David Comp

FPA Newsletter Submission

May 2007

Building a Campus Network to Advise Undergraduate Fulbright Applicants

For the past seven years I have served as the Fulbright Program Adviser at the University
of Chicago. I will focus on how we have built a network across campus to not only better
promote the program but, more importantly, to advise undergraduates students on their
applications and guide them through the process. Each spring quarter we hold two
information sessions about the program specifically for third- and fourth-year
undergraduate students. I promote these information sessions in a variety of ways. First,
I take the traditional approach of posting flyers across campus. Second, I send a personal
message to each and every faculty/academic staff member who serves as the
undergraduate program chair of our 52 majors asking them to send information about the
information sessions to their students. Third, I work with our undergraduate academic
advising staff and ask them to inform all of their third- and fourth-year students. Fourth,
I have access to a university database where I can target specific students and I e-mail
every third- and fourth-year student in the College with a grade point average of 3.0 and
above announcing the information sessions.

In addition to the spring information sessions we hold for the third- and fourth-year
students we also hold general scholarship information sessions specifically tailored for
second-year students. These information sessions are held during autumn and winter
quarters and the goals of these sessions are to not only inform students of the various
scholarship/fellowship opportunities that are available both during their undergraduate
studies and post-graduation but also to educate them on what makes a competitive
application, establishing relationships with faculty and planning for course and activities
that will be an asset to future research and/or studies abroad. We discuss
scholarships/fellowships such as the Fulbright, Rhodes, Marshall, Boren and Gilman as
well as many other funding opportunities. We encourage students to take electives such
as statistics, ethnographic research methods, or courses in area studies that will give them
a strong foundation from which to build upon during their research abroad. We have
found that there is very strong interest by our second-year students in these information
meetings and we are now planning to hold meetings for our first-year students.

Finally, we have created a network of faculty and other academic staff members who
have agreed to meet with prospective applicants to discuss their research interests and to
go give advice and direction on how to put together the most competitive application.
We have found this process to especially helpful for our students as they prepare their
applications.