During the last few months, I have been asked several times about the application process for Fulbright, both in interview settings (more on that later) and in casual conversations with friends. I remember finding blogs of Fulbrighters while I was going through the application process (yes, I Google-stalked. Don't judge.), so in the event that a prospective applicant comes across this page, I hope it helps a little! :)
The possibility of applying to Fulbright's English Teaching Assistant program began to come up during my junior year. At that point, I was considering switching my major to English and was preparing to go abroad. I ended up deciding to stay an extra semester at Miami (which turned into an extra year because I decided to take some grad. classes), and during the summer before my victory lap, I decided to apply. I loved UAing and loved (and still love) the idea of spending ten months in Germany.
Although some countries don't have a language proficiency requirement for their English Teaching Assistants, Germany requires an intermediate level of proficiency. My best guess is that this translates roughly to two years of college-level German, although most of the ETAs whom I've met had 4 years in high school, 4 years in college, and sometimes even 1-3 years in middle school. I've always been one of the top two or three students in my German classes, and it was humbling to come to an environment where I am very average. :)
The first round application was pretty standard: I had to write a statement of purpose and a personal statement, found three recommenders (I used two English professors for whom I had UAed and a German professor), and filled out a few pages of biographical information. The most difficult part was figuring out how to respond to the naturalized citizen question, and I actually totally messed it up. (I thought it asked for the date when I renewed my passport.) Oops. It didn't seem to matter, though.
Miami's campus deadline for Fulbright was about a week before the official deadline-- just in time for the Fulbright committee to interview all of the applicants and suggest changes! My interview was short but pretty intense; I had to defend my reasons for wanting to be an ETA over a researcher, given that my career goals lean a little closer to the research side, and had to talk about the most recent news article that I had read in German. Fortunately, I got a positive review from the committee, and they told me that I didn't need to revise anything.
And then I waited... and waited... and waited... The campus interview was at the beginning of October. We heard back about the first round of cuts on January 29th. That's a solid four months of silence!!!
About two weeks after learning that I made it through the first round, I received an second application, this time all in German. We had about 2.5 weeks to translate our essays into German, fill out more biographical information, and request three Bundeslaender.
And then we waited, waited, and waited some more. We knew that we would hear back from Fulbright at the end of January, but the final decisions could be released at any time. Fortunately, Germany is usually one of the first countries to notify Fulbrighters, and I got my acceptance letter (USPS) on my mom's birthday. At that point, I also had to get medical clearance and all of that fun stuff. Unfortunately, I got kicked off my parents' health insurance plan in January and had to foot the bills myself.
A month later, I was at Miami when my mom called and said that I got something official looking in the mail, and I made her attempt to read the letter. I was pretty sure it was my Bundesland assignment. :) My mom butchered the German language, but I determined that I was heading to Berlin! (I gave up on trying to understand her German and asked her to spell the sentence that contained the word 'Berlin.')
At the end of May, I finally got a letter with my official placement: My Gymnasium!
Applying for Fulbright can be a nine month process... even longer if you include the essay writing time. Another Miamian did not hear from her host country until after graduation. (And you thought your wait was bad!) However, know that it is possible to get a Fulbright, even if your school doesn't provide a lot of application support. (Other than chasing down a missing recommendation letter, my campus advisor's most helpful comment was, "Your essays look good!") Miami is not a major feeder for Fulbright; there are 14,000 undergrads on the main campus, and only 15 of us applied for a Fulbright in 2009-2010. Six of us made it through the first round, and three of us ended up with a grant. But hey, three is better than zero!
I forget at which point I learned that I was in the Diversity Program- April or May, maybe? Anyway, I guess all you need to know is that the program exists and consists of 20 ETAs... so I believe Germany actually has 160 ETAs. I love My Gymnasium, but I know that some students in the Diversity Program were placed in more challenging schools.
The possibility of applying to Fulbright's English Teaching Assistant program began to come up during my junior year. At that point, I was considering switching my major to English and was preparing to go abroad. I ended up deciding to stay an extra semester at Miami (which turned into an extra year because I decided to take some grad. classes), and during the summer before my victory lap, I decided to apply. I loved UAing and loved (and still love) the idea of spending ten months in Germany.
Although some countries don't have a language proficiency requirement for their English Teaching Assistants, Germany requires an intermediate level of proficiency. My best guess is that this translates roughly to two years of college-level German, although most of the ETAs whom I've met had 4 years in high school, 4 years in college, and sometimes even 1-3 years in middle school. I've always been one of the top two or three students in my German classes, and it was humbling to come to an environment where I am very average. :)
The first round application was pretty standard: I had to write a statement of purpose and a personal statement, found three recommenders (I used two English professors for whom I had UAed and a German professor), and filled out a few pages of biographical information. The most difficult part was figuring out how to respond to the naturalized citizen question, and I actually totally messed it up. (I thought it asked for the date when I renewed my passport.) Oops. It didn't seem to matter, though.
Miami's campus deadline for Fulbright was about a week before the official deadline-- just in time for the Fulbright committee to interview all of the applicants and suggest changes! My interview was short but pretty intense; I had to defend my reasons for wanting to be an ETA over a researcher, given that my career goals lean a little closer to the research side, and had to talk about the most recent news article that I had read in German. Fortunately, I got a positive review from the committee, and they told me that I didn't need to revise anything.
And then I waited... and waited... and waited... The campus interview was at the beginning of October. We heard back about the first round of cuts on January 29th. That's a solid four months of silence!!!
About two weeks after learning that I made it through the first round, I received an second application, this time all in German. We had about 2.5 weeks to translate our essays into German, fill out more biographical information, and request three Bundeslaender.
And then we waited, waited, and waited some more. We knew that we would hear back from Fulbright at the end of January, but the final decisions could be released at any time. Fortunately, Germany is usually one of the first countries to notify Fulbrighters, and I got my acceptance letter (USPS) on my mom's birthday. At that point, I also had to get medical clearance and all of that fun stuff. Unfortunately, I got kicked off my parents' health insurance plan in January and had to foot the bills myself.
A month later, I was at Miami when my mom called and said that I got something official looking in the mail, and I made her attempt to read the letter. I was pretty sure it was my Bundesland assignment. :) My mom butchered the German language, but I determined that I was heading to Berlin! (I gave up on trying to understand her German and asked her to spell the sentence that contained the word 'Berlin.')
At the end of May, I finally got a letter with my official placement: My Gymnasium!
Applying for Fulbright can be a nine month process... even longer if you include the essay writing time. Another Miamian did not hear from her host country until after graduation. (And you thought your wait was bad!) However, know that it is possible to get a Fulbright, even if your school doesn't provide a lot of application support. (Other than chasing down a missing recommendation letter, my campus advisor's most helpful comment was, "Your essays look good!") Miami is not a major feeder for Fulbright; there are 14,000 undergrads on the main campus, and only 15 of us applied for a Fulbright in 2009-2010. Six of us made it through the first round, and three of us ended up with a grant. But hey, three is better than zero!
I forget at which point I learned that I was in the Diversity Program- April or May, maybe? Anyway, I guess all you need to know is that the program exists and consists of 20 ETAs... so I believe Germany actually has 160 ETAs. I love My Gymnasium, but I know that some students in the Diversity Program were placed in more challenging schools.
Hi there- I don't know if you keep up with this blog anymore. I received the second application recently. It asks for a cover letter and an essay about my life. Do you know if these need to be two NEW essays or translated versions of our original Fulbright application essays we submitted in English (statement of purpose and personal statement). I'm applying at-large and I'm not sure who to ask about this...
ReplyDeleteAll of my ETA friends and I translated our English essays into German.
ReplyDeleteHello K,
ReplyDeleteI'm applying for the Fulbright ETA program in Germany and have been speaking with some current ETAers. One of them mentioned the Diversity Program, saying I might be a good candidate for it, due to my interest in intercultural education, immigrant issues, and things like that.
I tried to look up the Diversity Program online, but only came up with your blog post here. I couldn't find any official information about it. Could you tell me about it? What is the word for it in German? (Maybe I'd have better luck searching for that?)
Thanks so much!
-C
Hi! The main reason that I explicitly mentioned the Diversity Program in a few posts is that there is absolutely no information online in English or in German about the program! :)
ReplyDeleteBasically, 20 ETAs are assigned to work in schools that supposedly have a high percentage of students who have a Migrationshintergrund. (This is not always the case; a few ETAs have said that their schools were incredibly lacking in diversity. I'm not sure how/whether Fulbright vets schools.) A lot of people think that all ETAs in the Diversity Program are in Berlin; only about 4 of us in my year were Berlin. Most of us, if not all of us, were in medium-to-large cities, though.
I got the impression that the 20 of us were selected because we had addressed something related to diversity explicitly in our application essays. For example, I'm a naturalized citizen, and I wrote about how Germans never believe that I'm an American because I don't look like the German stereotype of an American. I loved my school! :)
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me!
Exactly when did you find out that you had been accepted? Like what month?
ReplyDeleteThe notice of acceptance came in late March.
ReplyDeleteMine just came today! Although I must admit, I remember picking out my three federal states, but I don't remember having to do another essay or translate my original essay into German. Whenabouts should I expect to go? The only information I can find is sometime in September, which is a little vague.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! My Fulbright year was incredibly fun.
ReplyDeleteI think I left around September 10th. There is a short orientation in Germany that lasts about 3-4 days.
The PAD sent an application that asked us to write two essays auf Deutsch, and I think it also asked for pictures. Most people just translated their original essays. The process might have changed since 2010.
How did you choose your top three federal states? I assume Brandenburg is most often applied for... So I was thinking about applying for one that may be less popular. Any suggestions?
ReplyDeleteI REALLY doubt that Brandenburg is in the top three Bundesländer. I'm pretty sure that Berlin, BW, Bayern, NRW, and Sachsen are more popular.
ReplyDeleteIn my year, we had to choose three Bundesländer, and one had to be a former Eastern state (not including Berlin). I really wanted to be in a Bundesland where I could afford to take classes at a Uni. Also, I wanted to live in a semi-diverse larger city, or at least a college town.
Berlin was my #1 (diverse + big city + Unis + super affordable), then Baden-Württemberg (lots of Unis), then Thüringen (Unis and really really really pretty).
I'm currently waiting to hear back about whether I am selected. My application was recommended, and now I'm just waiting.... when did you find out that you were selected? From what you wrote, it sounds like Fulbright has changed the application process a bit.
ReplyDelete