Jacob Izenberg '08 always wanted to go to medical school, but first he planned to take a year off and hoped to live in a foreign country. He found "the ideal way to go abroad," he said - a Fulbright grant.
Izenberg is one of 21 recent Brown graduates to receive a Fulbright scholarship this year. The Fulbright Program asks students to design an independent project studying, researching or teaching in one of more than 140 countries. Approximately 1,500 grants are awarded annually to students from the United States, according to the Institute of International Education's Web site.
With his grant, Izenberg is going to Malaysia, where he will look at the differences between public and private health care. He will visit private and government hospitals, health facilities and clinics across the country, studying how the systems are different. He hopes to collect data from doctors and patients in the system, and ultimately write about what he learns.
Linda Dunleavy, associate dean of the College for fellowships and pre-law, said the grant has become increasingly popular in the past three years; last year, 25 students received Fulbrights.
Now, she said, more students know about the opportunity, and "success breeds success."
This year, 58 students applied, yielding a 36 percent acceptance rate. In recent years, Brown students' acceptance rate into the program has been one of the highest in the country. Dunleavy attributed the University's perennial success with Fulbrights to "the character of Brown students."
"The Brown curriculum encourages students to think independently and take risks," she said.
Fulbright applications are due to the University in early September. A committee reviews the applications and offers suggestions and feedback to applicants before the proposals are submitted nationally in October. Some students hear back as early as March, while others don't hear until May, Dunleavy said.
For David Fedman '08, the wait was even longer. Told he was an alternate for a Fulbright in the spring of his senior year, Fedman applied for a number of jobs. The day after graduation, though, he received a phone call "out of the blue" and was awarded a scholarship.
"It was the best graduation project I could have imagined," he said.
Fedman is now headed to Japan, where he will research Japanese environmental ethics and how they impact mountaineering. For half the year, he will study history at a university in Hokkaido; for the other half, he will be hiking and trekking through the mountains of Japan. Ultimately, Fedman would like to write a book about his experiences in the mountains.
The history concentrator studied Japanese for four years and has always loved hiking and climbing. His project is "the perfect synthesis of things I'm passionate about," he said.
Fedman sees the Fulbright as a very natural progression for Brown students. "I'm not surprised 21 students received grants," he said. "We're able to carve out our own academic passions and that's the stepping stone to a Fulbright."
While at Brown, Sade Bonilla '08 volunteered with English for Action in Providence and studied abroad in Spain. Based on her experiences, she knew she wanted to live abroad, teach and explore a new culture. With her Fulbright, the double concentrator in education studies and public policy is going to Chile to teach English.
In Chile, Bonilla also plans to study the Chilean education system, which is based on vouchers and school choice. She hopes her research and observations will be able to inform the charter school movement in the U.S.
Bonilla said she started thinking about her project as early as sophomore year. She advised future applicants to "come up with a project you're passionate about and be able to explain why it matters."
Victoria Chao '08 is also teaching English with her grant; she is headed to Taiwan for the year. The international relations concentrator, who focused on political economy and development, said exploring Taiwanese identity was a large component of her undergraduate experience.
Through the group Strait Talk, which brings together students from the U.S., Taiwan and China, and through her own family, Chao was exposed to Taiwanese culture and became interested in learning more about it.
"I want to understand better where my parents come from, and where the kids I've met come from," she said. Her goal is to develop an understanding about how the Taiwanese education system works.
From her perspective, the Fulbright Grant is about more than just scholarship.
"It's not about finding your Ph.D. thesis," she said. "It's about fostering international friendships and cultural understanding."
