in one day so the number of images is important and this is the number of
images that the committees have told us that they want to see. Keep that in
mind also because if you irritate the screening committee they won’t like you
very much.
Walter: That’s the basic application.
Return to Main Page |
