Endorsement Interview Information

Candidates will be interviewed on campus by the Georgetown Campus Review Committee in September. Ratings and recommendations are forwarded along with the applications to the Institute of International Education (IIE), the organization that administers the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.  

The U.S. National Screening Committees, appointed by the IIE, will review all submitted applications and make recommendations by late December. In late January/early February, IIE will notify candidates if their applications have been recommended to country for final selection. This does not guarantee a scholarship but only further review by the host country.

Final decisions made by the in-country commissions are usually announced in the late spring; however, this varies from country to country.

The Interview

The campus interview is a very important part of the evaluation process. This is the only interview which you will have in most instances. The IIE and individual countries do not conduct interviews (with the exception of a few countries and the U.K., which conducts telephone interviews of recommended candidates), and thus rely on the evaluations of the campus committees.

You should expect to be interviewed by a multi-disciplinary panel of faculty representing a range of geographic expertise. Be prepared to discuss the specifics of your project – its theoretical framework, your hypothesis, how you plan to carry out your research, relevant literature, and pertinent studies which have been done in the field. Applicants are typically expected to discuss more general topics as well – for example, your future career goals and how a Fulbright award will help you to achieve them.

On the basis of the campus interview, applicants will receive a rating which ranges from 1 (exceptional) to 4 (not recommended). All applications, regardless of the rating assigned, receive endorsement and are sent to IIE for further consideration.