Scholarships like Fulbright, accessible to people with bad GPA? eh?

[HAART]

So I have a 2.9, that is with a 4.0 this last year at a postbacc at which I took all my upper level bio/chem courses (microbio/immuno/biochem/cell bio/orgo 1,2). I have a 33 MCAT. I'm going to do a masters program and I want to be valedictorian of it (fall 2010, spring 2011).

I would really like to travel to a foreign country and do a research project that compares to the clinical research I have been doing for two years in the department of medicine at my state med school. This would occupy me for fall 2011 and spring 2012, while I am interviewing. I feel like I have a great idea (read: a great grant proposal), I will have great recommendations from the physicians with which I research, my passion will be evident in the personal statement, etc.

However, there's probably a 0% chance of me receiving a fulbright with that GPA. I could always network with hospitals in foreign country on my own and see if I could find a research position that way, but does anyone know of a program/scholarship to which I could apply?

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[anonymousername]

 

[HAART]

Alas, that may just be it. I'll have to wait until things reset in med school to give myself good academic standing.

 

[anonymousername]

Alas, that may just be it. I'll have to wait until things reset in med school to give myself good academic standing.

lol, i just wanted to post that pic!

(btw, i don't have any answers to your q's)😀

 

[Perrotfish]

So I have a 2.9, that is with a 4.0 this last year at a postbacc at which I took all my upper level bio/chem courses (microbio/immuno/biochem/cell bio/orgo 1,2). I have a 33 MCAT. I'm going to do a masters program and I want to be valedictorian of it (fall 2010, spring 2011).

I would really like to travel to a foreign country and do a research project that compares to the clinical research I have been doing for two years in the department of medicine at my state med school. This would occupy me for fall 2011 and spring 2012, while I am interviewing. I feel like I have a great idea (read: a great grant proposal), I will have great recommendations from the physicians with which I research, my passion will be evident in the personal statement, etc.

However, there's probably a 0% chance of me receiving a fulbright with that GPA. I could always network with hospitals in foreign country on my own and see if I could find a research position that way, but does anyone know of a program/scholarship to which I could apply?

Are you doing a traditional master program or a special masters program? If you're doing a traditional masters degree to get into medical school you're wasting your time, it's not going to help.

 

[HAART]

Are you doing a traditional master program or a special masters program? If you're doing a traditional masters degree to get into medical school you're wasting your time, it's not going to help.

SMP. Like gargoil cat, I'm doinitright

 

[anonymousername]

👍

 

[Perrotfish]

That was pretty funny.

 

[Frazier]

Epic 👍

 

[HAART]

bumpin for moar response

 

[krs881]

Hi! A few thoughts about the Fulbright in particular, though there may be other grants associated with your school that you could look into.

- Typically one applies for the Fulbright through their university and interviews with a faculty committee who then send on their recommendation with your application. If you really impress them, and they are convinced that your upward GPA trend adds to the worthiness of you as an applicant, they will make that known in their recommendation. Also, the Fulbright advisor at your university will provide you with guidance on your protocol. My hunch would be that it would be a bad idea for you to apply on your own without going through your univ Fulbright committee (I forget what Fulbright calls these applicants -- common or general or something; many schools will help you even as an alum). Ask your school's fulbright advisor how your GPA will affect your chances before you make any decisions. You can also write to the Fulbright director for the region/country you want to apply to, they may also dish out that sort of advice.
- There are different types of Fulbright grants depending on your field and level of education. People often think of the general U.S. Scholars program and recent college graduates, but there are also ESL teaching grants, faculty Fulbright awards, and masters and PhD students get different types/levels of funding. If you will be a masters student this would affect your application as I understand.
- Different countries have VERY DIFFERENT levels of competitiveness for the Fulbright. English-speaking western countries are the hardest. I think there are stats on this on the Fulbright website, or number of applicants and number of grantees or something. As I recall it ranged from something like 1/100 to 1/20 or more.
- In general (or in many countries at least) medical research is not a Fulbright research area. Public health research (this is what I did) is funded, so make sure the clinical research you refer to is going to be fundable. They want you to be interacting with people, remember, this is in large part about being "informal ambassadors" as they like to tell their grantees. You mentioned you have a strong application. Has your Fulbright advisor told you that? Fulbright has very specific idea of what a strong or appropriate proposal is. I had worked for numerous years in my area of research implementing much more advanced and involved protocols and data collection, but since I was not a graduate student I had to basically dumb down my proposal. This was my Fulbright advisor's advice, and while maybe I was slightly offended at the time, it was great advice!

I think that spending time outside of the US is a great idea before med school no matter how it is funded... and well, a Fulbright never hurt anyone's application! Good luck, and feel free to PM me.

 

[Wiingy]

Your GPA does not have to be perfect to get a Fulbright, but it can't be painfully low (I would say that less than a 3.0 would make getting the grant a very real challenge based on my own experience and talking with other applicants). Like the previous poster mentioned, there isn't really "a" Fulbright - your chances are very country-dependent (I think 20 of 400ish applicants to the UK received one, compared to approximately 80 out of 320 to Germany, nice summary for Europe here: http://us.fulbrightonline.org/documents/europe-onepager.pdf) and depend on your project.

The best way to go about it is to find a compelling project and an in-country host (you will need official letters agreeing to host you). Applicants who meet these criteria are much more likely to get funded and for the basic sciences is practically a requirement. Speaking the language of the host country or having a demonstrated interest in the culture of the host country will be a big help.

One tricky thing about applying through your university is that your university will rank you internally and pass this ranking on to the Fulbright Commission. At my undergraduate this ranking was relative to other applicants but I'm not sure how it works at other schools.

Without knowing more about your project and plans it's hard to offer more concrete advice, feel free to PM me with any questions. Good luck!