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Fulbright |
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Introduction
Congress created the Fulbright Program in 1946 at
the end of World War II to increase mutual understanding
between the people of the United States and other countries,
through the exchange of persons, knowledge and skills.
Senator J. William Fulbright the sponsor of the legislation,
saw it as a step toward building an alternative to
armed conflict.
Fulbright Grants provide for the international exchange
of scholars in over 140 countries. The Fulbright Program
is supported by annual appropriations from Congress
to the U.S. State Department and administered by the
Institute of International Education (IIE) in New York,
NY.
The U.S. Student Program awards approximately
1000 grants annually tenable in over 140 countries.
The grants are generally project-oriented and last
for one year. The host country typically provides input,
as one of the goals of the grant is to benefit the
host country.
Another program for which some U.S. Student Program
applicants might be eligible is the Fulbright-Hays
Grant, for pre-doctoral students who intend a career
in secondary or university teaching, administered by
the U.S. Department of Education.
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Quick Facts
| Field of Study |
Advanced
research, graduate study, language study or teaching
at the university, secondary or elementary level |
| Type |
Graduate |
| Place of Study |
Over
140 countries |
| Award amount |
Travel & educational
expenses; language or orientation courses; maintenance
for one academic year; supplemental health and
accident insurance |
| MIT Deadline |
September
11 |
| National Deadline |
October 20 |
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Eligibility
To be eligible you must:
- Be a U.S. citizen
- Hold an undergraduate degree before the beginning
day of the grant, but not have been awarded a doctoral
degree at the time of application
- Be in good health; grantees will be required to
submit a satisfactory Certificate of Health from
a physician.
- Have sufficient proficiency in the written and
spoken language of the host country to communicate
with the people and to carry out the proposed course
of study
- Preference will be given to students who have received
a majority of their high school and undergraduate
college education in the U.S.
- Preference will usually be given to candidates
who have not resided or studied in the country to
which they are applying for more than six months.
Duty abroad in the Armed Forces is not considered
disqualifying. Nor are junior year study abroad programs
(such as the Cambridge-MIT Exchange), where the total
actual time in residence does not much exceed six
months in aggregate, considered disqualifying.
Exceptions:
- Applicants who have not earned a B.A. degree or
the equivalent, but who have extensive professional
study and/or experience in fields in which they wish
to pursue a project, may be considered.
- In the creative and performing arts, four years
of professional study and/or experience meets the
basic eligibility requirement.
- Applicants in medicine must have an M.D. or the
equivalent (e.g., D.D.S., O.D.) degree at the time
of application.
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Selection Criteria
Applicants are chosen on the basis of:
- Scholastic achievement, especially in the major
field of study. MIT's median GPA of 4.2 could be
competitive, depending on the proposal.
- Language ability in language of the proposed host
country.
- Extent to which the proposed project will promote
mutual understanding among nations(and specifically
between the U.S. and the host country).
- Ratio between the number of awards offered in a
given country and the number of applications received
(some countries are more competitive than others).
- Ability of the supervising agencies abroad to arrange
supervision.
- Desirability of achieving wide institutional and
geographic distribution.
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Application (see official site for
details and forms)
Before beginning application, please review MIT's Distinguished Fellowships Office Policies
Please print out the following checklist and
submit with application
Current MIT students must submit a complete application
as described below to the Distinguished Fellowships Office,
12-189, by the campus deadline, September 11.
This is true even if you have begun to complete your
application online with IIE. If you are not in residence
at MIT or have left the Institute (e.g., alumnus/a)
you may apply as an at-large candidate. Applications
must be submitted online by the national deadline and
in print to the MIT Distinguished Fellowships Office, 12-189,
by the MIT deadline. You may continue to revise your
application online after submitting to MIT, but you
must supply a new printed version to MIT whenever you
make changes. Complete applications consist of the
following materials:
- IIE Fulbright Cover Sheet (original plus four copies)
- Official IIE Fulbright application (original plus
four copies)
- 3 Letters of recommendation (originals, sent directly
to the Foreign Scholarships Office)
- Foreign Language Report, if applicable (original)
- Original transcript(s) from institutions attended
since high school (original)
- Insitutional endorsement (provided by MIT)
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Timeline
| Spring |
- Meet with a foreign scholarship advisor.
Appointments can be made by sending mail to scholarships@mit.edu or
by visiting the Distinguished Fellowships Office,
12-189.
- Send mail to scholarships@mit.edu to
be added to the mailing list to receive information
about upcoming workshops, fellowship deadlines,
etc.
- Attend a workshop on foreign scholarships.
- Submit a Fulbright
Preapplication Form. On receipt of this
form, the Distinguished Scholarships Office, 12-189,
will open a file for you.
- Research and develop a plan of study and
draft a proposal. Write a one page single-spaced
personal essay.
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| May-June |
- Set up preliminary meeting with the Distinguished Fellowships Office, 12-189 to go over the application
process.
- Register on the Fulbright site
for Fulbright applicants and download the application.
When you register you will need to name Kimberly Benard as the MIT contact. In addition
to completing the application online you will
need to complete a paper application in parallel.
- Line up your recommendations before leaving
campus for the summer. Provide your referees
with all the information they need to supply
a letter of recommendation by September.
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| September |
- Review and revise your application. Seek
the advice of faculty, staff and fellow students
to increase its strength. Staff in the Distinguished Fellowships Office are available to review
and critique your essays.
- Submit completed applications and copies
to MIT by September 11 . The
Distinguished Fellowships Office, 12-189, is responsible
for forwarding all applications to the IIE.
- Sign up for campus interviews.
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| October |
- Each applicant will be interviewed by three
members of the MIT Committee on Foreign Scholarships.
The full Committee will subsequently compile
interview comments, evaluate the applicants,
rate the candidates (ratings are from
“excellent” to “not recommended”), and prepare the required
institutional recommendation.
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| October
20 |
- IIE Fulbright National Deadline. Submit online
applications to IIE.
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December
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January
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- National Screenings of IIE Fulbright Applications.
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| February |
- Results of National Screenings announced.
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| Spring-Summer |
- Final results from individual countries announced.
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