Is a Fulbright in Your Future?

Fulbright evokes an immediate response from most people.  Well known as a prestigious award to support oversees work, a Fulbright denotes merit, mutual exchange and scholarly excellence.  It is for these reasons and more that all graduate students should investigate the Fulbright opportunities available to them.  Fortunately, there are many Fulbright grants to support graduate study.  With so many choices, it can be overwhelming to understand your options and how to manage multiple applications.

Fulbright awards encourage mutual exchange and the internationalizing of one’s educational experience.  Whether or not your graduate curriculum has an international component, it is valuable to consider how to incorporate a Fulbright into your course of study.  The spring semester is a good time to consider your Fulbright options and to begin to plan your options.

Fulbright provides a number of funding mechanisms to support graduate study, whether you are pursing a masters or doctoral degree.

International students are eligible to apply to the Fulbright Foreign Student Program to support study in the United States.  An application must be initiated while from your home country.

Students who are US citizens have a number of Fulbright awards available to them including the Research/Study award to support 9 months of research or study overseas, the English Teaching Assistant Program (ETA) to support students who wish to teach English as a Second Language overseas for an academic year, the Fulbright mtvU award to” support research on an aspect of international musical culture”, the Fulbright-Clinton  fellowship to support public policy internships and projects in select countries, travel grants to select countries and the Fulbright-National Geographic Digital Storytelling  fellowship “to develop global narratives and discuss commonalities across borders around a common issue or them”.  The Institute for International Education manages these competitions.

Doctoral students who are US citizens or permanent residents who are working on an area studies topic also have available to them the Fulbright Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Grant to support 6 to 12 months of dissertation research overseas.  The Fulbright Hays is managed by the US Department of Education.

Each of these Fulbright programs have their own competitions and deadlines and the eligibility requirements and award goals do vary.   The range of opportunities available to students means that students with a variety of experience and educational goals can apply for a Fulbright.

To learn more about applying for Fulbright support as a graduate student, follow the links in this post to the award information pages.  You may also find the information posted on GradFund Central useful.

If you are a Rutgers University graduate student on the New Brunswick-Piscataway campus and you are interested in applying for a Fulbright, attend one of our upcoming information sessions and let us know of your interest here.

Additionally, watch our blog for additional posts this spring on how to navigate the Fulbright application process and write a competitive application.