You're a brave, brave soul... get ready for lots of angst! I don't know which was more nerve-wracking for me, the 2 weeks I had to feverishly compile my application or the nearly 6 months of waiting afterwards to find out if I would even get the award or not.
That said, I did end up getting it and I'm thrilled since it's such a unique opportunity. I wanted to share my experience with the application in case it helps others. So here goes...
My application nightmare:
I finished up a summer internship in August 2010 and then my boyfriend Matt came to visit for the last few weeks of summer before he headed off to China. Honestly, the last thing on my mind was the application. I knew it was due sometime in October and so I planned to attack it when I got back to campus. Well, surprise! The national deadline was in October but the campus deadline was just a week or two into September. If I didn't submit my application by this date then my school wouldn't endorse it. I remember the icy horror gripping my chest when I realized this. I quickly sent an email to my school's FPA (Fulbright Program Advisor) asking if this deadline was hard and fast or flexible, since I had misunderstood the information on the school's website (it was pretty confusing). Her reply was that, basically, I was an idiot for not understanding the confusing website, she wasn't going to give me any leeway, and that I could try to do the application but good luck. Furious, I resolved to submit an application worthy of a Fulbright just to stick it to her.
I knew I could write a good application, I just expected to have more time to do it. I first contacted my top-choice recommendation writers and apologized profusely for the short time allowance. They all agreed to write recommendations despite the short notice which was such a relief. Then I needed a host institution in Mongolia. I contacted the American Center for Mongolian Studies, of which I became a member during my semester studying abroad in Mongolia. The people there were wonderful- although the ACMS could not serve as a host institution itself, the staff wrote a letter endorsing my application and also were able to find me a host institution (the Mongolian State University of Agriculture). This left the language evaluation. A researcher I had met at Umass who had worked in Mongolia and spoke near fluent Mongolian agreed to fill this out for me.
As for the essays, while emails were flying back and forth between me and my army of application helpers, I squeezed them in. I wrote tons of drafts and showed them to everyone I could. No one likes showing their personal statement to other people, especially one in draft form, but it had to be done. For the personal statement I highlighted my academic achievement, organization, leadership ability, and drive to challenge myself and experience new things.
In my research proposal I first gave some background info that proved that I understood my topic and the country, and then explained what I would do in Mongolia. I used a timeline format to explain what I would be doing, when, and why I would be doing it then. Throughout I focused on the feasibility of my project. I spent precious words to convince the Fulbright commission that I understood exactly what I planned to do and how difficult it would be, and that what I proposed was feasible.
After toiling over the application I managed to submit everything on time and was granted a campus interview in October. I prepared for the interview by printing out 2 copies of every part of my application and talking to myself in the mirror for hours about my research project. I like to rehearse some responses to likely questions so that I can deliver a confident answer during the interview. Then, when you're able to give a solid response in the interview, it boosts your confidence which gives you some momentum. "Fake it til you make it" all the way. If you're not a naturally outgoing person you can pretend to be if it's important.
My interview was the last one of the day. I had sat outside the room while someone droned on about Spanish literature and so I knew I had to bring a good dose of enthusiasm to energize the panel. They reacted well to this and the interview went smoothly. They seemed pleasantly surprised by my passion for Mongolia and my research project. In the end it was less of an interview and more of an application help session. Yes, I was being evaluated, but they also gave me plenty of good tips to improve my research proposal for the final submission.
I took their advice, polished up my application, and submitted it one last time.
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