Editor’s note:
In her personal blog, Adelina Solis ’11 recently wrote about her own experiences applying for the Fulbright. Adelina is already in Vietnam beginning her Fulbright adventure, but has agreed to let us repost her entry walking students through her application process. If you are considering a Fulbright now or in the future, keep reading.
Thanks, Adelina!
CP&R
The Fulbright Application Process
I touched on some of this in my first post, but here I’ll go into more detail for people interested in getting from Point A (thinking you might want a Fulbright) to Point B (getting a Fulbright).
Advisers will tell you that some people start thinking about Fulbright over the summer; they write up their personal statement and statement of grant purpose, and are ready to apply before the semester even begins. They will also tell you that other people, people like me, cram it into their free time the first few weeks of the semester, between regular assignments and bouts of panicking over the vague but looming creature known as Thesis. They will tell you that ultimately it doesn’t make much difference which of those people you are, and that’s true. I am not the kind of person who always knew exactly where I meant to be by the time graduation sent me off, so even though I had been hearing about Fulbright since my first year, it wasn’t something that I had been planning on all along. I just knew that I had no idea what I wanted to do after graduation, but I like travel and I love language, and I thought that I’d give Fulbright a shot. If I could afford to spend time procrastinating, I had no excuse to not spend a few hours working on something that could give me the year of a lifetime.
Because I knew that I wanted to go somewhere I hadn’t been and wanted to learn a new language, my options regarding countries were pretty open. I looked for places that did not require any pre-existing knowledge of the language, and places with a good acceptance-to-applicant ratio. With this criteria and the influence of personal interest, I narrowed it down to Mongolia, Macedonia, and Vietnam. Weather ruled out Mongolia, and Macedonia was just too random. As I considered Vietnam I realized that I actually had good reasons to support an interest in going there, even though it had started out being just as random as the other options.
Once I picked a place, I started writing. I think most people agree that it’s hard to have to write about yourself and answer broad but pointed questions. How are you going to stand out when you have to answer the same questions and ultimately everyone is saying the same thing: “I’m awesome. Pick me.”? Not to be trite, but it comes down to the writing adage “show, don’t tell.” I started freewriting just to get myself going on the personal statement. Once I get something on the page, whatever it is, the rest is usually easy for me. That one came quickly. The statement of grant purpose was a little trickier. At the bottom of it all, my real motivation was wanderlust. But, I had other reasons to support my application and I even had relevant work experience. I was an ETA when I studied abroad in Italy and I was a Spanish conversation group leader during my senior year. I am also a lifelong student of language. I made a point to play up the fact that I have experience in language classrooms both as a student and as a teacher. Here’s some advice: even if you don’t start early, give yourself enough time to write your statements, forget them for a few days, and read them again. It’s hard to come up with insightful edits when you’ve read it so many times you’ve memorized it.
When the writing was finished — and it really doesn’t take that long — and the application was submitted, it was time to wait. The next stage was the interview. While the idea of an interview can be daunting, I would almost call it more of a workshop. There was an interview component, but after that the professors shared their thoughts regarding what I’d written and suggested edits to my application to make myself a stronger candidate. Then came the real waiting period. Interviews were in early October, and I had to wait until late January to find out that I was a finalist. In that email I was told that I might have to wait until June to hear the final word. When you are trying to line up a job or a backup plan, that feels like a really late deadline for news. I was lucky to have a job more or less lined up somewhere I had worked before. Because I already had a longstanding working relationship with them, I felt comfortable being open about my pending Fulbright application and they were willing to be accommodating. In the end I didn’t have to wait until June, just the very end of April, but even that felt too close for comfort with graduation and real life two weeks away. Fortunately, everything fell into place, and now I’ll be spending ten months in Vietnam.
Some General Advice:
- Apply! In how many other situations can an investment of a few hours have the potential to yield such amazing returns?
- There are so many resources available on campus. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
- Once you apply, forget about it. You can’t hold your breath for months at a time, and senior year will be keeping you plenty busy, anyway.
- Still apply for jobs or internships. Even if you get the Fulbright, you’ll have a gap between graduation and the beginning of Fulbright. Mine was unusually short (2 months) but some are much longer (6 months or more).