My Fulbright Experience - How I Applied
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- Опубліковано 22 вер 2018
- This week’s video is about how I ended up applying to a bunch of “prestigious” post-baccalaureate scholarships. So, what do I mean by prestigious? I’m talking about the heavy hitters: the Rhodes, the Gates, the Marshall, and the Fulbright. I applied to all of them. I originally assumed that I wanted to do medical school abroad in Germany or the UK. I had always envisioned myself permanently living outside the US after the age of 25 or so. I’m not sure where I got that absurd idea from, but I now realize that the US is home, Trump or no Trump, and I’m not going to leave it that easily. Nevertheless, when I was still a junior in college, I told my medical school advisor that I wanted to do medical school abroad. She suggested that I do a Fulbright first, and then think about applying to medical school once I’m there and I’ve gotten a taste of the area. Her biggest concern was that returning to the US after earning my medical license abroad is really difficult, and was probably a caveat that I did not foresee. Little did she know, I wasn’t planning on coming back.
Thankfully, I took her advice and began applying for the Fulbright that year. I spend so much time researching this one professor by the name of Dieter Schmidt, who conducted epilepsy research in Germany. I already knew I wanted to travel to Germany because I had been learning German since I was 12, and they’re also not a bad country to do neuroscience research in. After reading article after article and even buying his book, I mustered up the courage to send this guy an email. Turns out, he retired! Lesson #1: don’t spend an egregious amount of time researching a single professor. Putting all your eggs in one basket in research is always a losing game.
I soon realized, however, that professors were somewhat unresponsive. Don’t get me wrong, some actually replied to my emails, but I felt like most of them didn’t. Perhaps I didn’t reach out enough. Perhaps I have selective memory. All I know is that the summer that I was applying for the Fulbright, I ended up working in the lab of a German immigrant and she hooked me up with a connection to a lab that became the lab that I would work with for the next year. How lucky am I?! I had secured other options in case her connections didn’t work out, but I’m ultimately glad that it did. Nepotism is real, and for all you students reading this, especially my URMs, don’t be afraid or ashamed to ask for what you want or need. You’d be surprised who actually comes through to help you out.
That’s kind of all I have for this week. Next week, I’ll talk more about my post-bacc advisor, who was basically an angel. Unfortunately, I know that not everyone will be blessed with a caring post-bacc advisor, but just know that if you connect with your advisor and it’s clear that they’re invested in your success, then don’t let that go to waste. One last thing: I talk about releasing my old essays to you all if you’d like to read them. My winning essay for the Fulbright has been saved, and you all are free to read it, however, I don’t think it’ll be tremendously helpful. You have to write in your own voice from your own experience. Other people have different opinions on this, but that’s where I stand. Nevertheless, I’m always happy to help a student out, even if I don’t necessarily agree with their methods. Just comment below if you’d like to see my essays, and I’ll be sure to create a link!
General Channel Description: Welcome to MDPhDandMe! My name is Chelsea Nnebe, I am a URM student at Stanford’s MD/PhD program, and I want to take you on a journey with me as I train to become a physician scientist. This platform is meant to be interactive. I want to hear from you! Whether you’re a pre-med, a high schooler, an MD/PhD student, a full-fledged physician-scientist, or just a curious on-looker, I want to know what you all think. Feel free to like my videos, leave a comment, give me (constructive) feedback, and tweet me your questions if you have any. I look forward to hearing from you soon!
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I am a Fulbright Scholar too. I will do a series on my experience during my Fulbright. I will be starting with my own experience. I will take the experiences of others too. Watch out.'
And Yes!!! To the postback scholarships in detail. I have been looking for this kind of content forever on youtube. I'm glad I found you.
Super helpful video, thank you 🥺
Kelly Doherty my pleasure! I wish you lots of luck on your applications!
Hey!! I was wondering how living on the Fulbright stipend was? I’m a semi-finalist for Germany and I’m worried about housing because 800 euros a month doesn’t seem like a lot. Also, 800 is a number I found through research. Thank you!!(:
That sounds about right, and it's true that it's not a lot of money to live off of. It could barely cover my rent while I was there. A lot of people I knew through the Fulbright were either receiving financial help from someone else, or were tremendously lucky to find a suitable living arrangement for cheap. WGs (Wohngemeinschafts) are super common in Germany too and can help you reduce the cost of living.
MDPhDandMe Thank you. About how much do you think I need to save? Around how much do you think living expenses would be for 10 months if I still want to be comfortable with a few outings a month?
@@soccerpickle2046 Honestly, it's hard for me to say. $5,000 would probably be good. $10,000 would be more than enough. I can't remember how much money I had every month vs how much money I used from my savings to do the things I wanted to do, but I think that I was using $500/month to cover daily expenses like food, metro, etc. Hope this helps!
How did you find the Fullbright essays? It's nice to just read them and see the kind of people applying. I would love to read them.
I found the Fulbright essays through my program advisor. You can ask to see the essays of previous winners and they should be publicly available somewhere.
Do you believe the Dartmouth MD/PhD summer program is extremely competitive? Also, what do you think they look for in applicants.
Not necessarily. I think that they are moreso trying to expose students to MD/PhD life. I would say that they're looking for applicants who are strongly motivated to pursue an MD/PhD, as well as applicants who are just curious. Your grades should be strong, but they don't have to be perfect. If your application is good and you don't screw up the interview (they have an interview for this program) then you should be fine. I'm not saying you'll get in, but you should have a good shot at it. Plus, your likely to get into at least one other MD/PhD themed program. Keep in mind that there are many: www.aamc.org/members/great/169782/mdphdsummerprograms.html
Yesss UCLA!
Kelly Doherty lol do I have an alumna in the building? 🤔👀😂