Every year college students around the nation are chosen to become involved in an organization that can take them almost anywhere in the world and give them a chance to enrich the lives of a many people. The Fulbright Program part of the State Department’s Institute of International Education was created in 1946 and since then has sent American students abroad to meet the shared needs of the United States and the international community.
Pepperdine’s Dana Dudley director of Summer School & Special Academic Programs oversees each application Pepperdine students make to be accepted into the prestigious organization; this year’s deadline passed on Sept. 20.
“It funds either research grants or English teaching assistance to over 160 countries Dudley said. There are also some other smaller grants like the creative writing or the performing arts.”
In the program ETAs English teaching assistants aid a teacher in a classroom for 20 hours a week and they also do a small research project or a community involvement project Dudley said. The ETAs work in a country of their choice for 10 months and their grants pay for basic living necessities.
The application process is highly competitive and bureaucratic since the applicant’s paperwork goes through Pepperdine administration a national Fulbright committee and the Fulbright committee for the country of a student’s selection.
Once applications are accepted Pepperdine’s Fulbright campus committee gives students advice how to make their applications the best they can be.
“I can’t say enough good things about them [Pepperdine’s Fulbright campus committee] because they really do a lot of work for the students. They read drafts over and over and it’s a very active committee to be on Dudley said.
Last year 18 applicants applied and seven received Fulbright honors a new record for Pepperdine’s Fulbright program. This year 27 undergraduate Fulbright applications were turned in by Pepperdine students and they can expect to hear whether they are accepted into the program between March and June.
“Fulbright is not as concerned with GPA. They really look for students well rounded who have been active at their university both academically and co-curricular students who are leaders who have held positions of leadership Dudley said. She also remarked that coaching and tutoring also help an application be competitive.