Twenty-six Harvard students were awarded Fulbright scholarships this year, putting Harvard behind some peer institutions in producing Fulbright Scholars for the first time in three years.

Last year, 31 students received Fulbright scholarships. This application cycle puts Harvard slightly behind other peer institutions with Fulbright Scholars—thirty Brown students received scholarships, as well as 27 from Georgetown and the University of Notre Dame. Like Harvard, 26 students at the University of Chicago received Fulbright scholarships.

One hundred and thirty-seven students across the University applied for scholarships, marking the highest number of applicants per university in the country.

The Fulbright scholarship provides funding from the federal government for undergraduate and graduate students to teach and travel internationally in more than 140 countries.

Gregory A. Llacer, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships who advises Fulbright applicants, wrote in an email that he sees Harvard’s place amongst peer institutions as insignificant.

“Ordinal placement at the top of the field is not a worthwhile variable to report, and the difference between number one and number four is negligible,” Llacer wrote.

Llacer added that the numbers reported do not include the number of Harvard students who were offered a Fulbright and declined, which he speculated “does not happen nearly as frequently at other institutions.”

He also wrote that the statistic of the number of Harvard applicants is for Harvard as an entire institution, including the number of students who applied both from the College and from Harvard’s other graduate schools.

“There are more variables and factors that are not represented in the total number,” Llacer wrote.

Llacer wrote that Harvard’s placement this year continues Harvard’s typical trend of receiving many Fulbright scholarships, which has been especially true in recent years.

“I suspect, given the excellent research our candidates are conducting, and the teaching experiences some of our applicant are pursuing, that trend likely will continue,” Llacer said.

—Staff writer Edith M. Herwitz can be reached at edith.herwitz@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @edith_herwitz.