Low percentage of Fulbright applicants moving on

Thirteen Tufts students were selected to advance to the final stage in the Fulbright Scholarship competition, a number that disappointed those involved with the process. These students will now be evaluated by committees specific to their region of concentration.

"We're going to cross our fingers and see if we can yield a good number of them," Dean of Undergraduate Education James Glaser said.

The 13 students moving on represent one-third of the 39 applicants -- a relatively low percentage in Tufts' Fulbright history. The percentage of Tufts students making it to the second stage fluctuates from strong to weak over the years, Glaser said.

"Our mean is pretty high. I would say that this is a little on the disappointing side because we had some really spectacular candidates who did not move to the next level," he said.

According to Administrative Assistant for Student Services Joanne Ferguson, 17 Tufts students advanced to the second round last year.

In previous years Tufts fared much better. In the 2001-2002 school year 40 percent of applicants passed to the final round. On average, 27 percent of students from Tufts receive grants.

The thirteen students who are moving on to the next round are: Joanna Friedman, Hyosil Hwang, Rachel Jervis, Vinita Kamath, Gwynne Langley, Angela Lee, Abigail Noble, Kristin Roslonski, Jeffrey Ryan, Jenna Sirkin, Adeline Sutphen, Valerie Wencis, and Christina Zahara.

"I feel that [Professor Charles] Inouye and others involved with the applications of Tufts students did a tremendous job guiding us through the application process," said Zahara, who is a double-major in Political Science and History. She applied to teach English in South Korea.

Lee, an International Relations and Child Development major who applied to teach English in Taiwan, said predicting the number of winners is difficult to do because the applicant pool can vary in size. "The Taiwan teaching assistantship program is relatively new," she said. "They are awarding about eight teaching scholarships this year, but I don't know how many people have applied."

Despite the decline in advancing students from Tufts, Glaser said, the effort alone deserves commendation. "You don't get anything if you don't put an application in," Glaser said. "It reflects very well on Tufts that so many students decided to apply."