pkstudent.com – scholarships, career advice and jobs for pakistanis

Timeline to apply for Fulbright Scholarship

By Nabeel Akhtar – Consultant at http://pkstudent.com

About Fulbright Scholarship:

Fulbright scholarship program is becoming the most famous choice for Pakistani students. It offers a variety of scholarships for graduate programs. They include Masters, MBA, PhD, visiting teachers program, short-term research in US, and some more. The details of these programs can be found on http://www.usefpakistan.org/.

How to apply for this scholarship? (ex. Fall 2010)

Fulbright is typically given for programs that start in fall of every year. To apply for Fulbright, the application process is started approximately 16 months before the targeted academic program starts. For example, if a student wants to start his masters in August (Fall) of 2010, the he/she needs to get actively involved with application etc, in January of 2009! Yes, it is a long process.

I will use the applicant for scholarship in 2010 as an example. This timeline is based on observation of other Fulbright scholars from the past, and is generally good for most people.

• In October of 2008, prospective applicant starts to visit various websites for different scholarships that are available.
• By December 2008, the applicant is confident that Fulbright Scholarship is the best option for him. At this point, he buys GRE books for GRE and TOEFL. There are different options and generally Barron’s, Princeton Review and Kaplan have been popular. Barron’s is more difficult then others, but gives a good challenging experience. Princeton review is good for beginners, and gives student confident.
  • GRE is a difficult test which differentiates between test-takers, while TOEFL is only intended to evaluate English proficiency. For most people, TOEFL is very easy and only takes couple of weeks to prepare for, while GRE is much more difficult, and can take anywhere from one month to few months.
  • Students who have been out of school for few years find it difficult to even start preparing for GRE, therefore it is recommended that they start early. Some students prefer seeking professional help for GRE preparation, while others do it themselves. If student is on budget, then professional help might be difficult to get.
• January 2009: During this time, the applicant starts to look for at least 3 people who could fill the letter for recommendation for him. They could be his professors, co-workers etc. The choice has to be wise, so the applicant should give some thought to it. It is a good idea to informally inform these people about your desire and let them know that they will need to fill the letter of recommendation in couple of month’s time.
• In February 2009, applicant starts visiting Fulbright Scholarship’s official website (http://www.usefpakistan.org/), and looks for the application. This application is made available to students in February, March or even early April. Usually it is beginning of March.
• The Fulbright Application is very comprehensive and requires significant effort on the part of applicants. There are many candidates that fail to apply for Fulbright, because they are unable to fill the application and fulfill other requirements in time. Usually, the deadline to submit the application is May 1^st.
  • The application can be downloaded on a PC and can be filled, or it could be submitted online.
  • This application has many parts. The two major sections of this application are ‘Personal Statement’ and ‘Research Proposal’. There are many things that could be discussed for each. For brevity’s sake, we will not go in any more details for these topics, and will discuss them more in another article.
  • There are supporting documents that are submitted with the application. Some of them are letters of recommendations, official transcripts etc. In some cases, these documents take months to acquire, so be hasty.
  • Historically, applicants have prepared a good application by improving the first draft many times. It is recommended that the applicant fills the application himself, and then make it available to his close family and friends. These people should be requested to criticize and improve his application.
  • Furthermore, if the applicant knows other Fulbright scholars from the past, then he should request their application and should read it carefully. This will help him critically evaluate his own application. Please note, do not even try to copy any part of the application from some other resource. It is unethical and not allowed and it displeased Allah. Secondly, the people who evaluate applications are same each year, and it is very easy for them to catch plagiarism. They have been doing this job for years.
  • Please note there are 4 schools that can be named in the application. It is advisable to give 3 schools and leave the 4^th one for the commission to decide. Amongst the 3 school, one could be a dream school, another one could be a school in middle tier, and the last one could be a backup school.
• GRE and TOEFL scores are sent along with the application. If the candidate needs more time, then he can give these tests at a latter date, but should at least be registered for the tests at the time of submission of the application. Any application that does not fulfill this requirement will be rejected.
• It is advised to give the GRE and TOEFL tests by early April. Usually people give TOEFL in early March and GRE in early April. This gives them enough time for preparing the application before the deadline. If for some reason this is not possible, then they can give the tests by end of May.
• Once the application is submitted and the tests are given, applicant gets sometime to relax!
• In July/August 2009 timeframe, Fulbright commission starts inviting candidates for interviews in Islamabad. They details of the interview may be discussed in another article.
• By October/November 2009, the legal documents are signed and candidates are finalized. If the applicant did not hear anything from the commission, then he can assume that this is what Allah had decreed for him. He can try again next year.
• From January to April 2010, college acceptances arrive. Sometimes only very little time is given to the applicant to make a decision. He should be mentally prepared to make that decision, and all scenarios should be in mind.
• Once college is accepted, then the visa process starts. The USEFP office is very efficient in helping the students get the visa. The applicant would be invited to Islamabad in May 2010, and would give visa interviews.
  • Usually Fulbrighters have received US visa in 2-4 months time frame.
  • Every year, a bunch of applicants do not get their visa in time, and they are delayed till the start of college in August/September. Sometime they are able to make it after school starts, while some are unfortunate, and are unable to attend college that year, despite of the scholarship.
• Once VISA arrives, USEFP arranges tickets and other information for the applicant. By this time, the fortunate Pakistani Student starts dreaming of America and starts shopping. Special thanks should be given to the One who enabled the person to enjoy this opportunity.

Best of Luck!