UMass Amherst Ranked a 'Top Producer' of Fulbright students

Oct. 23, 2009

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Daniel Fitzgibbons 413/545-0444

AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst was a “Top Producer of Fulbright Students” among research universities for the 2008-09 academic year, according to a ranking published Oct. 19 in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

During the past year, 18 UMass Amherst students applied for Fulbrights and eight received the prestigious scholarships for overseas study and teaching while a ninth was named an alternate. The eight awards were a campus record and the new ranking shows UMass Amherst is competing with some of top colleges and universities in the U.S., said Susan K. Whitbourne, professor of psychology and director of the UMass Amherst’s Office of National Scholarship Advisement.

“Not only were we a top producer but our yield rate is very high,” said Whitbourne. “Though Northwestern had 32 awards, they had a very high number of applicants (109) for a yield of 29 percent. Our yield of 44 percent places us second in research institutions just behind MIT with 50 percent. If our alternate had won, we would be equal to MIT.”

The only public research university in New England on the list, UMass Amherst tied for 33rd place among the 39 ranked schools. Among the “top producers” in the ranking, Northwestern University was first with 32 student Fulbright recipients, followed by the University of Chicago with 31, Brown University with 29, Stanford and Michigan with 28, and Yale with 25. UMass Amherst tied with six other schools: William and Mary, Ohio University, Tufts, Georgia, Oregon and the University of Southern California.

The UMass Amherst recipients include four graduate students and four undergraduates who completed their degrees during the past year. The students are pursuing educational opportunities in Argentina, Chile, China, Germany, Israel, Morocco, Norway and South Korea.

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