Getting a Fulbright Scholarship

When I was headed for a year in Chicago, I originally did not want to apply for a Fulbright scholarship, since I thought it would take a while and the chance of being accepted was slim. Thankfully, my advisor urged me to do it anyway, so I wrote an application. And I got it! Even though the new governments has gutted a lot of the funding, here are some tips and tricks for the Fulbright application and interview:

Make it your application

Many years ago, I found a tip to always write initial application drafts without looking at what anyone else has written. This will probably bring out more of your motivation and increase authenticity. I’ve also heard from professors that many that many applicants tend to write generic cover letters for PhD positions that they presumably send to many different positions. This gives a negative impression! I think in general cover letters are more important for PhDs and scholarships than IT industry jobs.

Keep it realistic

Remember that anything you write in your application can be brought up in the interview. Interviewers will often probe you for inconsistencies. To avoid getting “caught”, keep the application simple. Don’t make up a story of your motivation.

Also, keep in mind, few people really understand your field and the problems you are working on. So don’t worry about overselling what you have done or what you could have done better. Focus on what you want to do in your field, how you want to do it, and why it matters. Interviewers will appreciate knowing the grant goes for a specific cause other than status and money. And in the same note, keep in mind, while being a genius is great, Fulbright is also about building relations and cultural understandings.

Prepare for the job

Before my Fulbright interview, I read a lot about Fulbright. Especially the yearly reports by the Norwegian chapters. I think this helped, since I ended up being interviewed by the same person who wrote the mission statements. I also picked up phrases like “the last three feet”, which can be nice to know.

The Fulbright grant money comes the governments. So keep in mind you’re trying to become a national representative, not just a grant recipient. I was asked during the interview to compare some “goods and bads” about Norway compared to the US. The question caught me a little off guard, and I was not sure how political my response could be.