U.S. Fulbright Applicant
Newsletter

Working with Your Fulbright Program Adviser

Students who are currently enrolled in a U.S. college or university with a campus Fulbright Program Adviser (FPA) are required to submit their applications through that individual. The name and contact information for your FPA can be found on the Fulbright U.S. Student Program website. Go to www.fulbrightonline.org/us and follow the prompts for 'currently enrolled students.' All applicants are required to apply online.

If an FPA is not listed, you would apply as an at-large candidate from your U.S. state of permanent residence, and contact U.S. Student Programs at IIE for guidance and answers to your questions.

It is important that you contact your FPA as soon as possible to find out the campus deadline for applications. If you have already graduated, you may be able to apply through your alma mater; this will be at the discretion of the FPA. Contact the FPA and ask if he or she works with alumni. FPAs are not obligated to work with alumni, but will often do so.

Your FPA will also give you information on the campus interview schedule. All students applying through their campus FPA will have a campus committee interview prior to the application being submitted to IIE. The interview is an important part of the application process as faculty from your school will provide feedback on your application.

Your FPA does not have access to your application while it is being developed. It is important, however, that you complete the basic information requests, including your name; country of application; field of study; college or university information and the name of your FPA as soon as possible. In doing so, your FPA will know that your application is in progress.

While the content and presentation of the entire application is important, your FPA will be most interested in reviewing your two essays: The Statement of Grant Purpose and the Personal Statement. For both of these essays, you should refer to the 'Tips for Completing an Application' section on the Fulbright U.S. Student Program website where you will find important advice on content and style. You should share your essays with your FPA, who will be interested in working with you as you construct and refine them. First drafts may be requested. The essays should be created offline as word documents, and then sent electronically or in hard copy to your FPA for review. Once you are completely satisfied with their content, you can then upload them into the online application system.

Your FPA will also want to know who you have selected to complete your foreign language evaluation and three letters of recommendation, and why these individuals can best support you and your project.

One official copy of your complete academic record is also required. You should coordinate with your FPA on the submission of your transcript(s).

You and your FPA will decide the best time to submit your application electronically. Only after you have electronically submitted your application, will your FPA be able to view it.

Finally, in addition to completing and submitting the application electronically, you are also responsible for printing a final hard copy of the application, signing it and delivering it along with hard copies of all your supporting documents to your FPA by the campus deadline. Follow the online instructions for printing the final PDF version of the application and use the 'Application Inspector' to make sure your application is complete.

Establishing a Host Affiliation

Applicants must carefully read the criteria for host affiliation requirements in the summary of the country to which they are applying. Countries differ in the kinds of host affiliations that are acceptable. Depending upon the country, the host affiliation can be an academic institution, a research institute, a non-profit organization and/or individuals at any one of these or other types of relevant agencies. In some cases, particularly in the arts, the affiliation may be a person such as a writer, musician, or artist or an arts organization or foundation. Applicants should pay special attention to the requirement in some countries to attend/affiliate with an academic institution.

Identifying a Potential Host

Some countries will obtain affiliation for the Fulbrighters, while others leave the responsibility for securing host affiliation entirely up to the grantee. Others will work somewhere in between, expecting the grantee to identify a host affiliation and make initial contact, but will then help to formalize the affiliation after the grant is awarded. Make sure you know what is expected of you as an applicant by carefully reviewing the country summary.

In countries where it is up to the grantee to find and secure affiliations, IIE cannot provide a list of institutions that acted as a host to previous Fulbrighters. Past Fulbrighters have used a number of methods to contact hosts and solicit support for their projects. One main way is to use the contacts and advisers that you already have. Ask if one of your current professors can help to put you in contact with a professor at a university overseas. Here are a couple of additional ways, we recommend for finding an affiliation: (1) international students on your campus can be a great resource; (2) contact Visiting Fulbright Professors in the U.S. by visiting (http://www.cies.org/vs_scholars/vs_dir.htm); (3) a search engine, such as Google, can help you find professors with your interests. Do not hesitate to contact professors from other universities both in the U.S. and in your prospective host country, especially if your proposal fits with the professor’s expertise. Some committed research and perseverance will also aid you in finding a host affiliation. Once you find a possible host, make contact by sending an introductory letter or email. Keep in mind that many schools are closed during the summer months, so you may want to begin early, or plan an intensified search in the early fall. Remember, however, that IIE does not accept any support materials or letters via email or fax, and sufficient lead time must be allowed to receive hard copy responses with original signatures.

Letters of Affiliation

The most competitive candidates will include contact documentation with potential host affiliations in their applications. This could be a letter of invitation from the host institution/organization/individual indicating research support or allowing applicants to have access to facilities; or, it could be a letter indicating that the admitting institution provides courses in the applicant's areas of study. IIE refers to these letters synonymously as: letters of support, letters of affiliation, letters of invitation and/or letters of admission.

There are no specific requirements for the letter of support from the host institution. Every affiliation relationship will be different depending upon the candidate’s project. In general, letters of support on institutional letterhead sent with the application are preferred. The letters should state how the supervisor/host institution will help the applicant to facilitate the project (i.e., what resources will be offered, what kind of supervision will be given, etc.). Some applicants propose to do independent research, so these letters of support are more crucial to establishing the feasibility of a project. Other applicants propose study projects, so letters of support are really a complement to the overall application. Therefore, you should try to get a letter of affiliation that is as detailed as possible. Ultimately, it is up to your host affiliation as to the level/kind of support that they are willing to offer you.

Please be aware that many people do not enjoy the reliable connectivity or easy access to the Internet that we have in the United States, and therefore you may not receive a response to your inquiries as quickly as you might hope. Again, applicants are advised to begin their search for an affiliation as early as possible.

Although it is strongly preferred that affiliation letters be included as part of the hard copy application, they may also be submitted to IIE via regular mail after the deadline. However, we cannot guarantee that letters of support submitted separate from the full application will be successfully married with the application in time for committee review. Also, IIE cannot confirm receipt of any documents. Please do not call or email to ask if your letter of support was received. We recommend that you send your materials using a method that will provide return receipt.

Please note that we will not accept letters of support, recommendations, or foreign language reports sent via email or fax.

Degree Programs

If your plan is to complete a Master's or other degree or to attend a structured degree program, make sure you apply for admission to the host university by their deadline. Do not wait for the Fulbright decision to come through, or you may be too late in gaining admission into your chosen university.

If you are applying for admission to a study/Master's program, you do not need to submit the letter of admission with the application; you can submit the letter once you've received it. However, an offer for a Fulbright grant would be contingent upon receipt of placement at a university. If you are applying to undertake a structured degree program, obtaining a letter of support from a faculty member at the host university will undoubtedly strengthen your application.

My Best Fulbright Foot Forward

Josephine G. Dorado, 2003-2004, Netherlands

With a passion for both technology and the arts, my interest is in the convergence of the two. Specifically, interactive art and networked performance - online collaborative performance among physically dispersed participants virtually linked in the space of the Internet to make cultural connections via art and technology.

Once I decided to go for it, everything seemed to fall into place. I was offered an artist residency at the Waag Society for Old and New Media, located in an old castle in the heart of Amsterdam. They provided me with an atelier, technical resources, and access to a multimedia streaming theater, which was on the top floor and, in days past, was the inspiration from which Rembrandt had painted "The Anatomy Lecture of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp."

I proposed to develop a show involving networked performance between artists in New York and Amsterdam. That idea became "son(net) subterfuge," which was a project between artists in Amsterdam, New York, and Helsinki. Performers took one of Shakespeare's sonnets and remixed it as a sound, video, or dance piece. The resulting pieces were then streamed and projected during a live performance that happened simultaneously in each city, allowing for real-time online collaboration and trans-cultural interpretations of classic literature.

I also did a second show called "Viroid Flophouse," an exploration of playable art in an online gaming environment which incorporated dance, motion tracking, streaming, and performance. This show was created collaboratively by my team at the Waag Society for Old and New Media and Arizona State University.

Living abroad was an eye-opening experience - a wonderful gift I wanted to pass on to others. In 2006, I decided to create a series of networked performance events that connects kids in different countries. The result - Kids Connect - was launched with the help of some very talented colleagues. Kids Connect is a series of workshops for young people in multiple locations. The goal is to teach them to connect and work together, in person and remotely, with audio/visual and Internet technologies. Teens in each city are taught theatrical and technology-related skills, facilitated by media and theater artists. Then they use those skills to create a performance that occurs both live in theaters and online simultaneously in the virtual world of Second Life, an international gathering place that facilitates collaboration, learning, and creating.

It's been a challenge making this project happen, but one that I believe in and would happily take on again. Putting my best Fulbright foot forward and closing with the last commandment of skydiving: "Be joyous."