Completing the Embark/IIE Online Application

Instructions for the 'Foreign Fulbright Program' Application

If you are applying for a Fulbright-British Friends of Harvard Business School MBA Award follow the instructions on this page and not the instructions below. The following instructions pertain to the 2011-12 awards cycle only (for awards tenable in academic year 2011-12). The 2011-12 awards cycle opens on 1 Feb 2010 and closes on 31 May 2010. Applications started before or submitted after these dates will not be considered.

Please read all instructions carefully and follow the step-by-step application guidelines below.

The process has six steps:

  1. Review eligibility criteria and award conditions 
  2. Register online
  3. Complete the online application
  4. Review, print and submit online application
  5. Supplemental forms needed to complete your application
  6. Posting your application to the Fulbright Commission

Application Deadline
The application deadline for awards for enrolment during the 2011-12 academic year is 5:00 pm, Monday, 31 May 2010.

Important note: all application materials including letters of reference/recommendation must be received by the application deadline.

STEP 1: Review eligibility criteria and award conditions

Review the selection criteria, minimum eligibility and Terms and Conditions relating to the category for which you intend to apply before making an application. When you begin your application, the system will ask you to confirm that you are eligible for this award.

STEP 2: Register online

Applications are completed online but must be printed and signed, along with several supplemental forms, and posted to the Fulbright Commission. When you click the Apply Now button, you will be asked to register to the Fulbright Commission’s website.

You will then be redirected to the Embark/IIE online application site where you will also need to register. Your email address will be your user ID. It is very important that you keep your user ID and password in a safe place. The Commission cannot retrieve lost user IDs or passwords. Please also note the URL for the Embark/IIE online application site for future reference.

You will be able to log in and out of your application account and will not be required to complete the application in one sitting.

The online application is facilitated by IIE and is used by Fulbright Commissions worldwide.  Each Commission sets its own policies, procedures and country-specific instructions for using the online application system.  When making an application for a US-UK Fulbright Award it is imperative you follow the instructions below.

STEP 3: Complete the online application

General Information

Step-by-step Application Guidelines

Once you have registered on the www.fulbright.co.uk website and confirmed your eligibility for the award you will be redirected to the Embark/IIE application website. Please follow the guidelines below as you make your way through the Embark/IIE online application.

Preliminary Question Page
It is very important that the following questions are answered correctly:
Question 1 - ‘Country of Citizenship’: Ensure that you selected the United Kingdom. Selecting another country in this field will send your completed application to the Fulbright Commission in that country and not to the US-UK Fulbright Commission, thus your application will likely be received late and not considered.
Question 2 - ‘Program’:

Award category applying to: Program to select for your application:

Fulbright Postgraduate Student Award

Fulbright Foreign Student Program

Fulbright Alistair Cooke Award in Journalism

Fulbright Foreign Student Program

Fulbright MBA Award

Fulbright Foreign Student Program

Science and Technology PhD Awards

International Fulbright Science and Technology PhD Program

Question 3 - Have you checked with your Fulbright Program Office? You should select ‘yes’ so long as you are sure you meet the eligibility criteria and closely follow these instructions for completing the application form. Unless you have specific, unanswered questions, there is no need to ring or email the Fulbright Commission.
Question 4 - Academic level: Make sure that you have identified the proper academic level: graduate study.

Application Form Page 1
Item 1 - Name: write your name exactly as it appears (or will appear) on your UK passport. Please use upper and lower case when entering your name, e.g. Tania Smith. Also, do not use diacritical markings (accent marks) as this can cause computer-related problems.
Item 11 - Application Cycle: Please select 2011-2012.
Degree Objective: Select your choice from the drop down menu. Do not select 'Bachelor's'.
Item 12 - Field of Study: From the choices, select the category that is most appropriate. You can briefly elaborate on the exact nature of your objective in the text box that follows.

Application Form Page 2
Item 14 - Institutions Attended: Please list all post-A level institutions attended in reverse order (putting the most recently attended first). Please list all post-A level institutions attended even those from which you did not achieve a degree. Do not include education up to and including A-levels. If a scholarship or sponsorship funded your degree, please indicate so by writing the words ‘funded by’ followed by the name of the source of funding, in brackets, after the name of the institution, e.g. UK University (funded by LEA).

Application Form Page 3
Item 21 - Position Code: Please select from the drop down menu the position title which best describes the activity in which you are currently (or were most recently) involved.

Item 25 - Travel: Please fil this out to the best of your ability. If you can not fit all of your previous travel, please include only those periods where you have been out of the UK for more than 10 days.

Application Form Page 4
You will create essays on pages 4 and 5. On these pages, text entered that exceeds the space provided will not display or print. Therefore, you must limit your essays to 50 lines of text or less. If your specialisation has particular jargon, please ensure that your main area of interest is explained in lay terms.

You have several ways in which you can create your essays:
• You can compose your essay on-line. Please note there is a 40-minute ‘time out’ function. In other words, you will need to either complete your essay in 40 minutes or periodically save your essay. You will not be able to customise the formatting of your essay.
• You can copy and paste text from another document and edit online. Again, please be aware that the online application has a 40-minute “time-out” function. You will not be able to customise the formatting once you paste the text in the online form.
• You can upload text from another document. This is the only option where you will be able to customise your document formatting, e.g. bold, underline, headers, double spacing, etc. While you cannot edit an uploaded document on-line, you can delete your upload, make your corrections in your document off-line, and upload again.

Important note: Pages 4 (study objective) and 5 (personal statement) contain a header that displays on the PDF/print view. Therefore, if you choose to upload text from another document, you must leave a 4 cm (1.5 inches) margin at the top of every page of your essays to allow space for the header that will appear on the print version of your application. You should preview all of your essays to make sure the formatting is correct before submitting your application by clicking the preview button in upper right-hand corner of the screen. When you preview an essay, you must use the “Back” browser button to return to your essay. Be forewarned, however, that closing out of the HTML preview (i.e. clicking the X in the upper right-hand or left-hand corner) will exit you from your application.

Item 27 - Study/Research Objective: The study/research objective description that you provide is an essential and highly important part of your application. You should take great care to write a clear and very detailed description of the programme you want to pursue. Clearly identify the area(s) within your field of study in which you want to specialise or concentrate. If there is specific research that you want to accomplish, please describe it here. 

Application Form Page 5
Item 28 - Personal Statement: The personal statement is a narrative statement in which you can include information about your education, your gap year (if you took one), practical experience, special interests, career plans, and your purpose in applying for study in the US. Please remember that in granting these awards, the US-UK Fulbright Commission is looking not only for academic excellence, but also evidence of leadership and initiative, a wide range of interests, a curiosity about the host country and culture and a clear intention to contribute to the betterment of the United Kingdom upon returning home.

Application Form Page 6
Item 29 - 'Additional Information': please leave this page blank and proceed to page 7.

Application Form Page 7
University Transcripts: This field is optional for the application. If selected for interview, you will be required to send an original official transcript from all HE institutions attended (signed and sealed by your university) directly to the US-UK Fulbright Commission. You should be sure to order your transcript well in advance (note interview dates below) from your university as such requests can take some weeks to process.

Application Form Page 8
Personal Information: The information provided on this form will be used by the US-UK Fulbright Commission and Fulbright administrative agencies for internal purposes only.
Item 32 - National Identification Number: This is not a required field. You may leave this field blank.

Application Form Page 9
Personal Financial Information: Since the Fulbright grant that may be awarded to you might only cover a portion of your expenses, you may need to provide funds of your own, or from other sources, in order to complete your study or research objective. Please complete this form to the best of your ability based on information that you have at the time of application. If you should have a major change in your financial resources while your grant is pending, you should immediately inform the US-UK Fulbright Commission.

Application Form Page 10
University Preference: You are required to indicate up to 6 university preferences. Applicants are strongly encouraged to conduct a thorough university search to seek out centres of excellence beyond those institutions that are simply well known. Begin your search by reviewing the Commission's advising webpages and university search engine.

If offered an award, the Commission will honour 2 of your university preferences, based on the 'fit' between the department you've selected and your stated objectives, as well as your competitiveness for the university's admission policy. The Commission will also suggest an additional 2 or 3 institutions which will round out your university application submission plan (comprising 4 or 5 institutions total).

Important note: inclusion of university preferences is mandatory.

Supplemental Forms Page
Please disregard all supplemental forms on this page. Proceed to the Recommendations page.

Recommendations Page
When you register and enter details for your 3 recommenders, they will each be sent instructions via email for how to submit their online recommendation for you. However, the email they receive will not indicate the deadline for submitting recommendation letters. You must inform your recommenders that they must submit their recommendations by 5:00 pm, Monday, 31 May 2010. The US-UK Fulbright Commission will only accept recommendation letters via the online system, and will only accept recommendations submitted on time, without exception.

You will be sent an email notification when each of your three recommenders submits their recommendation. You may also log in to your Embark/IIE account and monitor the status of your recommendations by clicking the 'Recommendations' button on the left-hand side of the page.

Important note: submitting details of your referees here is mandatory.

STEP 4: Review, print and submit online application

Carefully reread your application form and when you are happy with it, proceed through the submission process. Please ensure that you print a copy of the application and signature form, both of which will be posted to the Commission along with several supplemental forms (see below).

STEP 5: Supplemental forms needed to complete your application

Your application is not considered complete until the US-UK Fulbright Commission receives all of your supporting documentation. The US-UK Fulbright Commission must receive the following in hard copy by the   specified application deadline. (Documents will not be returned to applicants.)

  1. Printed Complete Application Form
  2. Signed signature form
  3. Completed COMMISSION FORM
  4. Official Academic Transcript (if available)
  5. Copies of diplomas for all post-A level institutions (where applicable)

STEP 6: Posting your application to the Fulbright Commission

Please ensure that you attach sufficient postage when sending forms/letters to the US-UK Fulbright Commission in London. We will not accept excess charges for items of mail that have been underpaid -- they will be returned unopened.

If you would like confirmation that the Fulbright Commission has received your application, you must send your application via Recorded Delivery. Commission staff will not confirm receipt of applications by email or phone.

Post all application documents in one envelope, labelled clearly with your full name to:

Fulbright Awards Programme
Application for: INSERT NAME OF AWARD CATEGORY
Applicant: INSERT YOUR NAME
The US-UK Fulbright Commission
Fulbright House, 62 Doughty Street
LONDON, WC1N 2JZ

Additional Information

Interviews
Applicants for the Alistair Cooke Award in Journalism, MBA Award and Science and Technology PhD Awards will be notified by email in mid June, approx. three weeks after the application deadline, if they have been invited to interview.

Applicants for the Fulbright All-disciplines Postgraduate Student Awards will be notified by email in early August, ten weeks after the application deadline, if they have been invited to interview.

Interviews are provisionally set for:

 Award category applying to:

 Interview date range:

 Fulbright Postgraduate Student Award

 16-27 August 2010

 Fulbright Alistair Cooke Award in Journalism

 30 June 2010                                            

 Fulbright MBA Award

 29 June 2010

 Science and Technology PhD Awards

 29 June 2010

Make note of the interview date and ensure that you are available. Unfortunately, if you are unable to attend the interview date that you are invited to, you will not be considered for an award in this year.  All interviews will be conducted in person; the Commission will not allow telephone interviews.

The selection committees comprise people drawn from the following list: representatives from a relevant professional field, senior academics, senior US Embassy representatives, Fulbright alumni, Fulbright Commissioners and senior Fulbright Awards staff.

Important note: The US-UK Fulbright Commission is unable to comment on individual applications or the reason for their refusal.

Standardised tests
Results from standardised tests are not required for completion of the Fulbright Award application. However, candidates will likely be required to take one or more of the following standardised tests to gain admission to a US university.

If you have already taken one of the following tests please submit a copy of your results (computer print-outs will suffice) to the US-UK Fulbright Commission along with you other application materials.

If you have not yet take any of the following tests, please be aware that you may be required to do so during the selection and interview process, or immediately in the event you are nominated for an award.

For instructions on registration for a standardised test please review the Commission's advising pages.

GRE and GMAT scores are valid for five years.

Important note: You MUST indicate that you want your score reports (marks) sent to the Institute of International Education (IIE) in order for the Fulbright Commission to access them. To do this, indicate the IIE code (see below) on the registration forms and/or the forms provided at the time you take the exam: