Should I wait to apply to grad schools because I applied to Fulbright?

Graduate School
1

Hey, guys.

I’m a college senior that has applied for an ETA, and the Fulbright advisers at my college think I have a very good chance of getting it.

But I was also intending to apply to Harvard and Oxford for their Masters in Education programs, which I also think I have a good chance of getting.

I’m extremely conflicted now. I know it would be considered a “good problem” to hypothetically have to choose between Harvard, Oxford, and the Fulbright…but I wonder if I could avoid at least part of the problem by delaying my grad school applications until next year. That way, if I do get the Fulbright, I can go without having to debate between taking it and going to a great grad school.

Because if I get it and turn down Harvard and Oxford, I feel like those doors may be closed to me forever afterward. But if I get it and turn it down to go to Harvard or Oxford (well, especially Harvard, since it’s in America), I feel like I would regret not taking the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to finally live abroad.

So…

Pros of delaying grad school applications:
1.) If I get the Fulbright, I can go without hesitation
2.) I can have a clean slate when I apply to grad schools for 2019 - 2020
3.) I wouldn’t be earning much money at all while abroad, so I’d still hopefully qualify for good financial aid when applying to grad schools

Cons:
1.) If I don’t get the Fulbright, then I’ll have wished I applied to the grad schools and could start my Master’s work instead of waiting another year
2.) If I don’t get the Fulbright, I’ll work for a year instead, but then I would be earning a decent income and wouldn’t qualify for as much financial aid at grad school
3.) I made good connections with faculty and admissions people when I visited Harvard a couple weeks ago, but they are less likely to remember me if I apply next year

Ugh, I really don’t know what to do. Any advice?

NOTE: Oxford does NOT allow a student to defer his acceptance by a year. Harvard allows it, but looks unfavorably upon it, and if I got any merit scholarships, I may have to forfeit them.

2

As someone who went to graduate school and understands how the academy works, I appreciate that you’ve likely selected these two schools because of particular programs or faculty they have. That said, you also may wish to identify some alternatives that allow accepted students to defer. For college applicants, of course, these would be like “safeties” (though a safety for a different reason). I also will say that you should have safeties anyway. I’ve had several undergraduate students over the last few years who were publishing in academic journals and still were denied at every PhD program to which they applied. And they were TOP TOP students, in my opinion. This doesn’t answer the question of whether or not you should apply to Oxford and Harvard, but I wonder if there are other options you haven’t looked at as closely as you might.

If you deferred at Harvard and lost your funding, it would likely be because you had to compete for it again. So while you’d have your spot held over, another (new) applicant might have your fellowship. I’m not sure how “aid” works in grad school other than fellowships (this is what paid my way through), but I am sure grad school aid doesn’t work the way undergrad aid does.

Surely your Fulbright advisors have had this come up before with other students. Have you spoken to them about it? Also, I wonder if grad programs would look differently on a Fulbright year (as opposed to a vacant gap year).

3

Thank you for your reply, ProfessorMom1!

I understand why you think I should apply to safety schools, but I have already been shortlisted at Cambridge and have reason to believe that I will likely get accepted to Harvard and/or Oxford. By no means am I saying it’s a sure thing; however, in your example, you are talking about students going for their PhD, which I believe is significantly harder to get accepted for in comparison to a Master’s, and I have had several professors and advisers tell me that the outlook for me to get accepted at one of those universities is extremely good.

However, even if they’re wrong and I end up getting rejected by Cambridge, Harvard, and Oxford, -and- don’t get the Fulbright, I would rather start working than go to a grad school that would be a safety for me. Since Master’s aren’t funded like PhD’s, if I’m going to invest in getting one, I want to make sure that it’s really, really worth it.

I took your advice and emailed my Fulbright advisers about the situation. Hopefully they’ll have some advice! I’ll post here when they reply.

But if anyone else has any suggestions or advice, I’d appreciate it!

4

Don’t opt yourself out of opportunities because making decisions is hard :slight_smile: I understand the impulse, since I tend to be indecisive as well, but I think it’s generally better to have great opportunities that you really want to choose from rather than always wondering “What if I had applied for that opportunity I really wanted?”

So apply for all - Fulbright, Harvard, Oxford.

My opinion on this - as someone who did the opposite (didn’t apply for Fulbright because I really wanted to go to grad school right away), my advice is that if you get the Fulbright, take it. Your opportunities for getting a Fulbright and being able to actually do it diminish as you get older/more advanced. People will say nice things like “You can always travel abroad later!” or “You are so young; you have your whole life!” but I will tell you that while that is theoretically true, it’s also…difficult.

Graduate school, on the other hand, is always going to be there. A Fulbright will only enhance your application profile to graduate schools. And if the goal of grad school is to get a good job/career later, it is far easier/makes a lot of sense to go straight from the master’s in education to career searching and job than it is to go into a Fulbright program and essentially delay your career search by a year or two.

Just because you decline Harvard or Oxford doesn’t mean you won’t be readmitted if you were to apply again another year. The only difference will be the shiny new Fulbright, and you can always explain that you are turning the offer down only because you got an excellent opportunity to do a prestigious Fulbright fellowship. So no, it does not mean that those doors will be closed to you forever.

As for those connections, it’s up to you to keep them alive. Reach out to those people you contacted periodically over the course of your Fulbright year to update them on why you decided not to come to Harvard (I got a Fulbright; I’m learning more about education on the ground in another country that will enrich my educational experience when I do return to get my M.Ed) and keep those connects alive.

5

Thanks so much for the reply, Juliet! I really appreciate your insight and advice. I’m going to go ahead and apply to Harvard and Oxford, and simultaneously hope for and also fear having the make one of the hardest decisions of my life! :stuck_out_tongue: