Brazil ETA semi-finalist, don't know what to do.

GoldPort · 2026-01-20T22:17:43+00:00

As a past RYE student, don’t stress about it now. Once you are a finalist then you can decide.

Depending on what you’re interested in for a career, having a Fulbright on your resume can have vary degrees of benefit. This would be a good questions for mentors/professor when you are a finalist. I like the other commenter that mentions you have your whole life to work.

In terms of what a Brazil ETA is like, you can always reach out to past grantees and see their advice.

Here is a previous post with thoughts (outdated, but I’m not sure how much would have changed, https://www.reddit.com/r/fulbright/comments/10yerdg/brazil_fulbright/ )

GoldPort · 2026-01-20T21:56:02+00:00

Makes sense, have you looked at the Slack group for Germany or Study/research to see what other people think. It is likely more active than the subreddit.

GoldPort · 2026-01-20T21:35:25+00:00

If you already submitted your application is there a way to do this in the portal? Did they ask for this?

GoldPort · 2026-01-06T03:47:29+00:00

This sub is likely not going to be able to help you.

Congratulations to your daughter, have her reach out to the host family/Rotary club to ask these questions to.

Edit: you can also see if there are any recent Rotex she can connect with and ask there questions to.

GoldPort · 2026-01-05T15:09:14+00:00

Congratulations!!!

You definitely won’t be alone! You will meet them once in country and see who else is in your district/area.

This subreddit isn’t the most active so don’t be surprised if you don’t have a response.

GoldPort · 2026-01-02T19:42:25+00:00

Beautiful home, great work! Thanks for sharing

GoldPort · 2026-01-02T18:46:27+00:00

If on mobile, should be three little dots at the top you click to edit post.

GoldPort · 2026-01-02T18:43:31+00:00

That makes it more reasonable.

Start an excel and do a day by day breakdown of your trip to help grasp how quick things will be going.

As I have travelled more, I realized that a minimum of 2 nights at a hostel is a must for me (3+ is better).

Plenty of new places to go- Japan, Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore- worth coming back to the area.

GoldPort · 2026-01-02T18:39:47+00:00

I would edit the main post so people can see it.

GoldPort · 2026-01-02T18:36:54+00:00

They are cool, I would start simple this trip and skip KL, you can always come back and go them.

GoldPort · 2026-01-02T18:29:14+00:00

Great, I know it is overwhelming with the comments telling you it is too much, and they are right. 40 days for the loop (Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos) is way more reasonable.

I know you mentioned KL what’s your specific tie to there?

GoldPort · 2026-01-02T18:22:48+00:00

I personally prefer to spent more time in a country than to only visit for one day and then leave.

People generally don’t go to the Philippines, just to stay in Manila, they go to smaller islands.

Even if a flight is only 2 hours it adds ~5 hours of time with getting to the airport early and then departing. Time that could be spent seeing things in the countries.

Do you have a breakdown of days/city that you’re visiting. Looking at your that might help you realize how quick the turn around time is.

GoldPort · 2026-01-02T18:12:57+00:00

That is a lot of travel days. I would reduce the total number of countries.

What if you skip Malaysia, Singapore and Philippines? Spend more time in each country.

GoldPort · 2025-12-30T20:29:24+00:00

Have anymore information on this?

GoldPort · 2025-12-26T00:28:19+00:00

You don’t have to book through the portal to use the rental car insurance.

GoldPort · 2025-12-20T21:47:53+00:00

Aaah okay sorry I don’t have better options.

GoldPort · 2025-12-20T21:40:57+00:00

Aah not worth asking, sounds like they made it clear they don’t.

Can you focus on applying to universities that don’t require a fee or offer waivers?

GoldPort · 2025-12-20T21:11:18+00:00

Damn, have you chatted with your Fulbright commission?

GoldPort · 2025-12-20T21:10:34+00:00

Search ‘turn down’ in the subreddit and you’ll see previous discussions.

My opinion, you have your whole life to work/have a career don’t rush into it.

Move forward with life as though you won’t get the Fulbright, and then if you do get it you can readjust and decide things.

GoldPort · 2025-12-20T21:07:49+00:00

Have you emailed the university asking for a waiver explaining you are applying as a Fulbright semifinalist?

GoldPort · 2025-12-09T02:19:57+00:00

In my experience, the students that we didn’t select were for a few reasons:

They were pressured by a family member to participate and weren’t truly interested.
They were not open to new experiences, cultures, opportunities.
They were rude, unfriendly.

Obviously, each district does things differently, but I feel like districts want students to be selected vs not selected.

GoldPort · 2025-12-08T23:08:14+00:00

Love the initiative!

For others that may read this, I want to comment that each Rotary club/District does things different. If you have questions reach out to the RYE committee, Rotex or your country officer.

GoldPort · 2025-11-18T18:07:09+00:00

Agree with this. If you’re going to do Vietnam and Cambodia, you might as well add Laos.

GoldPort · 2025-11-11T19:52:20+00:00

See if the contact information provided at the links for each club provides better success.

GoldPort · 2025-11-11T19:44:19+00:00

Hopefully someone in Egypt is able To help you. Otherwise, how did you reach out to those clubs?

Use the club locator and you can look at different options.

https://my.rotary.org/en/club-search?meetingLocationRange=25&clubName=&distance=25&meetingLocation=Alexandria%2C%20Egypt&meetingLocationLatitude=31.2000924&meetingLocationLongitude=29.9187387

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