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Transcript For: Fulbright Alumni Roundtable - Europe. Questions and Answers Part 1.

Fulbright Alumni Roundtable - Europe. John Adler and Alumni takes questions from the audience.

Questions and Answers, Europe  Part 1

Student 1:         Hi.  I just had a couple of questions.  How is the teaching assistant different from the other grants?  It seems like they’re two separate entities.  So I just wanted to know what the difference between those two are. 

Jonathan:          Well the regular full grants are you propose and independent research project, or you’d take classes there and do dissertation research.  As far as the English Teaching Assistantships are concerned, you’d go to a country and teach English either at a primary school, secondary school, or university setting.  That would be roughly, it varies by country, fourteen hours a week or something.  Then there’d be more of a community service element.  In some countries it’s preferred that you also have some sort of project there also.

Student 1:         Could you still do a project though?

Jonathan:          Yeah, you can.

Student 1:         Along those same lines, do you still need an affiliation with the ETA?

Jonathan:          Generally not.  For most of the countries, I think it’s actually all of them, in countries where it’s a commission country, they’ll usually set up the placement for you, especially in Western Europe.  The only one I can think of not in Western Europe or not in a commission country, we have a university ETA offered in Bosnia.  It’s offered in the same place every year.

Nathan:           The question you asked has caused a lot of confusion even with my group of TAs and people who I’ve talked to who are thinking about applying.  Keep in mind that when I was there a lot of people had these research proposals where they’re trying to bite off more than they can really chew, and they had to modify them at the end of the year.  I think it’s best to propose something that’s realistic where you don’t have to travel to different sites, something perhaps that’s a little bit more modest.  Because keep in mind that you’ll be working sixteen hours a week.  You’ll be lesson planning.  It might take you an hour to get from your apartment to the school.  So you find that you’re a little bit busier than you thought you’d be.

Jonathan:         That was actually perfect.  It has to be realistic.  If you’re going to propose a project on top of the English teaching, it’s obviously not going to be as elaborate as a project someone would propose for a full grant. 

Student 1:        I just had one other question.  Where do you get a language test?  Because I’m not in school right now.

Jonathan:         Generally you’d speak to a local – presumably you live in the New York area.  What country are you interested in?

Student 1:        I’m open.

Jonathan:         Generally if it’s a country like Italy, most of the universities around New York will have professors that teach Italian.  So you can contact them, and most of them would be willing to do that for you.  If it’s a less common language, generally sometimes you’d have to google it.  I know for some of my countries, for Slovenia for instance, there are maybe one or two Slovenian programs in the US.  So you just have to find a professor that does that and maybe do the test over the phone or something.  Presuming you speak Slovenian which, if you don’t speak the language and it’s not required, you don’t have to do the language report. 

Student 1:        Cool.  Thank you.

Student 2:        Where do you guys in a relationship or married, if you have a spouse, how does that work?

Nathan:           My girlfriend quit her job, took what she had saved up, and she went with me to Madrid.  So she knew no Spanish and she tried to spend a year learning Spanish.  Is that your situation?

Student 2:        I would be married.

Nathan:           You’re married.  Well, it’s definitely doable.  But keep in mind, from personal experience I would say that socially you would meet fewer people because you’d be dealing with your partner, just the difficulties of language and getting used to local culture.  But trust me, it can be done, it’s been done. 

James:             There are guidelines for spouses I think that are country specific.  I can’t imagine that it wouldn’t be a really interesting, rewarding experience for a couple to have together.  It can only add to it. 

Student 2:        In theory it would be the kind of thing where she would go and get her own job and do her own thing and I would do mine.

James:             Yeah.  And she’ll be able to get the visa because you have an affiliation and it’s rare that two people have the opportunity to do that.  On that point, one of the questions we’re supposed to address is why we applied for it.  But we’re all thinking the question is why would you not apply for a Fulbright?  It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Well, although you can apply every so often, to do something interesting in a foreign country.

Jonathan:         I should say too on dependence, for some countries, there’s also a dependence allowance they provide.  So some countries definitely do not have any problem with that

Stephanie:        I married and my husband of course accompanied me.  In Italy I have to say that there were probably times when it was actually to my social advantage to have my husband there because I was invited to dinners at people’s houses and they were very interested in knowing my husband as well.  I think, yes, in some ways you might not meet as many people, but I think on another level there’s lots of social activity that is open to you as a couple as well. 

Student 3:        I was wondering if you could speak about the Critical Language Program?  Isn’t there a specific program?

Jonathan:         Sure.  The Critical Language Enhancement Awards?

Student 3:        Yes.

Jonathan:         I’m actually not the manager.  We have a separate manager who does those.  Basically it would be for prior to your grant, I think it’s one, three, or six months, before the start of your Fulbright grant, you could go over to your potential host country and study in the Fulbright program resources.  We list the languages.  As far as for Europe and Eurasia I think the only languages we offer them for are Russian and Azeri.  For Central Asia you could do Tajik or Uzbek or I think there’s one more but no one applies for it.  Kazakh I think is on there too.  But generally you’d state your preference in your Fulbright application that you were interested in that and you would be considered.  It is a great opportunity for those who have done it, and this is only I think the second year they’re offered. 

Student 4:        I’m interested in going to Estonia.  You didn’t name that as one of the very few applicants that go there, but all the countries around it you did name.  What about studying in a university setting, like for a master’s program.  This covers one year, Fulbright.  Could you continue on and just stay there on your own or continue a second year or it’s not really used as a pre program?

Jonathan:         I mean, you can.  A lot of people actually do do that.  But obviously the Fulbright grant is just going to cover nine or ten months of your time there.  But you could certainly stay on past the Fulbright grant and just do whatever it is that you were doing.  That’s not a problem.

Student 4:        In the section of these summaries that talks about the fields of study restrictions.  So it says here medical sciences.  That’s anti medical sciences?  Anything else is open or they’re saying they encourage medical sciences?

Jonathan:         Where is this exactly?

Student 4:        This is under the Estonia description.  But a lot of them have this category for fields of study restrictions.

Jonathan:         For that you can apply in any field of study except for that.  A lot of countries actually are resistant to people applying in the medical sciences.  I should say that.

Student 5:        I am interested in doing a PhD program in Europe, and I was wondering, the website seems very open to people doing programs as well as people doing independent study.  If it comes down to a hard competition, because I’m looking at the UK, would I be at a disadvantage because I’m looking to go to a university?

Jonathan:         Generally, especially for a country like the UK, you generally need an independent research project and actually be enrolled in some sort of program there.  Even if you do enroll, for any country, if you enroll in a program there, your independent research project could be related to your dissertation or your thesis topic.

Student 5:        Because doing a PhD is like doing independent research.  Now does it matter if you’re already accepted and have started?  Because I missed the cutoff for this year but I’m hoping to start in the fall.  Can I apply for the second year?  Because it’s a three year program.  So one year out of three.

Jonathan:         Generally for most countries you would not be competitive if you’re already living in the host country.

Student 5:        Well I wouldn’t be by the time I would apply.

Jonathan:         But for second year, I mean generally they’re looking for people who are just starting a program and going over there for the first time.  The Fulbright Program, they want to encourage –

Student 5:        But the cutoff is before the applications are due, so in deciding to apply you sometimes miss the cutoffs, especially if you’re not a student in a current academic – I’m teaching, right?  So I’m not in an academic calendar, so I would be at a disadvantage?

Jonathan:         For the UK it would be close to impossible.  For some other countries, occasionally they’ll allow it.

Student 5:        Okay.  So you just apply and see what happens. 

Jonathan:         Yeah, but if you can do the program in any other country I’d say –

Student 5:        My husband is British and there’s obviously a strong cultural draw to the UK.

Student 6:        So I am interested in a very particular area.  I’m actually in law here and I would look to do some sort of global warming regulation.  So as far as resources in pointing me towards a specific country or anything like that, is there anything out there?  Would it pretty much have to be the EU because they’re the only ones that technically regulate global warming?

Jonathan:         Yeah, you can find a non profit organization that works for that in one of these countries and maybe use them as an affiliation, but otherwise the EU would obviously, Brussels would be a great place.  If you could find something it would be possible in just about any country.  It’s just a matter of finding the people to work with.

Student 6:        So if I’m studying the regulation I can be affiliated with anybody in any country who works with those regulations whether or not it’s actually done under the laws of their government basically?

Jonathan:         Yeah, generally you can.  It depends exactly what your project is.  For some countries too they require you to have a university affiliation also.

Student 7:        I’m interested in an application in the arts.  I was just curious how that compares to full applications, if it’s judged against people who are applying for full applications.  Sorry, it was more like a technical question about the arts and how certain countries are more amenable to arts applications than others. 

Jonathan:         Is there a specific country you’re interested in?

Student 7:        I was specifically interested in either Spain or Italy or a South American country?  But I’m pretty open.  It’s creative writing and I just kind of want to have the opportunity to go abroad.  I have some specific interests but I don’t know how tied to the country an arts application has to be.

Jonathan:         Basically the best I could say is just look at the individual country summaries.  I’m not sure of any offhand that openly won’t accept creative writing as a field of study, but most countries will consider you.  I know a lot of people get creative writing grants.

Student 7:        And it’s just against all the other full applications?

Jonathan:         Exactly.  When we have screening panels though, the people who review your applications will be writers.  When they chose people for those lists, initially you’re on a different panel and they’re just judging you based on your writing ability and then you’d be added to the recommended.  I hope that makes sense. 

Student 8:        I’m interested in applying for the MBA program for Madrid, which I’m sure is very competitive as well.  Basically my question is because this is a specific MBA program which already has a content, do recommend to have a project along with it?  Obviously I’ll have a personal statement on why I want to go, but do you have another project along with the MBA program or is that the program?

Nathan:           I personally knew three of the people who were studying at the Institute of Empresa in Madrid.  All they were doing was the MBA.  They weren’t doing research on the side.

Student 8:        Can you give me any, because this is kind of a different side of the Fulbright, do you remember anything that they mentioned that might be helpful for me to know as far as –

Nathan:           Well I can give you the profile of one of them.  He had been working in Peru I think with an NGO doing developmental issues.  He wanted to get an MBA to understand better how he can enhance development in Latin America.  Another girl was straight out of college and she had an engineering degree.  I’m not sure exactly what her tie was, but you can be 22 and you can go for the MBA or you can be older and have significant work experience.

Student 8:        Did they like the experience?  Did they enjoy it?

Nathan:           I think they loved it.  It’s a great deal.  Where else can you get a tier one MBA with a scholarship?  It’s a fabulous deal.

Jonathan:         Are there any other questions for the alumni regarding their experiences?

Student 9:        I just had one thing to go along with the creative things.  I wanted to do a creative one as well.  So there’s three separate things.  There’s the regular grants, the ETA, and then the creative.

Jonathan:         The full grants consist of the creative; the creative arts are included in those.

Student 9:        So you still would have all the same requirements.

Jonathan:         You’d apply for a full grant.  But for those you would have to submit supplementary materials based on, I mean, on our website and in our resources they tell you what you have to send in.  But you do have to send in additional materials

Student 10:      This is like my fifth year coming to these meetings and I’m finally going to apply this year.  I was wondering if you guys did anything outside of the questions on page 100 that made you more successful in your application?

Stephanie:        I had written a magazine article for the New York State Folklore Society that had to do with a component, one of my feasts, how it’s celebrated in a city in America.  So I submitted that.  It was two pages of a magazine article with some photos.  Is that sort of what you’re talking about?

Student 10:      Well I was just always, to me it’s like a big, giant, blank canvas that I’m not really sure where to go with it, and I don’t know if I stick to these questions and answer these questions if I’m going to look tight and not creative enough.  If anything is going to make me stand out more than this that they’re outlining, or if I get too creative, oh, she’s crazy, that’s dumb, don’t send her. 

Jody (I think it’s her but was she there?):   Your proposal, your project, really needs to be strong.  It needs to be very clear what your goals are.  I’m not going to keep overworking the word ‘passion’, but show us that you really care about this, that it’s realistic, how you’re going to begin it, what you’re going to accomplish, how you’re going to end it.  Then in your CV(is this a term?? 17:19), you really want to jump off the page there.  That’s where you are so incredibly interesting, that how can they not chose you?

Student 10:      Well, this is the other weird thing, is that the program is school specific, so the University of Gastronomic Sciences, and they are asking for a proposal as well as going to the school, so maybe I need to reel it back because it’s going to be attending school at the same time.  That’s a technical question.

Victor:             I was just going to say that I absolutely followed their instructions to a tee almost in college, so we actually had an advisor that helped us, and she had been doing this for ten years, and kind of saw what worked and what didn’t, and absolutely be as boring as possible on the proposal.  I brought it with me and I was reading it and I would say, just stick to the timeline, and definitely do something that’s feasible.  By month two I’m looking to be here.  By month six I’m looking to be here, and I know that I can do this because the data’s here.  Have a timeline. 

James:             By ‘boring’ he meant make sure you address the questions exactly.  This is a perfect, and the people who will be looking at your applications wrote this, and I don’t think they’re referring to the content of your proposal but points to address when you’re trying to communicate what your proposal is.  No matter how creative or how scientific your proposal is you’ll still have to answer these questions. 

Nathan:           In terms of creativity, where you definitely could and should be creative is in your personal statement.  The best piece of advice I got from my former university, I knew someone who had done a Fulbright grant, and she gave me just a great piece of advice where she said really try to tie in the personal statement as if it’s some type of narrative of your life where the Fulbright fits in perfectly with the trajectory of where you’re coming from and where you want to go.  So the better you can make the argument why I should get the Fulbright, how this would uniquely fit into my life, if you can answer that very well that puts you at an advantage.

Jonathan:         That’s a hundred percent true.  I will say once again with ‘boring’, it shouldn’t be boring.  It should be compelling, because screening panel members are going to be reading your applications and if it’s just blah, blah, blah, or something that, I mean, it could be of course something people have done in the past, but they have to have a reason for giving you this.  We’re not going to award you a grant if you just, yeah.  But a timeline is definitely good though in the proposal.  I will say that; that’s a good point.

Student 11:      Is there any kind of quota for subject area? Is economics, lots of people do that, maybe philosophy, a lot of people to that, I don’t know.  I want to do chemistry, I’m thinking maybe that’s not as common.  Would that help me?

Jonathan:         There’s not a quota area.  But generally the commissions will, let’s say they offer ten grants and six of the recommended candidates are all in the same field, they probably won’t fund all six of them just because.  But there’s no set quota.

Student 11:      So it’s kind of how the pool shapes up. 

Jonathan:         Exactly.  And it varies by year.  We never know what we’re going to get and who’s going to apply.

Student 11:      Okay.  And sort of piggy backing on the timeline and writing your whole project, if I’m doing chemistry research, I’m not exactly sure how you balance that timeline aspect with research since you know your general goal, but whether or not a reaction works and what you do next will depend on what happened first.  So I’m not sure how you would propose that in six months I would want to be here.  Do you know what I’m saying?

Nathan:           I know of one case where a girl worked in a cancer lab in Southern Spain.  Her proposal was that she just wanted to study a specific area with a specific team of experts.  So I don’t think she sent in a proposal that she knew what happened.  She just wanted to be in a lab that was doing interesting work, let’s say. 

Student 11:      Okay, because that makes a lot more sense.  Certain projects you can kind of timeline if you’re interviewing people or trying to get certain reports together, but if you’re sort of making unknown compounds you don’t know what’s going to come out

Jonathan:         Just to add to that, a lot of people don’t include timelines with their things.  I know it’s to their advantage, depending on the project of course, there’s obviously no way to predict some things like that.

Victor:             The methodology for answering my research question was classes and internships.  I explained in my proposal that from September until December I will intern at this place and then from January until May I will intern at this place.