University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Fellowship Finder


U.S. Department of State - Fulbright U.S. Student Program - Grants for Research, Study, & Arts

Deadlines:

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:

Award Amount:

       In some countries, grants may also include:

University of Illinois Awardees!

Many UIUC graduate students have won Fulbright grants over the years. For details on recent awardees, see the following articles:

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:

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):

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.