Fulbright Scholarship - Does it help on acceptance?

[mgurmend]

Hi Everyone, I've been selected as a Fulbright Student (Foreign Program). Does this increase my chances of admission?
I have a CS engineering degree (5-year course) from Uruguay. I have a converted GPA of 3.8 or 3.9. GRE: Q750 (did not do well here ) V620 and W5.0. iBT Toefl: 117 (30 wri, 30 list, 28 speak, 29 read) I plan to focus on the design of Groupware-mediated collaborative web tools.

I am applying to the following universities (for an M.S.):

MIT (Media Lab)
Columbia University
New York University
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Brandeis University
Northeastern University
Penn State - University Park
Polytechnic University NY

I have 3 published articles. Fulbright covers my living expenses but I need to find a tuition waiver.
5 year industry experience (worked while studying)

Can you please rate my chances?

Thanks
Mortimer

[CalmLogic]

It raises your chances immensely. It's not the fact that you are partially funded as much as the fact that you have been singled out as being a "top dog":

Today, the Fulbright Programme is one of the most prestigious awards programmes world-wide, operating in 144 countries and with 51 commissions. More Fulbright alumni have won Nobel Prizes than those of any other academic programme, including two in 2002.

Fulbright Program - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia172172172

You should be able to get into all the univerities on your list. The only question I would have would be MIT's Media Lab. Regarding funding, I don't know but you seem to be the type of person that would attract at least a partial tuition waiver. Also, after the first semester, you are more likely to get a TA position if one is not offered to you initially.

[mgurmend]

Thanks a lot, CalmLogic, for your prompt response.

[Ancalagon The Black]

mgurmend:

Well, this is certainly interesting. I have applied to the media lab as well. Which groups did you apply in because my interests lie in the exact same topic that you mentioned.

Incidentally, is your 5 year cs course equivalent to a masters in the US, like in the German system?

[Ancalagon The Black]

I had thought about the Fulbright program myself but unfortunately, it is not available for MS students in India...

[mgurmend]

Hi Ancalagon,
I applied to the following groups:


Physical Language Workshop
Sociable Media
Lifelong Kindergaten



To tell the truth, I'm not very optimistic about MIT, even though it clearly is the dream option. Apparently just a few students are accepted each year. Regarding the 5-year course, it seems reasonable to think it is equivalent to a masters degree but there is no official statement about this and thus I have to consider my degree as a BS. At least that's what they told me. What groups are you applying to?



Mortimer

[Ancalagon The Black]

Well, I applied to (in order of preference)

Sociable Media
Software Agents
Lifelong Kindergarten

lol... more or less similar.

I don't have a stellar profile like yours. (No fulbright, only 3 years experience, like you I also worked whilst studying. But, I have 9 publications and coauthored a book)

I am just harping on the fact that my sister used to work and research in the media lab and an alumni from my school is also working in it. Did you directly contact the professors like they said you should? Did they reply?

I have seen them scooting around my e-portfolio though. I am jittery. All they seem to be doing is to download my rock band videos and see them ...

If you are up to it, would you mind exchanging e-portfolio links in a private message?

[mgurmend]

Wow, thats coincidence. Amazing! You have great chances I believe. I'm sure that having friends on the inside can help. They haven't looked at my portfolio as far as I know at least from the MIT servers. I did try contacting but had no answer. Then the deadline came in and I heard that it was not ethically correct to contact them once the application was submitted. Is this true?
I have no problem exchanging e-portfolio links.

[Ancalagon The Black]

Great, I am pming you... Well, they encourage students to directly contact the faculty but since the media lab is a bit different from other courses, then I guess its ok to contact the faculty at every stage. (but I could be wrong)

Only Professor Donath contacted me back but she just encouraged me to apply saying that Sociable Media is one of the most difficult groups to get into.

[mgurmend]

Originally Posted by CalmLogic

It raises your chances immensely. It's not the fact that you are partially funded as much as the fact that you have been singled out as being a "top dog":

You should be able to get into all the univerities on your list. The only question I would have would be MIT's Media Lab. Regarding funding, I don't know but you seem to be the type of person that would attract at least a partial tuition waiver. Also, after the first semester, you are more likely to get a TA position if one is not offered to you initially.

Calmlogic,
Thanks for your advice back in Jan. I must say that what you predicted became true. I got into all of the schools except the media lab (which I heard accepted very few MS students). I also got tuition waivers from most schools. Now I am basically between Columbia or NYU and Northeastern. My wife got a scholarship from Northeastern which makes the budget difference between NY and Northeastern greater than 60K. I guess the debt is be too much so I'm inclined towards Northeastern. The university seems great, I wonder why it got ranked so low by USNews... (any idea?) Am I making the right choice? Thanks.
Mortimer