Melissa’s Tips for Crafting a Successful Fulbright Appliation, Part 4: Finding an Affiliate

Melissa’s Tips for Crafting a Successful Fulbright Application, Part 3: Planning Ahead

Melissa’s Reflections on Mexican Culture, Part 3: Speaking “Mexican”

Tips for Crafting a Successful Fulbright Application, Part 2: How does a Fulbright applicant choose what country to apply to?

Tips for Crafting a Successful Fulbright Application, Part 1: What qualities will set you apart in the Fulbright application process?

Melissa’s Reflections on Mexican Culture, Part 2: What is “Mexico”? What is “America”? It might seem obvious, but the answers vary depending on culture and region.

Melissa’s Reflections on Mexican Culture, Part 1: a few of my favorite things <3

Expand your Spanish vocabulary with a few simple phrases to try out in every day life!

Are you considering applying for a Fulbright award again after being an alternate or non-select? Here are my thoughts on the challenges and opportunities of this scenario:

What do you do after you find out you are an alternate for a Fulbright award? Here are my thoughts:

A quick post about some of my favorite parts of this year in Mexico! From building friendships to travel adventures and making jokes in Spanish.

I‘m volunteering as a Reach the World Traveler this spring! Learn more about this unique non-profit and my experience with my matched classroom in this blog post:

Today’s post is a response to a commenter who asked me to give my responses to several tough questions I was asked in my COMEXUS semi-finalist interviews in 2022 and 2023. I share an overview of my answers to most questions and, in some cases, I include what I would have changed or added if I had another chance.

This post expands on two previous posts: My COMEXUS Interview Experience and COMEXUS Interview Questions

Is it possible to “fail” your Fulbright interview? Here are my thoughts:

As a Mexico Fulbright semi-finalist in both 2022 and 2023, I have experienced two different Fulbright-COMEXUS interviews. What would I go back and change if I could?

Mexico is among the Fulbright countries that conducts semi-finalist interviews in the host-country language. As a semi-finalist in both 2022 and 2023, I experienced two such Spanish-language interviews. In this post, I share essential tips for preparing for a successful COMEXUS interview - especially if Spanish is not your native language!

In both 2022 and 2023, I was a semi-finalist for a Fulbright-García Robles grant to Mexico. Based on multiple interview experiences, I outline three helpful tips for those hopeful Fulbrighters who are preparing for their semi-finalist interview:

In this post, I list specific questions I received in my COMEXUS semi-finalist interviews, expanding on the previous blog post: My COMEXUS Interview Experience

Many hopeful Fulbrighters are receiving the long-awaited news of their semi-finalist status this month. In this post, I break down the details of my semi-finalist interview experiences with COMEXUS. Keep reading to learn details from my notification dates to interview length and agenda:

Today’s post is quite personal and even vulnerable. I am sharing about my faith and some problematic beliefs I was taught growing up about global music.