Round two of writing about the application process. I’m determined to accomplish my goal of getting at least one post done by the end of the week in the series about recounting the past year. These posts are probably more importnat to me than anyone else. Who knows, maybe a future Fulbrighter will stumble upon these posts and it will help them with their application process. Anyways, I’m going to start at the very beginning.
Since returning from my Rotary Exchange Year in Switzerland in July 2008 (if you care, here’s my blog from that year), I knew I wanted to return to Europe in some capacity. I definelty caught the travel bug and knew I needed to find a way to travel while I”m young. It wasn’t until my sophomore year at St. Edward’s University that I discovered the Fulbright Scholarship. It seemed like the perfect opportunity because I was interested in helping bridge cultural gaps and thats one of the goals of Fulbright. I was so eager about the opportunity that I decided to meet with the Director of the Office of Fellowships at SEU during the summer of 2010. The Office of Fellowships helps students apply for various fellowships and awards, both at the university and elsewhere. SEU is blessed to be able to have an office to help students. It was a great meeting filled with lots of helpful information about the scholarship and the application process. At the end of the meeting, I was given the materials to begin the process. I explained to the director that I would only be a junior and she was surprised at my eagerness. I told her that I knew I wanted to apply and I thought it would be importnat for me to meet her. With the Fulbright, you can apply on your own or with the endorsement of your university. I thought it would be smart to get the endorsement from SEU. Throughout my junior year, I had conversations with professors, read various books and continued German courses to help prepare for the Fulbright. I also had several internal struggles about which country to apply: Germany made the most sense in terms of my skills, but I also had this urge to experience a new culture and try something new. Ultimately, my love for the German language and culture won out and I decided Germany was my best option.
Fast forward to late summer 2011, I finally began the grueling process of applying for the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Germany. The director gave me a writing exercise to help with the Personal Statement and the Grant Purpose. She also showed me the application. For me, the grant purpose and the personal statement were the hardest parts of the application. They had to be one page, single spaced. Both of these documents needed to be perfect because they would be the only thing Fulbright would look at because there isn’t an interview process. This was scary for me because I think i’m better in person than I am on paper. However, I needed to be the best on paper. I feel like I wrote hundreds of drafts. Okay, I’m being dramatic but I did write lots of versions.
One of the best decisions of my undergraduate career was my decision to enroll in a Career Planning and Management course with Career Services for the Fall 2011 semester. The main goal for me was to complete the Fulbright Application as well as to look at other options such as grad school. I was able to get graded for applying for the Fulbright! It was great! My career counselor was amazing and so very helpful. She helped me trim down all of my drafts and helped me make sure everything was worded correctly. She even looked over my application. It was helpful to have another pair of eyes looking at my application because the Director of Fellowships was very busy with several students. They were both AMAZING and I’m so thankful for the support of both of them.
October 17, 2011 was the hard deadline for the application. However, I was required to submit the application on October 14 because the Director needed time to review the applications before forwarding them on to Fulbright. Hitting the submit button was the most nerve wracking part for me. I was so afraid that I forgot something or that I misspelled something. However, there was a bit of relief because now I could refocus on my other responsibilities as well as school. This also meant I needed to start thinking about other options because I didn’t want to put all my eggs in one basket. People kept telling me that I would definitely get it, but I didn’t listen to them because I didn’t want to be disappointed and I needed to be realistic. Hitting submit also marked the beginning of the longest waiting period of my life, more on that to come soon!
Okay done! Yay! This will be published this time!! I’m off to do some clothes shopping for next year. I need pants and a jacket. Thanks for reading! 🙂
Amarette's Abenteuer 