Process Outline; Guidelines for Recommendations & Language Evals

Please note, this is an archived Friday Fulbright email.  The information is relevant, but the dates will change depending on the application year.  If you have any questions about dates, please contact fulbright@georgetown.edu.

You are receiving this email because you have indicated your interest in applying for a Fulbright this year through Georgetown University.

Over the last few weeks I have received many inquiries on letters of recommendation. Please note, these are due on September 10th. Not August 3rd. The only thing due on August 3rd is a draft of your statements if you would like to ensure that I give you feedback. Of course you can (and please do) send these to me before August 3rd. But if you send them to me after August 3rd, I cannot promise I will get back to you… I will try… but no promises. Everything is due on September 10th– statement of purpose, personal statement, language eval, letters of recommendation, and letters of affiliation. You will hit the submit button on the Fulbright Embark application site. At that point your application will come directly to me. It will not go to the Fulbright. I will put all your application packets together for your on campus interview. After the interview if the committee has feedback, I will send your application back to you in the online system so you can revise it one more time. You must resubmit by October 16th.

But the bottom line, and your absolute deadline, for everything, is September 10th.

Okay, back to letters of recommendation. These are not letters of affiliation. They have to be far more detailed and substantial. For a research proposal two of the letters should be from professors who have taught you in advanced courses in the field, and one should be a personal/professional reference. For the ETA proposals, you ideally would have one academic letter, and two letters attesting to your teaching abilities in the classroom. If you are going to a country where a foreign language is spoken, you must have language abilities commensurate with that country’s guidelines. How do you find out what abilities you must have? This information is on the country page on the Fulbright website (us.fulbrightonline.org). Review the Region Page and the Country Page for your region and country in detail. If you have country specific questions, contact the Program Manager for your region.

Click here and you will find the guidelines I have put together for letters of recommendation and for language evaluations. Read these very carefully as you think about who to ask for letters. Then, share these with your recommendation writers and language evaluators. It will assist them in writing their letters. Do not ask someone for a letter who does not know you, or has never taught you, or who cannot write the kind of letter for you that these documents outline.

As always, I am happy to answer questions you might have. But please, make sure you review ALL information, attachments and videos on the Fulbright How To Guide.  in advance of our conversation. I’m still getting a lot of very basic questions, and that tells me quite a few of you have not reviewed basics like the Timeline, or Info Session videos. Once you have reviewed all material thoroughly, I am happy to explain or clarify moving forward.