Lady in Spain

There are two VERY important things that you will need when applying to this program. The first is the guide they provide online for registering and completeing the online application. Believe me, this guide will be your best friend. Know it. Love it. The link for this years guide is here. It should be noted that the guide and manual for the program can be found on the site that I linked to on my first post that has the site for the program in English. You will definitely need to look at both when applying.

The second thing you will need is patience. Lots and lots of patience. The application process can get very confusing and extremely frustrating. It will all be okay in the end, I promise.

With the guide, registering and going through the application online (using a program called profex) is actually fairly simple. What can make people fall behind is the documents required. You are going to need: official transcripts OR a copy of your diploma, resume, letter of intent (1 page and it should be addressed to the person in charge of the consulate that you are emailing- this information can be found in the program manual), 1 letter of recommendation (this letter MUST be on official letterhead and signed. It must also be from a former professor UNLESS it has been 5 years since you graduated, in which case, you may use a supervisor), and a scanned copy of the first two pages of your passport.

ALL OF THE ABOVE DOCUMENTS MUST BE UPLOADED IN PDF FORMAT!

The recommendation letter is the ONLY document that is exempt from this. I would HIGHLY suggest getting your recommender to give you a PDF copy, however, to upload to the application. Otherwise, the recommender has to mail out the document themselves to the consulate. This can be a bit tricky and often causes it to take longer for your status application to change online.

Side note:
When applying, you will see that it mentions a doctor’s letter saying you are in good health. This is NOT needed. They just mention this because you will eventually need this if you are accepted into the program. This will be a required document when you go to get your visa. It is wise to wait, however, since the document can not be older than 90 days when you take it to the embassy to get your visa. The application may also mention a background check, this is also not necessary yet. You will need this to apply for your visa. It should be noted that you can NOT begin applying for your visa until you have the paperwork from the program giving you your SCHOOL assignment. This is entirely different from when they give out your region placement earlier in the process.

Along with all of the documents that you upload, there are a few portions of the application online that you must fill out. This includes things such as your regional placement preferences and your preference in the school you would like to be placed (primary or secondary). You can also state on the application if a significant other is also applying to the program and if you would like to be placed with them.

After all of this is done, you submit the application online (this will change your status to inscrita- before your status will be borrador). Next, you print out the pdf that has your application summary. You will SIGN the pdf and mail it out to your corresponding consulate (again this information is provided in the manual).

When your consulate receives your PDF document, your status should change to registrada. If all of your documents are correct and there is nothing missing from your application, your status will then be changed to ADMITIDA.

Speaking from personal experience, it is definitely best to have all of your documents in PDF format. I find that it makes it MUCH easier to go from registrada to admitida. I had to wait over a month to change, all because I had my recommender mail out her letter separately.

Now this is the most important thing you need to know: you are given an inscrita number when you submit your application online. This number is your preference number and this is how the program goes about assigning you to a placement. Essentially, the program works on a first come first serve basis. The lower you inscrita number, the better chance you have not only of being placed, but of being placed in one of your preferred regions.

This is why I chose to have my recommender send my letter separately. I didn’t want to rush her to write it so that I could hurry up and send it in. So I sent it all in without the letter so that I could receive a lower inscrita number. I submitted all my documents in January and my number is 1711. This is actually a pretty good number. It guarantees that I will be placed somewhere, though it may not necessarily be in one of the regions I wanted. You should also know that based on past years of this program, you should NOT be discouraged if your inscrita number is high. So many people end up being unable to go and decline their placement. There were many years where people who had numbers in the 4-5000s received placement even though the program takes about 2700 people.

For people applying next year, you should know that the application process opens early in November and goes all the way through the end of March. If you are interested in this program, GET YOUR APPLICATION IN AS SOON AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN. I can not stress enough how important it is to get everything together early on. I would have been able to apply sooner, but I did not have a passport. I had to wait 4 weeks to get it in the mail to be able to submit that portion of the application.

That being said, if you want to try and submit the application online to get your inscrita number and then add documents, this is possible. There is a section online entitled “documentos anexos” and you can upload documents here even after you submit the application. That is the ONLY part of the application that you can adjust after your submit it. So if you are able to apply early, do so. Perhaps your recommender can send you the pdf copy of their letter so that you can upload it. You just have to make sure that if you already mailed your application pdf to your consulate, you email them to notify them that you added that document to the application so that your status can be changed to admitida.

Now, once ALL of that is done and you are admitida…you wait. And wait. And wait. I wasn’t kidding about needing patience for this process. They normally begin to send out placements in late March-early April. And remember, this is only your region placement, NOT the school. You still have to wait a little more for that.

Anyway, I hope people find this information helpful. Again, if you have any questions at all feel free to ask 🙂