2011 Fulbright Deadline Approaching
Internal BU deadline is September 10
For Rebecca Doffing, receiving a Fulbright grant at the end of her senior year fulfilled a dream: the chance to return to Turkey, where she had spent part of her sophomore year at Boston University in a study abroad program.
“I applied for the Fulbright because it sounded like a great opportunity to do in-depth research on a subject I love while living in a country I really enjoy,” says Doffing (UNI’08).
The U.S. Student Fulbright Grant is awarded to U.S. citizens who want to pursue graduate studies or research abroad. The program is available to those in all fields of study and operates in more than 140 countries.
The Fulbright Program, established in 1946, is named for Senator William Fulbright, the longest serving chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Since its inception, more than 47,000 U.S. students and 125,000 students from other nations have participated.
Doffing’s Fulbright grant allowed her to study Turkish foreign policy, and more specifically, the increasing role the country is seeking to play in mediating regional and global disputes. When her grant ended in June 2009, she decided to remain in Turkey. Today, she lives in Istanbul, working for the Turkey-based English language newspaper Today’s Zaman as a copywriter.
Doffing has one bit of advice for students thinking of applying for a Fulbright: don’t wait until the last minute. “I actually checked the Fulbright website for eligibility and application requirements exactly one week before BU’s internal application deadline,” she recalls. “That week was a virtual tornado of brainstorming, writing, emailing my contacts in Ankara, and getting all the parts of my application together and polished.”
Those planning to apply for a Fulbright this year should bear in mind that the application has two deadlines: an internal BU deadline of September 10 and the Fulbright deadline of October 18. Applicants should contact Suzanne Kennedy, assistant provost, before sending in an application.
Fulbright grant recipients are provided with round-trip airfare to their host countries, language or orientation courses if needed, tuition (in some cases), book and research allowances, and health insurance for the academic year.
More information on the U.S. Student Fulbright Grant deadline at BU and about other scholarships is available here. The Fulbright is available only to graduating seniors and to graduate students in all academic fields. Contact Suzanne Kennedy at skennedy@bu.edu.
Nicole Rojas can be reached at nrojas@bu.edu; follow her on Twitter at @nrojas0131.
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