By Josh Siatkowski | Staff Writer
Upon confirming a spot on the 2024-2025 Fulbright Scholarship Top Producers list, Baylor officially locked in its third-straight year as a prestigious Fulbright-producing powerhouse.
The Fulbright Program, which offers U.S. government-funded experiences to recent college graduates, has been accepting more Bears than ever. Eighteen Baylor graduates received a 2024-2025 Fulbright scholarship and a record 48 have been named semi-finalists for the 2025-2026 school year.
According to Dr. Anna Beaudry, assistant director of major fellowships and awards, semi-finalists and winners have been consistently growing in recent years. In 2022, Baylor saw 14 Bears win a Fulbright, 12 in 2023, and in 2024, 34 semi-finalists turned into a record 18 winners.
This year, Baylor’s number of semi-finalists has increased by over 40%, reaching 48. According to Beaudry, the hope for over 20 winners for this year could be attainable.
That would give Baylor another record year of Fulbright scholarship students, something the university has done time and time again. It would also earn them a fourth-straight –– and fourth all-time –– spot on the Fulbright Top Producers list, which, at 130 institutions, is longer than you might expect.
The Fulbright Program is primarily divided into two scholarships. Like a typical educational scholarship, Open Study and Research Awards match students to participating schools to complete a graduate degree or research project. There’s also the English Teaching Assistant Award, which sends select students to a country chosen in their application and places them within a community to assist local English teachers.
While Baylor has produced graduates who matriculate into the Open Study and Research Scholarship, the vast majority of Baylor Fulbright students have gone into the ETA program.
“ETA odds are far better than the study awards,” Beaudry said. “As you can imagine, there are far fewer awards that cover a graduate degree than a teaching position. So the majority of our winners tend to be in the ETA category.”
Due to the disparity in odds, the Office of Engaged Learning ends up playing a bit of a numbers game. Beaudry and Dr. Daniel Benyousky, the director of major fellowships and awards, assist students interested in any type of program, but Beaudry said they encourage the ETA program to students, citing the better chances.
“Numbers aren’t everything, but they aren’t nothing,” Beaudry said.
Though it’s a teaching fellowship, Beaudry said that the program is available and helpful to students of all academic backgrounds. Beaudry encourages students to have “an open mind throughout the process,” and to consider the benefits of an ETA for those not interested in teaching or language.
“The fact of the matter is, graduate schools, medical schools, law schools –– all of these places love to have Fulbrighters,” Beaudry said. “So you could have access to a much higher tier of graduate degrees by doing an ETA.”
Richland, Wash. senior Kristen Nakamura said the benefits of an ETA are vast, even for someone not interested in teaching children for a career. A university scholar studying English and a semi-finalist for an ETA in Indonesia, Nakamura is not necessarily sold on teaching upon completing the program. But Nakamura still sees benefit to the program regarding her interest in Asian American literature.
“[Going to Indonesia] would be a great way to not only get teaching experience but to immerse myself in a culture,” Nakamura said. “I think it will help me as I navigate talking about different cultures in Asian American literature.”
However, Nakamura wasn’t originally considering a Fulbright scholarship until she met others who expressed their feelings about the program.
“I had heard of a couple other university scholars who were applying to a Fulbright or had already been accepted, so it was really through talking to them,” Nakamura said. “I think it really took that personal experience, like going to interest meetings, hearing from Dr. Benyousky and Dr. Beaudry and talking to my friends.”
Beaudry said that this interaction with other students is a key reason behind Baylor’s recent Fulbright boom. The chance to meet with peers does wonders to “demystify” the highly competitive program.
“With these awards, students initially hear about opportunities like this and think, ‘There’s no way I could win that. That’s not something that’s achievable for me,’” Beaudry said. “But odds are that you have rubbed shoulders with someone who’s on our winner list, and when that’s someone you were in a class with, or a roommate, or someone in your major, all of a sudden it feels less daunting.”
Applications for the 2026-2027 Fulbright cycle will open in April 2025. Interested students can reach out to Beaudry or Benyousky with questions.
