Fulbright Application Steps

Ok. You’ve decided to dedicate your time and effort to prepare an application. You are fluent in English, have strong academic references, personal qualities, and desire to experience something new. Now it’s time to get busy! At this point you should read the application instructions on the web page of the US Embassy closest to you.

Usually, the application process consists of the following steps:

1. Create an account at: Fulbright Scholarship application account creation.
2. Find instructions at: Fulbright Scholarship application instructions.
3. Get familiar with the required documents and data.

The general data you have to provide are:

1. your contact information,
2. study plan,
3. future plans (after Fulbright),
4. education,
5. bibliography, academic honors, prizes,
6. teaching, occupational and research experiences,
7. language skills,
8. emergency contacts,
9. personal information (health, other scholarships)
10. undergraduate and graduate transcript,
11. personal financial information,
12. university preferences.

It doesn’t hurt to provide:

1. a letter of invitation from your adviser in the USA and his references,
2. your CV.

Apart from the generic questions, you also have to write a personal statement, project proposal and supply three letters of recommendation (references). As English is most probably not your mother tongue (it isn’t mine either), trust someone who is fluent to read and correct the mistakes. The IIE people go through a lot of applications daily and you don’t want yours to stand out because of your sloppiness. But be careful! The IIE people are well versed in reading applications. They will know if it wasn’t you who wrote any of the essays. There is not really much you can do about it, just write everything on your own and you’re safe.

Submitting Fulbright Application

After you have filled out all the details, uploaded the documents, and your recommenders uploaded their letters, it is time to proofread. I recommend that you also ask a friend of yours to proofread and if possible a native speaker. You’ve already put a lot of your time in this “project”, you would be stupid to be careless at this point. After you submit your application, you will be able to download a pdf of all the documents. Do this, print it and snail-mail it to your local Fulbright representative (at this point you should already be in contact with him/her).

One of the most important documents you need to prepare is the Personal Statement Letter.