My time in LA would not have been possible without my Fulbright fellowship.

Here’s how I managed to land the ultra-competitive scholarship…

I’ve always been quite indecisive in life.

But from the minute I looked into the Annenberg School of Journalism and Communications at the University of Southern California, I knew I wanted to study there.

Great!

There was just one problem…

The tuition was near six-figures, and LA is not an inexpensive city to live in.

• I didn’t have enough savings to cover it all (and even if I did, would it be wise to spend it all on this?)
• I don’t have rich parents
• The school didn’t offer any full scholarships

So, I almost had to say goodbye to my dream just as soon as I said hello to it.

That was until I came across the Fulbright program.

If you’re interested in learning about how I secured this funding and how you can do the same, read on (warning – it’s a long read, so grab some popcorn or tea if you must!)

What is Fulbright?

Fulbright is a name instantly recognised by many in the upper echelons of academia.

It’s one of the longest-standing scholarship programs in the world, committed to cross-country knowledge exchange, improving intercultural relations and fostering cultural diplomacy between the United States and the rest of the world. The program was launched by Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946, and has since spawned 62 Nobel Peace Prize winners and 88 Pulitzer Prize winners.

As my home country was England, I applied through the US-UK Fulbright Commission (each country has its own outpost and process). Whilst I couldn’t find any official statistics for the US-UK Commission, I know it is incredibly competitive and is often referred to as one of the most prestigious scholarships in the world, with various people citing success rates anywhere between 5-20%. I also remember that during the first information webinar I attended there were hundreds of other attendees, and the programme coordinator frankly told us that many of us would receive rejections but not to be disappointed – it’s just a challenging grant to secure.

So it’s safe to say, I certainly didn’t have my hopes high!

But, I applied anyway.

The Application Process

The application process I went through changed for the year after, with the main difference being the types of awards on offer, but many of the elements that make a successful application still hold as true. For my application cycle, there was an All Disciplines Award, which would support you in studying any program at any university, and then more specialised awards for fields like Data Science and Film or those only affiliated with a specific institution in the US.

The first application round involved submitting your CV/resume, a personal statement, which was 1-2 pages about you and your background, and a statement of intent, which outlined what you planned to study in the US and why you would be the right fit for the award.

If you performed well in this round, you were invited to an interview with a panel of around four or five individuals. For me, two of these individuals were from the US-UK Commission (with one being the program director), another worked for the organisation’s US branch and the final was an alumni of the program.

After this, you find out if you’ve won the award or not, with the final stage being an orientation session in your home country with the rest of the successful cohort.

My Tips and Advice

I was not only successful at winning my main Fulbright award, but also an additional $20,000 in extra funding (USC is a very expensive school!)

So, I feel well equipped to share some advice on how I achieved this.

1. Be your biggest fan

As British people, we’re taught to be humble and shy away from our achievements. I’m a modest person and not one to shout from the rooftops about myself, but if you’re applying to Fulbright you have to break past that and emphasise why you. I hadn’t done much outside of my studies – I didn’t play sports or an instrument, I hadn’t started a non-profit organisation in my free time and I certainly didn’t have any published work in journals or newspapers. But, I hadn’t done any of those things because I was too busy with others. So, I looked at what I had done and tied that into the qualities Fulbright were looking for.

For example…

• I often had to look after my younger sister while our mother was working, which demonstrated my leadership skills.
• I started a small education business teaching English and mathematics to children in my local area, showing initiative and commitment to academic excellence.

I also thought more abstractly about how other experiences in my personal life helped me gain the skills they’re looking for. I wrote about how as a third-generation British citizen, I felt like I was often straddling two worlds whilst not fitting exactly into either: I knew my experiences were different from my ‘fully’ English friends but I also was a generation ahead many of my other friends whose parents were the immigrants. This gave me a good understanding of cultural sensitivity that I could draw upon when moving from the UK to the US, so I was sure to highlight this factor when addressing how I would communicate being British to American citizens.

To summarise, my main tip here is to think outside the box and focus on how you as an individual can relate your own experiences to the qualities the Commission are looking for.

2. Commit yourself to academic excellence

It goes without saying that a prestigious program wants high-achieving people. I don’t think grades are the only thing the Commission look at when making a decision, but they definitely play a big part. When I was studying for my Bachelors degree at the University of Birmingham, I loosely knew that I might want to pursue this path in the future, so I worked my hardest to graduate with strong First Class Honours. 

If you haven’t already graduated, I would really recommend making your schoolwork a priority and aiming for the best grades you can. (I may write a post in the future about how to exceed academically, if so I will link to it here.)

Good grades have the power to open many doors, so don’t leave things to the last minute!

3. Why the US?

To win a Fulbright award, you need to have a very compelling reason for moving to the US. “Because I’ve always wanted to,” just won’t cut it!

I wrote about this in my initial application and was also asked about it a few times in my interview. My advice would be to think about why you can’t study your chosen program in the UK, and focus on only one, maximum two, colleges or universities in the US.

I only applied to USC. I only talked about USC. And I think that played a big part in strengthening my application. I was able to talk about why England wasn’t a good choice to pursue a Journalism Masters, because it’s a more practical subject and most institutions in the UK are more theoretical and academic instead, and why LA and USC would be a great fit for me. I talked about ‘pull’ factors like the media landscape of LA, how well-rounded this particular program was for multimedia journalism and the state-of-the-art newsroom at Annenberg. These arguments just wouldn’t have made sense or been as personalised if I’d applied to multiple schools across multiple cities.

4. Remain neutral

Another big tip that I’d give you is to remain neutral. Don’t pin all of your hopes on winning the award, but also believe in yourself! I always kept the mentality that this would work out, or life would lead me down another path that might end up being better, and this helped me a lot with calming my nerves during the interview.

Dealing with imposter syndrome

Once I had won the award, I was in shock for a while. This intensified when I met the other members of my cohort, many of whom were highly successful in their fields. For example, someone was a practicing medical doctor from Cambridge who was now going to be pursuing cancer research at Harvard! Another was a published poet and playwright who had been working in the industry for 20 years and had already won another Fulbright in the past. I couldn’t believe that I was chosen amongst these people, especially being one of the youngest in the group. Imposter syndrome definitely set in and I started to worry that maybe they’d made a mistake and Fulbright would soon change their mind about me!

What helped me was being honest with my friends, family and the programme director, all of whom told me that my award was well deserved and actually says a lot if I was to achieve it alongside these other highly talented people.

Fulbright’s not always the end of the road…

Believe it or not, even after all this, I still didn’t have enough money to pay the extortionate tuition the school were asking for. I explained my situation to USC and was awarded a partially funded fellowship which comfortably covered my remaining costs.

But unfortunately, this fellowship was revoked later as the school said their funds were less than predicted for the year so they’d be prioritising domestic applicants who already had prior journalism experience (so much for calling them merit awards?).

This sent me into a tailspin, and I reached out to another funding organisation in the UK. I explained my situation to them and they said they could not offer me any support for a program outside the UK, but because I had been awarded Fulbright they could tell I am a great candidate and this was a great opportunity. So, they managed to help me find another sponsor who kindly offered me a small sum that I was able to make work with the compromise that I delayed my start date for the program. During this time, I worked very hard to further bolster my savings – this was a personal choice so that when I was finally able to move I could live alone in my own apartment in LA, which was a priority for me.

Concluding thoughts

All this to say, the path is rarely smooth and while some things might work out, other obstacles may arise. But, there are often workarounds and solutions, so always explore your options.

Pursuing my graduate degree in Los Angeles would not have been possible without my Fulbright fellowship. It also made my life here slightly easier as it provided me with a pre-built network I could join, which enabled me to meet other people in academia and opened up new opportunities. It’s one of my proudest accomplishments and I know how rewarding it can be to achieve, so I hope you found these tips useful and good luck if you plan on making a similar application!

Have a question? Send me a message today or leave a comment below!