A Fulbrighter outlook: applications on the rise

Most students are busy trying to make it through midterms.

But for Julia Phillips, BC ‘10, Elena Mayer, BC ‘10, and 25 other Barnard students, this is Fulbright season.

By this time next year, Phillips hopes to be writing a manuscript on the people of Kamchatka, Russia and Mayer hopes to be studying the sustainability of clinics in Senegal.

Phillips and Mayer are two of a flurry of Barnard students and alumnae applying for grants offered through the Fulbright Program, which is run by the U.S. Department of State. This year, 27 Barnard students are applying, marking almost a 69 percent increase from the 16 applicants last year. Columbia has seen a similar though less dramatic increase with 66 applicants this year, 18 more than the year before.

The opportunity to have expenses covered for an academic year while savoring a new country is highly coveted. About 7,500 American college students or recent college graduates apply every year to be one of the 1,500 students who receive a grant to conduct field research or teach English in a foreign country.

Aaron Schneider, senior associate dean of studies at Barnard, cited two main reasons for the increase at the school: Nationwide more spots are offered today than in years past, and Barnard has be successful in getting its students grants in recent years.

And students can expect more grants to be available in years to come. According to James Lawrence, an officer in the state department’s Office of Academic Exchange, the number of applicants this year is expected to increase from last year, as is the number of grants.

According to Schneider, these rises could also be due to the difficulty of finding a job in today’s economy. Michael Pippenger, associate dean of fellowships and study abroad at Columbia, agreed.
“People are looking for other kinds of alternatives after graduation besides a job,” he said.

For Mayer, the economy was not a factor, just a bonus.

“I think it was an extra perk,” she said. “I wouldn’t say it was a factor in me deciding to apply but upon reflection, it certainly would be, of all the years, it would be a particularly good thing to get.”

Last year, seven out of Barnard’s 16 applicants received the grant—a 44 percent acceptance rate. At Columbia’s three undergraduate schools, 29 percent of the applicants, (14 out of 48) won a grant. Last semester, Columbia University as a whole ranked seventh in terms of producing Fulbright winners. In comparison, Pomona College had 15 award-winners out of 58 applicants, highest for a liberal arts college, and Northwestern University had 32 winners out of 109 applicants, No. 1 among American universities.

Dorothy Denburg, dean of Barnard College, explained that Barnard’s liberal arts background is one of the reasons for the school’s success. “Students from Barnard, like students at other small liberal arts colleges, are extremely well prepared to apply for this kind of grant because they have had a lot of intense undergraduate research experience,” she said.

Alina Romanowski, deputy assistant secretary of state for academic programs, praised both school’s success in the Fulbright Program. “Columbia University and Barnard College’s successful record with the Fulbright Program is a testament to the quality of the applications its students and faculty submit, and to the efforts of its Fulbright Program Advisor to emphasize the legacy and importance of a Fulbright experience,” she wrote in a press release.

But for now, Mayer and Phillips must wait and see if their dreams will be granted. They will know if they pass the first stage—review by a committee in the United States—in late January. Then, the decision will rest on the countries to which they applied, each notifying the applicants at different times.