2025-26 Fulbright Graduate Student Program - US Embassy in Estonia

The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State and administered under policy guidelines established by the William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. The scholarship is administered in Estonia by the U.S. Embassy Public Affairs Office in cooperation with the Institute of International Education (IIE).

The Fulbright Graduate Student Program offers multi-year grants for Estonians who intend to enter graduate degree programs (Master’s, Doctoral) at U.S. universities in any field (except for medical studies).

Please note, that once you have been recommended for a grant, IIE in cooperation with the U.S. Embassy will assign you a placement coordinator, who will be responsible for applying to universities and managing the application process on your behalf. You do not need to contact universities, nor should you send applications or supporting documents to universities. These documents should be sent to the U.S. Embassy, who will then forward them to the IIE. Please see information about the placement procedure.

Fulbright Student Program – Academic Placement

There are three main factors that affect where your placement coordinator will send your application:

1. Tuition funding: IIE seeks tuition funding from the universities to which we apply. Tuition funding is available through many universities in the form of tuition waivers, scholarships, or assistantships. However, tuition funding is not available at all universities and is quite restricted in some fields.
2. Academic competitiveness: Universities, especially those that are well-known, receive many more applications than they can accept; therefore, admission is competitive. Admissions decisions are based on many factors, including standardized test scores, statement of purpose, and letters of recommendation, previous academic grades, research, and professional experience. You will be competing for admission against many other candidates, and the chances of admission will be determined by the overall strength of the applicant pool and the relative strength of your application. Some departments receive so many applications that they use standardized test scores as a preliminary measure to reduce the applicant pool to a manageable size.
3. Match of academic/research interests: Academic departments differ in their focus. With 40 years of experience in placing grantees, IIE has extensive knowledge of university programs and will work to place you in an institution that is an appropriate match to your interests. Your statement of purpose is a vital factor in clarifying your interests for both your placement coordinator and for university admission committees. It is extremely important that you clearly express your specific interests in your statement of purpose essay.

As a general rule, IIE applies to three or four universities for each grantee. We only submit applications to universities where there is a reasonable possibility of tuition funding and admission. IIE’s role is to place you in an appropriate university with tuition funding.

Your placement coordinator will consider the universities you have suggested, if any, to determine if they are appropriate options given the three factors described above. Your placement coordinator will also suggest appropriate university programs if you have not expressed a preference or if some of your suggestions would not be viable options. Please note that the final decision about your placement lies with the IIE and the U.S. Embassy.

Please note that once applications have been made to universities, you must not contact these universities yourself; IIE in cooperation with the U.S. Embassy, will communicate with the universities on your behalf. Negotiating admission and tuition funding is a time-consuming and delicate process. Contacting universities yourself creates a great deal of confusion. IIE has extensive experience in arranging for admission and tuition funding on behalf of grantees, and the relationships we have developed with universities represent a resource that we provide to you as an IIE-administered grantee.

Two-Year Home Residency Requirement

As a Fulbrighter you will be participating in an exchange program that requires you to return home to share your experience. To fulfill this requirement, Fulbright Program Fellows must return to their home countries when their authorized academic exchange activities in the United States end. As a J-1 Exchange Visitor, United States law requires a two-year period of home residency before an individual applies for non-immigrant (H and L) visas as temporary workers, for permanent residency in the United States, or as immigrants. This requirement does not prevent you from reentry into the United States within the two-year period to attend conferences, tourism, or further study.

Application 

The closing date for submission of applications (please note: medical forms and tests are not required with the application) is August 20, 2024.

Finalists will be interviewed in early September 2024 by a bi-national (American-Estonian) Fulbright Committee.

The following must be sent by the program deadline to the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy, Kentmanni 20, Tallinn 15099

• official academic transcripts in Estonian and English
• copies of diplomas in Estonian and translations in English
• transcript release form (for post-secondary U.S. transcripts only), if applicable