A Pakistani National Gets a Fully Funded Scholarship, the Fulbright, to Study Public Policy in the United States

My name is Asad Ejaz Butt. I’m trained as an economist specializing in public financial management reforms such as medium-term budgeting, development planning at sub-national levels, and macro-fiscal policies and regulations. I am an honorary / visiting fellow with several research institutes and think tanks including the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Mahbub ul Haq Research Center and Prime Institute. I was an Economic Policy Analyst at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) working on Pakistan’s SDGs agenda before I joined the esteemed Civil Service of Pakistan in 2018. I was awarded the Fulbright scholarship in 2022 following which I travelled to the US in August 2023.

Fulbright Scholarship Details

I enrolled in the PhD Public Policy program at the University of Massachusetts, Boston as a Fulbright PhD scholar from Pakistan. Fulbright brings together a large cohort of bright and enterprising students to study for Master’s and PhD programs in the US. It administers tailored programs for each recipient country depending on the local economic context and the recipient country’s education system. Pakistan’s Fulbright PhD program is jointly funded by the United States Education Foundation, Pakistan (USEFP) and the Higher Education Commission, Pakistan. I will be receiving a cumulative grant of USD 250,000 spread across the five-year duration of my degree.

Educational Background

I completed my undergraduate studies in Economics at York University, Canada in 2013 (GPA: 3.6) following which I completed a 1.5-year Masters with double majors in Economics and International Development Studies from the University of Guelph, Canada (GPA 3.7). I worked in Pakistan’s development sector for three years including a role with the United Nations Development Programme before joining the country’s civil service in 2018. The civil service experience made me realize that the skills I was taught such as macroeconomic forecasting and econometric modeling are insufficient to drive policy change in fragile and conflict-ridden political environments and within rigid, opaque, and disinterested Weberian bureaucratic systems like the one in Pakistan. I opted for the PhD in public policy to train myself to use economic analysis and modeling results to develop policies that can help navigate the problems that complex and challenged economies like Pakistan face.

How Did You Prepare to Apply for the Fulbright Scholarship and the University of Massachusetts, Boston?

I saw a number of videos that suggested the best ways to prepare for the GRE. I also read a few blogs suggesting study plans. This was in addition to formal guidance I was receiving through platforms like Scholarden and Magoosh to gain access to tailored and structured exam preparation strategies. While many resources are available online, the traditional preparation strategies are still relevant. I bought a number of GRE books that also included mock tests for practice. The Manhattan prep GRE set of 8 strategy guides can be used as the standard textbooks, while Manhattan’s 5lb. big book can be used to solve practice problems. I also reviewed materials by Kaplan and the Princeton Review which have questions that resemble the ones that one would usually find on the exam. There are also a few good tutoring channels on YouTube that solve math problems and take you step-by-step in developing English vocabulary. It is useful to spend some time watching videos on these channels every day. Fulbright aspirants should aim for a cumulative GRE score of 320 even though many candidates with much lower scores have received the Fulbright award in the past.

What Would You Have Done Differently if You Were Going Through the Process Again?

I would start much earlier to give myself time to better prepare for the exams and have my application read by a larger number of peers and experts. However, one must also remain cognizant of the risks of involving too many people in the process. The saying that ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’ cannot be manifested better than in the case of scholarship applications. Harbor a small group of people who you know are knowledgeable in the field and you can trust. Understand that all else is unsolicited advice, and noise that you may want to avoid. Submit your application when you start ‘feeling good about it’. That stage will come and you have to wait patiently and keep doing the good work until it comes. Every candidate who burns the midnight oil arrives at that stage where they start feeling good about it. It is something that be told but not perhaps, illustrated.

What Advice Would You Give Those Looking to Apply for a Similar Scholarship?

Focus as much as you can on the story you want to tell. Develop a rough sketch of the story in your head defining a trajectory and a steady path of growth and improvement. I think it will be useful for candidates to think if their story is original, coherent, inspires awe, and can be substantiated with real life experiences. Many candidates focus on experiences which, in my opinion, only have a peripheral importance when it comes to scholarship applications. The story is the core which can be strengthened, but not substituted, by examples of success from one’s life and career.