I deliver versions of this Powerpoint presentation at universities and conferences for the Fulbright program.

1. FULBRIGHT
• Critical Language Enhancement Award,
Morocco
• Research Grant, Spain

2. APPLYING: getting started
• Peers and professors
• Allow enough time
– Affiliations, references, research and revisions, and
documents
• Fit
– Skills, academic background, previous projects & activities
– Genuine personal interest
– Find out unique aspects of a person’s experience that
makes them uniquely qualified for a project
• Be realistic
– Language and project requirements

3. APPLYING:
YOUR PROPOSAL
• Do solid preliminary research, focus on the strength
of the argument
• Feasibility
• Why are you the perfect person to do this research?
• Why does the project need to be done in this
country? (Resources, archives, people)
• How can you foster intercultural understanding while
on the Fulbright?

4. APPLYING: YOUR
PERSONAL STATEMENT
• Intellectual CV in narrative form
• This is your chance to talk about why you are
unique, and how experiences outside of what
was discussed in your proposal fit in with your
project
• Include anything that supports the idea that
you are the right person for this project

5. APPLYING: General Timeline
1) Research
2) Talk to people who have been to, worked in, or have done Fulbright
projects in the country
3) Approach professors for recommendations, including language
referrals
4) Write rough draft of proposal, begin personal statement
5) Give recommending professors a draft of your proposal before they
write the referral
6) Write to potential affiliations with a summary of your proposal
7) Have your revisions read and re-read, write the ‘final’ drafts and
complete the application
8) Campus evaluation
9) Revise again with the help of your campus adviser
10) Tie up loose ends: getting the last of the recommendations, affiliation
letter
11) IIE DEADLINE

6. PREPARATION
• Visas and contracts
• Reading and research
• Language
• Talk to past Fulbrighters
• Get in contact with your affiliation

7. THE EXPERIENCE:
Be prepared for the unexpected

8. Break dancing/Arabic practice

9. Eid al-Bibi

10. Eid al-Kebir

11. In the field
• Impose a system of structuring your time, but
understand that finding a workable system doesn’t
happen right away
• Build contacts with other Fulbrighters
• Get in touch with your affiliation
• Be prepared to make the most of the opportunities,
expected and unexpected

12. Get out there
• Spend as much time as possible out of the books and
on the streets
• Talk to strangers
• Chat with people in the neighborhood (shopkeepers,
bartenders, people on the corner) they will almost
always have something to say and lead to something
new
• Participate in organizations, seminars, meetings
• Be generous with your time

13. After the Fulbright
• Prestige, graduate school
• Leadership, confidence, freedom
• Alumni ambassador experience