On Friday, October 21, the Fulbright Commission and the Fulbright-EducationUSA Advising Center were proud to host a public information session about graduate study opportunities at Harvard Business School (HBS) and the John F. Kennedy School of Government (HKS) at Harvard University. Four distinguished alumni of this prestigious institution - Ms Anca Harasim, president of AmCham and HKS alumna, Ms Madalina Pruna, World Bank specialist and HKS alumna, Ms Elena Solomon, a recent HBS graduate, and Ionut Soleanicov, co-founder of Teach for Romania and alumnus of both programs – offered their insights and practical advice concerning both the entry pathway into these schools as well as the level of excellence to which the participants must rise.  The speakers recounted their own experiences while at HBS and HKS, touching on teaching and learning methods as well as financial aid opportunities. In response to questions coming from the audience, they discussed their own applications, talked about admission standards and spoke about the professional development opportunities which opened up for them as a result of their hard work as HBK and HKS graduates. All four of our guests kindly provided the participants with their contact information and offered their support. The meeting was introduced by the Director of the Fulbright Commission, Rodica Mihaila, who also spoke about the range of services that the Fulbright Commission and the Educational Center are proud to offer to any prospective Romanian applicant to U.S. universities.

The Fulbright Educational Advising Center-EducationUSA was happy to host, on Thursday, October 20, an information session featuring Lipscomb representative Rachel Stowe (Assistant Director of International Student Recruitment, Lipscomb University).

Our guest delivered an engaging presentation on study opportunities at Lipscomb University, a liberal arts university based in vibrant Nashville, Tennessee. The participants, mainly 11th and 12th graders, had a chance to learn more Lipscomb’s rich academic offerings (complete with a strong service component), campus life, the admission process and the forms of financial aid opportunities they can choose from (including a 50%-tuition discount for all admitted international students).

On the same day, one half of our advising duo accompanied our guest to “Cantemir Vodă” National College -, where an average 50 students gathered to hear the presentation, eager to learn more about this school in particular and study opportunities in the U.S. in general.

We took this opportunity to tell participants a few words about the resources awaiting them at FEAC-EducationUSA and about the newly launched competition for our 2017 Opportunity Funds program.

On Thursday, October 20, FEAC-EducationUSA also hosted a special CommonApp essay writing workshop, coordinated by Andrea Vagi, NYU Abu Dhabi outreach officer.

Our guest kindly agreed to share her insight and provide some insider’s tips on what makes a compelling personal essay with the 8 participants who joined us for this in-center event, alongside one of our 2016 Opportunity Funds finalists joining us via Skype.

Ms. Vagi started by emphasizing the need for clarity and for taking the time to think about what makes one unique. As a useful brainstorming strategy, she encouraged participants to try to approach all the CommonApp essay prompts and jot down at least one idea for each one, before deciding on a shortlist.

Following a couple of general tips, she went on to present each of this year’s five CommonApp prompts, providing samples of opening paragraphs and encouraging participants to identify and discuss the most effective ones.

Many thanks to Ms. Vagi and good luck everyone in starting work on your first draft!

On Monday, October 17, the Romanian-American Foundation (RAF) celebrated seven years from its inauguration with the anniversary cocktail Empowering Changemakers at World Trade Center Bucharest. It has also been an excellent opportunity for the organizers to officially launch the Fulbright-RAF Scholar Award, a hyphenated grant program in the field of Entrepreneurship, carried out in cooperation with the Romanian-U.S. Fulbright Commission. The U.S. Ambassador Hans Klemm welcomed the initiative and spoke about the importance of this project, meant to better integrate entrepreneurship and innovation in Romanian universities. The Fulbright-RAF Scholar awards for the academic year 2017-2018 (http://www.fulbright.ro/news/680-the-fulbright-raf-scholar-award-2017-2018) are designed for scholars from technical fields interested in implementing Entrepreneurship in their study programs and in encouraging the growth of innovation hubs in their home universities. A pilot grant program initiated by RAF this year is already underway at the University of Rochester - AIN Center of Entrepreneurship, enabling a cohort of six Romanian scholars to experience first-hand the American entrepreneurial model, interact with a team of U.S. academics in the field and learn about the best practices to be implemented upon return.