But I am not giving up here. I will be applying again next year and I will probably apply to other scholarship programs from my country and/or via We Make Scholars. If you have already applied for any kind of scholarship programs or if you have already been invited to one, today I am sharing with mistakes I have made that lead to failure during my interview.
And you as my reader stay safe and successful. I decided to share my experience with you and possibly add value a to your future.
This is an e-mail notification and invitation I got from US embassy in Tashkent. I received it on 25 June 2015 and I submitted my application on 27 May 2015 (deadline was 30 May 2015). I always try to manage my time well so that I am well in advance from any deadlines.
We are pleased to inform you that the selection committee for the Fulbright Foreign Student Program, a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the US Department of State, has reviewed your application and selected you as a semi-finalist.
This was a very competitive selection process and it will continue to be so throughout the final selection stages.
You are now invited to an interview with a three-person panel on July 7-9, 2015. Please send us a scan of your passport, so we can provide you access to the embassy on the day of the interview. Interview date and time is not negotiable and you will be informed of it, when we receive your passport copy.
For applicants from the regions, accommodation and transportation expenses will be covered by the program. To qualify, you need to inform us which region you will be traveling from, and request to reserve a room for you (if you need one) by July 1, 2015.
Once again, congratulations on becoming a semi-finalist and we wish you the best of luck on your upcoming interview.
Then on 14 July, 2015 I received this e-mail saying that I had not been selected to participate in the next level. My interview was on 7 July 2015. So I heard from them after 7 days. They were quick and very efficient.
Thank you for applying to the Fulbright Foreign Student Program, a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the US Department of State.
The selection process this year for this highly prestigious program was especially competitive. We interviewed many impressive candidates and we regret to inform you that after careful consideration you have not been selected for participation in the 2016-2017 Fulbright Foreign Student Program.
Thank you again for your interest in the Fulbright Foreign Student Program. We wish you the best in all of your future endeavors.
I have attended a lot of successful job interviews and I have successfully coached some of my friends. But I guess interview for scholarship program should be different. So as soon as I entered the room and took my seat, I was asked the first question which was rather direct, I thought. I actually expected the panel members to welcome me, briefly introduce themselves, and ask a few questions about me. That would help me to familiarize myself with a new place and people around me easing the tension that I had.
But something that really killed my spirit during the interview was how panel members looked in general. To me, most of them looked tired, bored and disinterested in what was going on. This is something for which I was not prepared, to be honest because well Fulbright is an American scholarship program. And most of the Americans are very open, approachable and smiling, right? But that was not the case that day. Maybe it was part of their strategy or maybe they were really and really tired because the interview was held 3 days from 7 to 9 July. So if they spend 30 minutes for each semi-finalist, they interview about 10-12 people per day. And I can tell you as a teacher of English that bores a lot of people to death, really.
It also slipped out of my mind that if I am invited to a second day of the interview at 4 pm which is end of the busy working day I should have prepared myself accordingly. I should not have expected for the panel members to be enthusiastic, energetic and interested. I should have told myself to take the things easier and ignore how they would look and how they would react and pay more attention to questions and answers that I was supposed to give.
I was also in a difficulty to keep talking about my ideas when I was asked questions during the interview. But on the flip side, the nature of the questions was also not so much thought provoking, I would say.
1. Why do you want to take part in Fulbright Student Program?
2. How will you know if a specific university is suitable for you or not? Do you have any criteria?
3. What will your language center do when you go to the USA to study?
5. What challenges do you think you may have while studying in the USA?
6. What will you do after you return to your home country?
7. Are you still a member of Uzbekistan Teachers of English Association?
8. Is the content you create 100 % original?
9. Who is your audience?
1. Why should we award you over other applicants?
2. Why do learners in Uzbekistan need your website?
3. Why do you blog? How do you manage blogging and teaching at the same time?
4. Can you tell us more about your project and challenges you are facing developing it?
5. What skills do you want to learn and develop studying in the USA?
6. What is the core goal of Fulbright scholarship programs?
7. Why did you decide to become a teacher? Do you like your job?Why?
9. Why did you choose US for higher education?
10. What is your biggest significant achievement so far?
11. When was the last time you failed? What did you do?
13. Why do you think now is the right time to do MA?
I had a close friend who thoroughly helped me with my application process and together we made sure that my application was as perfect as possible. Together we did everything we could to ensure that selecting committee would have no choice but shortlist me and invite me to an interview. Same friend also suggested having one or two mock interviews before a real one.
To be honest, I was a bit skeptical because anyway I would not take my friend that seriously and I would not work hard to give best answers. And I was also afraid of presenting myself as a coached and fake applicant during the real interview. So I said it would be better if we could just meet, brainstorm possible questions and talk about answers I could give. And we did it and I thought that would be enough. I just thought that I should be natural and be myself during the interview. But I guess I was wrong. Maybe I should have done that mock interview anyway.
I even became silent until one of the panel members asked extra questions to keep the conversation going. That is a negative sign. As a person attending the interview to get a scholarship, I should have talked non-stop and create an impression that I was just bursting out of a lot of endless extraordinary ideas and so on.
Hi, I'm Akmal and I'm a teacher of English in Uzbekistan, freelance writer and founder of English Club Pro. Let's connect and help each other make this world a better place for everyone.
Thanks for sharing your reflections on the unlucky experience. I am sure these tips will be helpful for others and yourself!
I just wanted to chip in with my comments as a winner of an educational scholarship (though not Fulbright) and member of the panel for selecting candidates in the past.
You are right, the interviewers often seem detached, not interested in what the candidate is speaking. In fact it is not because they are tired or bored (though this happens, we are all humans) but because interviews are usually structured, i.e. questions are prepared in advance (though some personal impromptu questions are asked as well). Interviewers need to be detached a bit, or look at what you are speaking as an outsider to be able to evaluate candidates' performance. Otherwise if you are too involved in the communication with the candidate it is then too difficult to assess what he/she actually said and what you hinted or alluded. Besides, usually interviewers are given a kind of matrix or evaluation sheet where they have to give scores for different criteria. So this require concentration and time. Then interviewers have to assess a candidate's performance on this interview only, not based on their knowledge of this person or his/her achievements that might be known to the interviewers but not communicated by the candidate during the interview.
Sorry for such a long comment. Anyway I am sure you could have been one of the best scholars of any program. Good luck in your future endeavors!
Hello Nodira thank you very much for taking time to leave such a comprehensive comment on the topic. Yes, you are totally right. This is something that I have missed on my interview. So next time I will keep that in mind. I hope with my post I could help a lot of other future applicants do well in their interviews. Thank you.
Just want to add that those panel members are not tired because of only two days of work but mostly because they have been flying to different countries interviewing fulbright wannabe scholars. So I see the flights all over the world as number one cause of tiredness. And number two, I dare to assume, is the sameness of answers by candidates. Since they have been asking the same questions from more than two thousand I am pretty sure they have been getting the same answers. So when you are answering those questions do not try to fit in the mould but try to think outside the box and maybe you will wake them up from their unconscious slumber. The risk is high. Chances of being seen as stupid is higher than chances of being seen as somebody with fresh outlook at problems. But what is point of going to another part of the world to fit into the mould instead of developing your unique skills???
Could you kindly provide how to do well in Fulbright Interview? Actually, I was selected to interview in person. I'm thrilled. I would be grateful if you could provide some advice. My program is FLTA (Fulbright Foreign Langauge Teaching Assistant Program). I look forward to hearing from you as your earliest convenience.
Thanks you for sharig you expereince anf Helping other people not to face smae Challange you had. I am Soryy Dear Akmal bad moment you had. But Experiences makes man perfect thouhgt it cames from bad situation.