College of the Holy Cross | Graduate Studies

FULBRIGHT RESEARCH GRANTS

Eligibility:		American citizens educated in the United States holding a B.A. or equivalent before the grant starts. Appropriate language proficiency and good health.
Duration:		One year, non-renewable.
Award:		Variable depending on the country, but usually covers travel, insurance, tuition and a living allowance for study at a foreign university. Consult the web page for details of each country and for award statistics.
Holy Cross procedure:		Preliminary application filed in Graduate Studies Office; interview in September by Committee on Graduate Studies and Fellowships. Alumni from up to 3 years ago can apply through Holy Cross.
Essay(s):		Two-page statement of proposed study or research; one-page curriculum vitae
Then what:		Applications are submitted from Holy Cross as a group to the Institute for International Education, where they are screened. Finalists are notified in late winter that their names have been sent to the potential host country. About half the finalists receive awards, and are notified by the host country, usually by late spring.

    Introductory information
    Fulbright application procedures
    Fulbright essays

INTRODUCTORY INFORMATION

Three types of grants are available under the auspices of the Fulbright Commission: research
grants, grants in the performing arts, and teaching assistantships. These grants are administered
by the Institute for International Education (IIE). Further information can be obtained from their
web site: http://us.fulbrightonline.org/home.html

The Fulbright Research Grant is for one year of post-graduate study in another country in any
field. There are over 900 awards each year sending American students to about 125 different
countries. In Western Europe the applicant would usually affiliate with a university to take
courses or to do laboratory research. The applicant going to the third world might affiliate with
a Non-Governmental Organization or with some other well established entity in order to do
field work or independent study. Eligibility requirements vary from country to country. A
project with strong academic validity is more important than academic record, but the applicant
must have a strong background in the field, and a knowledge of the language of the country is
necessary unless you are affiliating with an international laboratory where English is spoken.

All grants provide tuition and other educational expenses, living expenses, travel costs,
and insurance.

Holy Cross students have been particularly successful in recent years in winning Research Grants. Factors determining success include (of course) a well prepared application and a good reason for undertaking the proposed activity, but other factors beyond your control may determine whether your application is successful. These include the number of opportunities available in the country to which you have applied and the number of other applicants for those opportunities. Thus you should consult the web site for statistics of recent competitions.

Additional opportunities for research study in Germany are available through the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). They may be contacted at http://www.daad.de. For further information, you can check the web site of the German Department here at Holy Cross: http://www.holycross.edu/departments/mll/website/german/graduate.htm.

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FULBRIGHT APPLICATION PROCEDURES

Choosing Your Place and Your Project. The key to a good Fulbright application is in the academic validity of your project. That means you must have a very good academic reason for going where you propose to go. It is not enough to propose a good academic program in Brazil if you have no academic reason for pursuing that program there. The best reason to go to any particular country is that you could study a subject there better than anywhere else, perhaps because there is an expert in the field who teaches there. Seek your mentors’ advice so that you can choose your destination well, and make sure there is a good fit between the project and the place.
Everything else being equal, the IIE prefers to support students who have not spent more than 6 months in the country where they hope to study. You might think that this would rule out a return to a study-abroad situation, but in fact, everything else is rarely equal. In fact, you are often better equipped to conduct a fundable study if you have spent more time in a country. It is important, however, to demonstrate that you want to grow in new directions, not simply revisit the site of a pleasant prior experience. Furthermore, certain countries prefer students with prior experience, for example Japan. If in doubt, ask the Graduate Study Advisor to check.
If you have had experience in the study-abroad program that you would like to extend, a reasonable strategy would be to use the same language in a different country, for example French in Belgium or Switzerland or Francophone Africa; Spanish in Latin America; German in Austria or Switzerland. If you propose to build on a project begun as your independent study during your year abroad, you would then have two excellent supporting credentials.

Affiliation. Before you can apply for the Fulbright Grant you must arrange an affiliation with a university or with some other appropriate individual, institution, or entity in the country of your destination. E-mail makes this much easier than it sounds. Once you have carefully chosen your project and your place, write to the appropriate person and ask that person if they would be willing to oversee your work (to accept you as a student or as an assistant in their lab or whatever) if you were to be awarded a Fulbright Grant. They seldom say no if you have a good project and have the necessary academic background to carry it out.

Languages. It is usually expected that you know the language of the country to which you are applying. The major exception to this rule is if you are going to be working in an international laboratory where English is the language of the lab. There are also countries where university courses are commonly taught in English and where you may not need the local language to carry out your project, though of course you will want to communicate with your neighbors when you are not actually studying. Otherwise, you must be prepared to do your work in the language of the country, and the level of competence required may vary from country to country. A foreign language report is part of the application and must be filled out by a teacher of the language who has interviewed you. Frequently, no more than intermediate level competence is demanded, and if you have a strong project but are weak in the language, the Fulbright Commission may pay for your tuition at a special language school for a month or more before the academic year begins.

There are two areas of the world where you may apply for the grant in order to learn the language. You may go to the Middle East to learn Arabic, and you may go to Japan to learn Japanese. In both cases, however, you must have at least elementary language competence before you apply.

Preliminary Application. The Fulbright Commission requires that Holy Cross interview all applicants and supply a committee evaluation of all applications. A preliminary application is necessary for the interview. See the special instructions for the preliminary application.
Note: the Committee does not choose nominees for the Fulbright. We can send in any number of applications, and we will support all applications as much as we possibly can.

Letters of Recommendation. Three references are required (two at the time of the preliminary application). They should be from professors in your major field, and preferably from professors at Holy Cross. Make sure you supply those who are writing for you with up-to-date information about your project, because they must comment not only on the work you may have done for them in the past but on the academic validity of your project, on its feasibility in terms of resources available abroad, and on your ability to carry out the project. If you are applying after a year of study abroad, you may ask for a reference from one of the professors you had during your junior year, but make sure that your referee knows what kind of information is asked for on the form, and make sure their mailed response (no e-mail or fax) can arrive at Holy Cross on time.

If a faculty member has already supplied one of the two letters for your preliminary application (to the Commitee on Graduate Studies and Fellowships) he or she may be able to use the same letter for your final application, but remember that you might really need a different letter if in your preliminary application you were applying for more than one fellowship. Again, make sure your referee is informed about your specific project and ask him or her to comment on it.

Letters may be written on letterhead instead of on the form, but in that case the writer should print your name, your field of study, and your country of destination on the top of each page of the letter. The writer should also sign both the letter and the form. No letter can be faxed or e-mailed.

All Fulbright letters must be sent to the Graduate Studies Advisor at Holy Cross, who will send them along with your application (and all the other applications from Holy Cross students) to New York.

Transcripts. The Preliminary Application Form submitted in September has a transcript release form. If you have signed that, you need not order a transcript for the final application. The Graduate Studies Advisor will obtain them directly from the Registrar. Do make sure that your transcript is complete, especially if you have been away for a semester or have taken courses during the summer. Remember, the Registrar cannot post grades for a course until it has been approved by a department chairperson, and it is up to you to obtain that course approval.

Mailing. All materials for the Fulbright application must be submitted through the office of the Graduate Studies Advisor.

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FULBRIGHT ESSAYS

The first essay is the STATEMENT OF PROPOSED STUDY or project essay (page 6 of Fulbright application): "Describe your study or research plans and your reasons for wishing to undertake them in the country of your choice. Outline a plan that realistically can be completed in one academic year abroad. Graduating seniors, applicants in the creative or performing arts,
and applicants for teaching awards are not expected to formulate detailed research projects. Graduating seniors should describe the study programs they wish to follow in terms as specific as possible."

"All candidates should submit projects indicating in detail their reasons for choosing a particular country, the form their work will take, the results they hope to obtain, and the contribution that a foreign experience will have on their future development."

The project essay for a Research Grant, might follow this format:

1) Begin by specifying the university or institution (museum school, etc.) you want to attend, the course of study you want to pursue there (also indicating the specific research topic or intellectual issue you might focus on) and explain why that course of study is especially suited to that institution in that country.

2) Explain why this course is worth pursuing and the "results you hope to obtain."

3) Explain why on the basis of your undergraduate course work or other experience you are qualified to do it.

4) Say what steps you have taken or will take to investigate the program of study and to secure an affiliation with the institution of your choice. (Have you written for or received information regarding faculty, courses, library or other facilities? Do you have an application?) Include in your application any letter indicating that you will be welcome to the institution.

5) Explain how the program of studies relates to your future career interests.

The second essay is the CURRICULUM VITAE or personal essay (Fulbright application p.7). “This statement should be a narrative giving a picture of yourself as an individual. It should deal with your personal history, family background, influences on your intellectual development, the educational and cultural opportunities (or lack of them) to which you have been exposed,
and the ways in which these experiences have affected you. Also include your special interests and abilities, career plans, and life goals, etc. It should not be a recording of facts already listed on the application or an elaboration of your statement of proposed study.”

This essay gives you the chance to present yourself as intellectually alive and culturally aware, a tactful person of goodwill who will make an excellent ambassador in the Fulbright year. Explain how your proposed program of studies or teaching assignment relates to your personal intellectual growth at the close of your undergraduate years. Stress any special intellectual interests, avocations, artistic or musical abilities that you could develop or contribute during your Fulbright year. Coordinate this personal essay with the project statement, so that they complement and do not repeat each other. Finally, your essay must display a graceful and concise command of your native language, so plan to revise, revise and revise. The personal essay may be only a page long, single-spaced. The project essay can fill two pages. Plan carefully!

For more suggestions on writing proposals please refer to "Proposal Writing: the Art of Persuasion."

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