Campbellsville University students recently had the opportunity to hear Jonathan Lehtonen’s presentation about the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. The program essentially provides awards for college graduates to obtain their master’s degree for free while studying abroad. Other opportunities provided by Fulbright are teaching English and pursuing musical or artistic studies in another country.
The Fulbright Program was established in 1946 with the goal of supporting relationships between the U.S. and global community. Since its foundation, according to Lehtonen, the program has developed partnerships with more than 160 countries and has built a network of more than 400,000 participants.
Lehtonen said the program is hard to get accepted into, but simply applying for the award still looks great on a resume. Fulbright gives more than 2,000 awards each year, and the only basic requirements are U.S. citizenship, a bachelor’s degree, and knowledge of the language requirements in each country’s program. However, Lehtonen said many of the involved countries only require English.
“I never did a Fulbright myself, but I did have the amazing chance to study abroad in Finland as an undergrad,” said Lehtonen. “In my own experience, studying abroad really had a snowball effect on my resume. It definitely helped me get accepted with full funding to several graduate programs later in my academic career and even helped me get various ESL teaching jobs in the U.S. because of my international experience.”
A few opportunities offered by the Fulbright Program are studying, researching and teaching across a wide range of disciplines overseas. However, doing Fulbright is much more than just an education opportunity.
“Doing a Fulbright is all about being a cultural ambassador and building bridges, and sending one of our graduates abroad would be an incredible opportunity for CU to expand our global impact for Christ,” said Lehtonen.
For CU students considering applying for Fulbright, Lehtonen said it can be quite complicated. However, Lehtonen’s job is to help students, so contacting him would be beneficial when working through the application process.
“Regardless of whether you win a Fulbright award or not, the application process will really prepare you for applying to any type of graduate program or professional job,” said Lehtonen. “You’ll receive my expert feedback on your written application, and you can use the materials and my feedback to help you draft future applications for wherever God calls you after graduation.”
The deadline to apply for a Fulbright award is Sept. 15, and Lehtonen said getting started early is recommended. Once your application is sent, it can’t be undone, so Lehtonen said it would be ideal to send him a rough draft no later than May so he can use his expertise to perfect the application.