The Fulbright Application Process

I'm only writing this because several folks have asked me  "How do you apply for a Fulbright?" Some of these people are interested in actually applying for it, so I'm throwing together some information. In no way am I an expert; I'm just piecing together the little bit of information that I know.

This info is for the English Teaching Assistant alone; the research grant is a different application process that involves finding a contact at a proposed host institution abroad.

Your application will pass through 3 different stages:

(1) University faculty members/professors. See Step 1 below for more on this. In my case, I did a Skype interview with these faculty  members.

(2) Fulbright Selection Committee in the United States. This is a group of people at the International Institute of Education as well as scholars in the region or area of study to which you are applying. This group either recommends you as a finalist or you're dead in the water at this stage.

(3) Committee members in your host country. This is the final hurdle. These folks make the final decision.


Step 1 is to contact your university's Fulbright program office. These offices handle different scholarships and grants like Rhodes, Truman, etc. It's most helpful if you're still at the university, as you can communicate more with the office. Nearly every college and all universities will have some sort of Fulbright program officer. There should be a contact person at the school who will guide you through the admissions process by giving you deadlines. In Georgetown's case, their deadlines were set prior to Fulbright's actual deadlines to ensure that you got everything in on time (as well as to proofread and help revise materials). If you're not currently at the university, most will allow recent alumni to work through their office anyways. I did everything through Georgetown even though I was in Las Vegas, including the panel interview which I did over Skype. In your interview, be prepared to be grilled with questions about your selected country. In mine, I was asked "What do you think about Bulgaria's recent decision regarding Syria?" After a moment of intense fear, I replied: "I have no idea what that decision was. I'm in the first week of teaching and have been overwhelmed with that." (I didn't mention that the LSAT was also the following day). As a side note, they actually liked that answer. Go figure.

Step 2 (or before you begin the entire thing) is to select a country. For Fulbright you apply to a specific country. There are several factors that should help you select a country. Number one should be your interest. Can you show that you have an interest in that country or region? Paradoxically, having too much experience with a particular country can be counterproductive; I've read that, for instance, someone who has lived in or traveled extensively through, say, Mexico would be better applying to another Spanish-speaking country besides Mexico. You should also look at language requirements. Some countries have these; others don't. For Bulgaria, language proficiency was "suggested" but I took my study of Russian and showed that it would allow me to learn Bulgarian more quickly. Other countries like Russia require you to show proficiency by doing things like conducting the interview in Russian. Finally, you may also look at the acceptance statistics of the country. Western European countries have the most applicants, but they also have the most slots. A country like Spain has over 100 positions while countries like Kosovo have 2-3.

Step 3 is to complete the application. The entire application is online. You will have to write two essays: a Personal Statement and a Statement of Grant Purpose. In some ways, these two essays overlap. In my personal statement, I focused on, well, more personal things (obstacles overcome, reasons for wanting to do a Fulbright, etc.) and in my Grant Purpose, I wrote about my experience as a teacher, why I chose Bulgaria, and how I would benefit the Fulbright program.

You will also need 3 letters of recommendation, which will be completed online. If you have any teaching experience, use these letters to highlight that. I had a co-teacher write one of the letters, a former professor write another, and a former boss/mentor write another. I wanted to cover as many different angles of myself as possible.

You will also be asked about any supplemental projects you are interested in. For the ETA, this is difficult as you don't know your placement within that country, so your idea should be general. In my case, I wrote about starting an exercise or triathlon club within the community. Because ETAs work only 4 days a week and for limited hours, they want to make sure that you are engaged in other ways with your community. The goal of the entire program is a sort-of soft diplomacy, so supplemental projects ensure you're not sitting on your butt at home when you're not at school. By no means are you limited to this proposed project, however. In my case, I'll be coaching the Speech & Debate team, so I may not do the triathlon club, but I had no idea that was even a possibility when applying.

Final Note for those with teaching experience (i.e. every person who has asked me about the application). I do think that teaching experience is a plus, but you can actually have too much teaching experience. I've read that they want teachers with less than 4 years or so. I'm not sure of the rationale for this, but I can imagine it's because you're a teaching assistant and more veteran teachers may be reluctant to cede control of the classroom to the native teachers.

Also, if you haven't taught at all, that's not a problem. Experience mentoring, coaching, or leading others would suffice!

I think I've rambled on enough now. I'm really just doing anything possible to avoid packing...