For the first time in history, three Fulbright Scholars are enrolled in the same MBA class at The Lally School of Management & Technology. First year MBAs Madgledis “Maggie” Almanza and Rolando Binns both received Fulbrights from Panama; Atif Abdul Majeed is an honoree from Pakistan. They joined an increasingly global Lally MBA program, which currently hosts students from 13 countries, with PhD candidates adding another 5 countries to the mix.
Maggie, Rolando and Atif all went through a rigorous application process, which requires nearly a year and a half to complete. Following the initial application, academic grades and test scores determine whether an applicant is selected to be one of his/her country's finalists. Ranked in priority order, the finalists are then interviewed by their country’s embassy, which selects who and how many candidates are awarded a Fulbright.
The Fulbright Program is administered by the Institute of International Education (IIE). “IIE has had a long-standing relationship with Rensselaer. When I think of using programs with a strong focus on IT and technology, Lally obviously comes to mind,” according to Bill Kolsun, senior placement officer at IIE. “Lally is a reliable source of academic excellence and fills a niche for IIE.”
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, The Fulbright Program is the largest U.S. exchange program for international graduate study and research. It is one of the most prestigious awards programs worldwide--more Fulbright alumni have won Nobel Prizes than those of any other academic program.
About 1800 foreign students receive Fulbright grants annually to study in the U.S. Panama awards between 5-8 Fulbright Scholarships annually. Pakistan has the distinction of being the largest Fulbright program outside of the U.S., awarding roughly 300 Fulbrights annually.