Fellowship Finder
U.S. Department of State - Fulbright U.S. Student Program - Grants for Research, Study, & Arts
- 6/5/2023
- 7/14/2023
The deadlines above are internal campus deadlines for UIUC graduate students only. For students at other universities, contact your Fulbright Program Advisor for details on your campus deadlines.
UIUC Campus Deadlines:
Priority Review Deadline (Highly Recommended): June 5, 2023
Required Campus Deadline: July 14, 2023
UIUC Information Sessions & Workshops: scroll down to the bottom of the page for details.
NOTE: This listing describes the Fulbright grants for research, study, and arts. For information on the English Teaching Assistantships, visit this page.
Award Description:
The Fulbright program offers grants for US citizens to study or conduct research in any of approximately 140 countries around the world. Students from any discipline are welcome to apply, and grants provide up to one academic year of support. Fulbright grants help students pursue their own master’s or doctoral-level research, and they allow students to immerse themselves in a different cultural environment. Fulbright grants are among the most visible and respected of academic awards worldwide.
The Fulbright program is the largest US exchange program, offering approximately 2,000 grants annually. Fulbright alumni populate a range of professions and include scientists, artists, members of Congress, judges, heads of corporations, professors, and teachers. Notable alumni include Bose Corporation founder Amar Bose, actor John Lithgow, composer Philip Glass, opera singer Renee Fleming, US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, and Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.
Program requirements vary by country. Applicants should familiarize themselves with the specific program summary for their intended host country. Fulbright U.S. Student Program semi-finalists applying to "open study/research awards" may also apply for the Fulbright-National Geographic Enhancement Award, which provides a select few Fulbright recipients up to $20,000 in additional funding to enhance the reach and impact of their Fulbright research.
Eligibility:
- Applicants must be US citizens at the time of application. Permanent residents are not eligible.
- Applicants seeking a graduate-level fellowship must hold a BA or BS degree or the equivalent conferred before the start of the grant.
- Applicants must be proficient enough in the written and spoken language of the host country to carry out the proposed project.
Award Amount:
- Stipend to cover room, board, and other living expenses based on the cost of living in the host country.
- Round-trip transportation to the host country.
- Accident and sickness health benefits.
In some countries, grants may also include:
- Book and research allowances.
- Mid-term enrichment activities.
- Full or partial tuition.
- Language study programs.
- Pre-departure and in-country orientations.
University of Illinois Awardees!
Many UIUC graduate students have won Fulbright grants over the years. For details on recent awardees, see the following articles:
- 2022 Awardees
- 2021 Awardees
- 2020 Awardees
- 2019 Awardees
- 2018 Awardees
- 2017 Awardees
- 2016 Awardees
- 2015 Awardees
- 2014 Awardees
- Day in the Life: Ana Martin-Ryals in Barcelona
TO APPLY (for graduate students at the University of Illinois)
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: PRIORITY REVIEW DEADLINE - June 5, 2023
All applicants are strongly encouraged to submit a priority review application in order to receive feedback from the Graduate College Office of External Fellowships. The priority review application package must first have been reviewed by the applicant’s advisor, and it should contain the following components:
- Completed application form, including short-response questions, downloaded from Fulbright's online portal. (To download your application: click on “review,” scroll to the bottom of the page, and select “preview proof” to save a pdf.)
- Statement of Grant Purpose
- Personal Statement
Applicants should email these materials to the Office of External Fellowships at ExtFellowships@illinois.edu. Advisors in the Office of External Fellowships will conduct a thorough review of the materials and meet with applicants individually to discuss strategies for improvement.
REQUIRED: CAMPUS DEADLINE – July 14, 2023
Fulbright encourages universities to submit an institutional evaluation and endorsement for all applicants. An institutional endorsement lends credence to the application and contributes to the student’s chances of winning. To receive institutional endorsement, all graduate-level Fulbright applications must be submitted via Fulbright's online application portal by the campus deadline of July 14, and students must then be interviewed by a campus review committee.
The application submitted for the campus deadline should be complete, including letters of recommendation, affiliation, and language evaluations (arts applicants should also include their portfolio).
Graduate applicants must assemble their own review committees. Each applicant must recruit three Illinois faculty members to serve on their review committee, and those faculty members should not be among those writing letters of recommendation for the applicant to Fulbright. Applicants are encouraged to consult with the Office of External Fellowships about the composition of their committee.
By the campus deadline, the applicant must email the Office of External Fellowships the names, titles, and email addresses of three faculty members who have agreed to serve in this capacity.
With the names of those faculty members in hand, the Office of External Fellowships will schedule interviews to take place from August 1 to August 25. All interviews will be conducted via Zoom. Interviews have two purposes: 1) to evaluate the candidate and report that evaluation to Fulbright, and 2) to offer constructive criticism to the applicant.
Following their interviews, applicants will have until October 2 to revise and resubmit their applications through Fulbright's online portal.
REQUIRED: FINAL SUBMISSION DEADLINE – October 2, 2023
Applicants who met the campus deadline and were interviewed must submit their revised applications via Fulbright’s online portal by the final submission deadline of October 2. Applications submitted must include all of the required supporting documents and all letters of recommendation. Late or incomplete applications, along with applications for which there has been no campus interview, will not receive institutional endorsement. Instead, they will be submitted as is and without an official endorsement or evaluation.
Notification of Results: In late January, students are notified if they have been selected as a semi-finalist, i.e., if their application has been reviewed favorably by the National Screening Committee and forwarded to the host-country review panel. Semi-finalists will be required to submit their official transcripts at that time. Select countries conduct telephone interviews of semi-finalists, usually by early April. Semi-finalists are notified of their award status usually between March and June.
UIUC INFORMATION SESSIONS & WORKSHOPS (each session will be offered twice via Zoom):
- Information Session: Fulbright Overview for Graduate Students. In this session, we will present an overview of the Fulbright U.S. Student Grant Program. We’ll explain the program’s history and mission, eligibility criteria, stipend and benefits, required application components, evaluation criteria, and selection process. We’ll also explain the protocol for campus interviews and the one-on-one advising services we offer applicants.
- Workshop: Writing a Statement of Grant Purpose. One of the two main components of the Fulbright application is the Statement of Grant Purpose, in which you must explain the project that you propose to conduct during the fellowship period. In this workshop, we’ll show you how best to approach this statement; how to present your project in the most direct, concrete, and convincing way possible; and how to strategize your narrative in light of Fulbright’s mission and aims. We’ll also review sample statements. In short, you’ll get a crash course in proposal writing, but one tailored specifically for Fulbright.
- Workshop: Writing a Personal Statement. The second main component of the Fulbright application is the Personal Statement. In this workshop, we’ll offer guidance on how to write about yourself in a way that balances professionalism with the need to explain, in personal terms, what makes you tick. We’ll take you through a series of exercises to help you enumerate the pivotal experiences that have guided your scholarly trajectory, and we’ll show you how you can use those experiences to craft a compelling case for why you deserve a Fulbright grant. We’ll also review sample statements.
- Workshop: English Teaching Assistantships (for graduate and undergraduate students). For students interested in English Teaching Assistantships, the Office of National & International Scholarships will host a workshop to help you prepare an application that demonstrates the characteristics Fulbright is seeking.
- Tuesday, April 25, 2:00-3:00. Register.
- Friday, April 28, 3:00-4:00. Illini Bookstore Building, Room 514 (no registration required).
UIUC Contact:
Office of External Fellowships
Graduate College
ExtFellowships@illinois.edu
Fulbright/Institute of International Education Contact:
https://us.fulbrightonline.org/contact-us
Recorded Webinars: https://us.fulbrightonline.org/about/videos-tutorials
URL: http://us.fulbrightonline.org/types-of-grants
Categories: Annual stipend of at least $10,000; Social Sciences; Sciences/Engineering/Math; Professional Programs; Fine Arts; Humanities; US Citizens, Nationals, or Permanent Residents; Master's; Early Years of Doctoral Program; Dissertation Research; Fellowship/Grant; Research/Study Abroad; Unrestricted
If you have questions or if this listing needs updating, please contact us.