Opportunities

• Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program is the largest U.S. exchange program offering fellowships abroad for one academic year to graduating college seniors, graduate students, young professionals, scientists and artists.
  
  
• Program participants pursue graduate or professional study, advanced research projects, or English teaching in elementary or secondary schools or universities. Each year, approximately 1,900 Americans from a wide range of academic fields, travel to more than 140 countries through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.

Fulbright U.S. Students:

• Are recent college graduates, post graduates, artists, scientists and other young professionals.
  
  
• Fulbright U.S. Student alumni populate a range of professions and include ambassadors, members of Congress, judges, heads of corporations, university presidents, journalists, artists, professors, and teachers.
  
  
• Strive to foster mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries by learning from their hosts overseas while sharing American experiences with their counterparts.
  
  
• Represent the richness and diversity of the United States through their varied backgrounds, hometowns and academic institutions.
  
  
• Use their international experiences as cultural ambassadors to enhance their academic and professional careers and become leaders in their fields.

Click below to learn more about USF Fulbright U.S. Student Program Recipients!

https://www.usf.edu/ons/recipients/index.aspx

https://issuu.com/usfonslegacies/docs/2019legacies

https://www.usf.edu/ons/news/index.aspx

• The Fulbright U.S. Student Program seeks applications from highly motivated, open-minded individuals in any academic field and from any background. They evaluate candidates based on their cumulative experience and goals; there is no minimum undergraduate GPA requirement. It is not necessary to be enrolled in a college or university at the time of application. However, as a current USF student or USF alumni, you will be applying through USF, in order to receive the benefits of applying through your institution.
  
  
• Fulbright candidates should be flexible self-starters with a strong interest in promoting international mutual understanding. Above all, they should be capable of contributing to, and benefitting from, an intensive cultural exchange program.

• Applicants must be U.S. citizens at the time of application. Permanent residents are not eligible.
  
  
• Applicants must have a conferred bachelor's degree or the equivalent before the start of the grant.
  
  
• Applicants must be in good health. Grantees will be required to submit a satisfactory Medical Certificate from a physician.
  
  
• Applicants must have sufficient proficiency in the written and spoken language of the host country sufficient to communicate with the people and to carry out the proposed study/research. This is especially important for projects in the social sciences and the humanities.

• The Study or Research Grant is the traditional award opportunity, where a candidate designs a proposal to pursue an independent research project or one-year master’s degree in a specific country.
  
  
• The English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) Program places grantees in schools overseas to supplement local English language instruction and to provide a native speaker presence in the classrooms.

• It is important for applicants (and potential applicants) to know that applying for a Fulbright is a long and rigorous process. Students apply for a Fulbright a year before they would go abroad with a Fulbright. For example, students applying for a Fulbright in fall 2024, would be starting their Fulbright in fall 2025.

• Even though a student’s Fulbright application is submitted to Fulbright in the fall semester (typically the first or second week in October), the process of applying for a Fulbright begins many, many months before. Students typically spend at least six to nine months working on their application materials. This time frame often does not include the time it takes a student to determine the kind of Fulbright grant they want to apply for and where.
  
  
• Students meet with the USF Fulbright Program Advisor (FPA) before declaring their intent to apply for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. The intent to apply deadline is Tuesday, April 2, 2024 and students spend the summer months (May-August) working on their Fulbright application materials. The campus deadline for fall 2024 (for submission of the application materials and the faculty review) is TBD.
  
  
• After applicants declare their intent to apply, they will be participating in an on-campus interview with our Fulbright faculty panel. The purpose of this interview is for the applicant to receive feedback (from a faculty member) about their proposed Fulbright application (including grant type and country choice). They will need to come prepared to speak two to three minutes about their intended Fulbright project (research, graduate study or English teaching). After the on-campus interview, they will begin the application process, which lasts until August and the campus deadline.
  
  
• To declare your intent to apply, email the following information to Ms. Lauren Chambers at lschumac@honors.usf.edu:
  
  -Name, USF Email Address, Phone Number
  -Major, GPA, and whether you are an Undergraduate Student, Graduate Student or Alumni
  -Grant type (Research, Study or ETA)
  -Country you are applying to
  -Current Resume or CV
  -Unofficial USF Transcript
  
  Research grant applicants must include the name of their proposed research project, and study grant applicants must submit the name of the graduate program and university they are applying for.
  
  By submitting this information, you are declaring your intent to apply for Fulbright this application cycle and will be put on the applicant list.
  
  
• The benefit of getting started early cannot be overstated. It is important that you start the preparation of your application as far in advance of the August campus deadline as possible. Preparing a competitive application takes a great deal of time and effort.

Thoroughly review the Fulbright US Student program website: http://us.fulbrightonline.org/.

• Study the About Sections: History, Fulbright US Student Program, Types of Awards, 
• Eligibility, and Factors in Selection. https://us.fulbrightonline.org/about
• Carefully read the Country Summaries pages to determine your country of application.
• Note any special information about the country – ie: preferred fields of study, eligibility requirements, language requirements, etc.
• Review the Applicants: Getting Started Page https://us.fulbrightonline.org/applicants/getting-started
• Look at previous student recipients through the Grantee Directory – their field of study and country of application https://us.fulbrightonline.org/component/filter/?view=filter

Prospective applicants will need to meet with the USF Fulbright Program Advisor (FPA) Ms. Lauren Chambers before starting an application.

• Ms. Lauren Chambers is the Fulbright Program Advisor (FPA) for USF and works with students from the Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee campuses on their Fulbright applications. Ms. Chambers has worked at USF and in the Honors College since 2008. She began working in the Office of National Scholars (ONS) and with Fulbright U.S. Student Program applicants in 2011. Since then, she has worked with over 250 students on their Fulbright applications, and has advised students on applications for other national scholarships such as the Truman Scholarship, Boren Scholarship, Fulbright UK Summer Institute Program and the Critical Language Scholarship.
  She received her bachelor’s degree in public relations and master’s degree in public health from the University of Florida (UF). During her undergraduate degree at UF, she participated in two study abroad programs to Italy.

As the USF FPA, Ms. Chambers:

• Promotes the Fulbright U.S. Student Program on campus;
• Provides guidance to prospective and current applicants; and
• Creates institutional deadlines and facilitates the campus interview and deadline process.

A campus interview and evaluation form are also required for applicants applying through USF. This part of the application process is designed to provide feedback to applicants about their proposal, as well as give insight to the National Screening Committee (NSC) about the candidate. Students applying through USF will meet the campus deadline in late August.

To schedule an in-person or virtual advising appointment (through Microsoft Teams) with Ms. Chambers, please email her directly at lschumac@honors.usf.edu.

To intentionally participate in the campus application process, students must submit a complete application by the campus deadline. Fulbright applications are submitted entirely online through the Fulbright US Student Program website.

A complete application will consist of the following:

• Biographical Data (basic resume/CV information)
• Statement of Grant purpose (one- to two-page grant proposal)
• Personal Statement (one-page narrative essay)
• Letters of Recommendation for a Research or Study Grant (three); Reference Forms for the ETA (three).
• Transcripts

Depending on the type of grant and the requirements of the host country, applicants may also need to submit the following:

• Affiliation Letter (proof of agreement from host institution)
• Language Self- Assessment and Foreign Language Evaluation
• Supplementary Materials (for students in the creative and performing arts)

Each year, USF and the Office of National Scholars holds USF Fulbright Day! USF Fulbright Day is a campus wide event that celebrates international education through USF’s Fulbright legacy with the Fulbright Scholar Program (for U.S. and foreign Faculty) and the Fulbright Student Program (for U.S. and foreign Students). Previous events have included informational panels from USF Fulbright alumni and Fulbright U.S. Student Program representatives, as well as Celebratory Receptions.

For information regarding the 2020 USF Fulbright Day, click here.

For information regarding the 2019 USF Fulbright Day, click here.

For information regarding the 2018 USF Fulbright Day, click here.