Advice on how to be a strong candidate

I applied following friendly advice and example of my academic advisor. However, I had been thinking about applying for a grant of some sort for quite a while then. There were numerous reasons and motivations that led me that way. Most important, I wanted to learn a very valuable and very unique knowledge in the field immediately adjacent to Linguistics, that is, Psychology and to share knowledge and experiences I gained in my country. I also treasured a chance to represent my nation and my culture in the United States. So far, I am have been successfully achieving all the three goals.

The most important piece of advice I could give is: do it, it is worth trying. Many guys do not ever try it as they think they are incapable of winning such a competitive program. It is very competitive, that for sure. Yet, people win it, and if you think your ideas are authentic and up-to-date, go ahead and apply today.

Then...

a) Start thinking, preparing, and DOING things that are required in advance. I know that many people were not successful in the competition because they applied to late and had not spent more than a week writing the proposals. So, take your time and think ten times before putting stuff on paper. For this

b) Get as much counseling as you can: people who were on various programs, people who have experiences with American colleges, etc. Talk to as many people with a relevant background as you can. Take their advice seriously. I thought that many things people were telling me were trivial, but they were not as it turned out. The more you learn from their positive as well as negative experiences, the better.

When you finally sit down to writing your proposal and you resume:

c) Highlight what is relevant, and not just everything. Make your points clear and precise, and keep to them in your explanations. The most difficult is to keep to the point, and to be brief in doing it. When I write, I always go through at least three drafts before the final printout. When I read what I had just written, I keep in mind the rule: if the sentence can make the same sense without this word or a phrase, throw it away. Once again, use other people's help. But write your own thoughts. It will come out in the interview, anyhow.

d) Make sure you are fully confident in the things you are writing about. There will be people on the interview board that are in your field, and their questions are tough.

e) Do not emphasize things that you will gain from your participation on the program but things you will be able to contribute, both in USA and when you return home.

When you are as lucky as to be invited for the interview:

f) Do not wire yourself up. Anxiety is your worst enemy. The calmer you are, the better. But do not look indifferent, too. A good mixture of confidence and enthusiasm will do best. Well, pretty much like in any important interview you ever went through.

Before you go:

a) Get to know as much as possible about life on American campuses. Things are dramatically different here. No matter where you are going to stay — in a dorm, university housing, or with a host family, it is going to be a very new experience for you. This alone could be a five-page lecture.

b) The most difficult for me was to get through the first month. Honestly, I had thought it would have been easier to get accommodated to a new life-style. Especially, if you are to rent your own housing, you should be prepared to run around the area looking for things you practically forgot about at home — things like bed, book-cases, kitchenware, etc. It is going to be one bare apartment when you get it. If I were to give a practical piece about this particular period, I should say: do not buy things at the first store you see, find some second hand places like Goodwill or something.

c) Also get prepared to a very different academic traditions. The differences are plenty to go about all of them in a short review, but most important is that Americans stress and double-stress the idea “share results of your work with the world but work individually”. That said, you should remember that even in study groups you are expected to perform as an individual mind and not as somebody who came to get answers to his/her questions. When it comes to exams, independence is everything. Although in my case most of the exams I had were take-home ones, it is virtually impossible to cheat on those. By the way, this independence thing penetrates mostly everything here.

Last thing: the only thing that differentiates a winner from a loser is that in most cases a winner had guts to try.

The major guarantee of your success is your truthful story about how your study and professional experience set forward the range of urgent scientific and professional goals the solution of which is available only on graduating from this program. If the content of your statement of purpose is a logical continuation of your CV assay, you are on the way to victory.

One of the reasons which made me to apply to this program was the fact that being an instructor of English I felt uncomfortable about the insufficiency of my level of American (not British) English and culture knowledge in the presence of the students having participated in American exchange programs.

Another reason was impossibility to complete my research in Ukraine. Investigation of interpersonal communication in different situations requires a huge amount of the data which is available only in the authentic speech environment. The theme of my dissertation did not appear of a sudden, but was dictated by the necessity to improve the quality of ESL teaching, namely, to enrich the teaching materials with the language data and techniques developing stylistic and situational appropriateness of the English learners' speech.

The truthfulness of your arguments can be easily verified at such a stressful event as an interview. The questions can be of different level of expectancy and of different purposes: verifying your professional proficiency, the appropriateness of your scientific level to content of the program, your personal features and relationships with the students and colleagues. The most difficult task for me was to evaluate myself as a person and a professional teacher. It is not welcomed in our culture to praise oneself. Get ready not only to praise, but also to provide the life evidence demonstrating your features of character.

This program is one of the few ones which give the opportunity not only to get invaluable language and culture experience, to get access to the world research resources, but to get a certified education which opens unique perspectives in your carrier in Ukraine as well as in the international community.

Studying in Linguistics major I realized the disadvantages and advantages of our education in this field. It is a great disadvantage that our linguistic education does not have international students experience. It is a great benefit for a linguist to be exposed to a variety of languages in class, to get any first-hand information about them at any moment. I amaze the professors who even if do not speak languages, they know about them a lot. Teaching Germanic or any other languages we should not ignore the general linguistic information about other languages, we should include comparative studies of non-cognate languages. Our knowledge of linguistics is deep enough, but too narrow. It is a pity that nobody even occurs to change the pejorative name “Philology” for languages and literature major. Philology in American scientific literature is interpreted as studying written texts. Perhaps it is because deep at heart our linguists realize narrowness of our approach of teaching linguistics. As a result, we have a paradoxical situation when our students get diplomas in philology and do not know what languages are spoken in Chine or Africa.

My linguistic (not language) background which is, to a great extent, the result of my post graduate studies, my teaching experience and my self-education in linguistics allowed me to be a success in the American program. I got all A(outstanding)-grades. My term papers as well as book reviews were selected for publishing in the annual linguistic journal of the university. I was invited to be an honorable member of the scientific society of international scholars.

If you are working at the dissertation which is going to be defended in Ukraine, do make use of the unique opportunity provided by this program and find a university yourself. If your research theme is rather specific, do your best to make contact with the university which meets your research interests and to obtain a letter of affiliation from it. In this case you will avoid modifying your research to the actual availability of the resources, facilities and equipment. You will not feel discomfort about that your research goals can be reached only partially. It will enable you to write a dissertation of the level which will meet either American or Ukrainian standards. The other less reliable way of spending your training efficiently is to pass GRE with the score required by the best universities which are likely to meet most of the research interests. Judging by the experience of my international classmates who took GRE, it is a bit easier to pass now when analytical section is omitted. From my own observations I can infer that all that vocabulary which seemed to be obsolete and unnecessary is fairly common in the scientific literature, at least in the linguistic literature.

Another advantage of studying at a good university is that it is likely to be situated in or near a big city. It will enable you to see more attractions at the least expenses. Big cities have a more developed system of public transportation which is of great importance for us who can not afford a car.

I was lucky to be placed in California near Los Angeles. The only disadvantage of this state is a high rent. In all the other respects it is just great. California is a state where the most of the world-known attractions are situated: Disney Land, Hollywood Kodak Theater where “Oscar” ceremonies take place, Hollywood Wax Museum, San Diego Sea World and Zoo, Beverly Hills, Palm Springs Tram, Magic Mountains with its famous American roller coasters, etc.

Fulbright program provides enrichment seminars either in your region or in other regions of the U.S.A. One can have a lot of fun meeting the participants of many exchange programs during the annual unofficial reception at one of the sponsors' house. This year it was in Malibu. It is a unique opportunity to meet your Fulbright program coordinators and advisors who you mostly contact by e-mail. What is really helpful is Fulbright electronic list (chat). It keeps you informed on all Fulbright program events and news. It also enables you to participate in the discussions of any problem ranging from political issues to personal concerns.

P.S. On the separate file is the picture where we are with the Fulbright program sponsor at his house in Malibu during the reception.