Five things to avoid when applying for a Fulbright Scholarship

A lack of honesty in your application or lack of professional preparation can cause you to lose points when applying for a Fulbright scholarship.

Bui Minh Duc, 30 years old, is currently a student majoring in Communication at Clark University, Massachussetts, USA, under the Fulbright program, a full scholarship funded by the US Government.

From personal experience, Minh Duc draws five things to avoid when applying for this scholarship.

Dishonest personal information

Not only Fulbright scholarships, all scholarships appreciate the honesty of applicants. Therefore, giving incorrect information can become a minus point of the candidate.

For example, at the time of applying for a Fulbright scholarship, you were working today, but a few months later, you changed jobs. If the transition affects your learning goals, be honest when asked.

Not understanding the nature of the scholarship

Fulbright is considered a potential-based scholarship instead of focusing on leadership-based or merit-based. The Fulbright Scholarship wants to see clearly the potential, including the leadership ability of a candidate and the contributions to Vietnam and the Vietnam-US relationship after the end of the study program.

Therefore, in the essay, instead of focusing on showing off their achievements such as leading organization A or managing program B, candidates should dedicate a section of content to talk about this. Many former Fulbright Scholars share that they have average achievements but still win scholarships when they show what they can do and how they can contribute in the future.

Minh Duc at the gate of the United Nations headquarters in New York, USA, December 2022. Photo: Character provided

Choose a broad field of study

Fulbright has no limitations on the subject matter. Applications for and receiving Fulbright scholarships span a wide range of fields. This is the point that makes Fulbright so popular with many applicants compared to some other scholarships.

However, you should also not choose a field of study that is too spread. This helps you show to the judges that you are passionate about a specific issue in Vietnam and that your chosen field of study is relevant to the job you are doing. Moreover, choosing a target field of study also makes it easier for you to tell your story.

For example, education is a very broad field and each candidate has a different interest such as integrated education, teaching content design, education for special children.... You even have can go deeper into each interest. The thing to do in parallel with this is to find out where you can get the training you want, avoiding limiting your opportunities because there are few places to train.

Lack of knowledge about the subject

There are usually two types of lack of knowledge about the discipline. One is those candidates who chose a field of study that was not suitable for their previous work but decided to change because they believed that Fulbright would give preference to certain fields. Such candidates will reveal their weaknesses very clearly during the interview process or even in the application section when they cannot properly explain the change in their work and study goals.

Two are candidates who are not well prepared to talk about their expertise. Sometimes we only see a small part of the problem while many interview questions will be more extensive to assess the candidate's vision. For example, if you choose development communication, the interviewer might ask you how do you rate this issue in Vietnam. Although not too challenging, candidates need to research and prepare in advance to answer well.

Referring to too many people

From personal experience, I find that asking too many people's opinions is unnecessary, sometimes counterproductive, making you confused, worried, overwhelmed because each person will give different opinions. This is similar to editing an essay. When heard from many people, editing an essay can change the content much from the original intention, while "authenticity" - originality, is an important evaluation criterion of the Fulbright scholarship.

Instead, you should seek help strategically. For example, if you choose two people to read your essay, you can find someone who knows what you're doing and someone outside of your field of study for a fresh perspective. It is important that from everyone's comments, you need to have an opinion to know what content should be changed or kept.