Fulbright Success Rate: Country-by-Country Data
The headline Fulbright award rate is roughly 1 in 5, but that number hides enormous variation: some countries accept fewer than 5% of applicants, others more than half.
ScholarshipUnion Editorial
1 min read
Updated Oct 5, 2026
Fulbright Award Rates
Country data →Fulbright does not publish a global acceptance rate for the Foreign Student Program; each commission has its own number of places and applicants. The best public data comes from the U.S. Student Program (Americans going abroad): across 2021–2024, study/research award rates averaged about 18% — roughly 1 in 5 (13%, 21% and 21% in the three years).
That average hides enormous variation. By host country, rates run from 4% to 64%:
Brazil, India, Austria, Germany, South Korea, Mexico, Australia and UK: 2021–2024 averages for U.S. Student study/research grants. Indonesia, Turkey, Taiwan and South Africa are figures reported in earlier editions of this guide.
What This Means for You
If you apply through the Foreign Student Program, you don't pick a country — you compete within your own commission. Your odds depend on how many grants it offers and how many people apply, and the strength of your Statement of Grant Purpose, references and interview decides the rest. Full strategy on our Country Selection page.