- Direct admissions don't have a bond to return back on completion of PhD. Under Fulbright, you have to live in Pakistan for a tenure equal to the tenure of your USA based degree.
- Direct MS in USA sometimes can be partially or fully funded but it is not as common as direct PhD. Fulbright MS/PhD are always fully funded.
- Under Fulbright you can't apply to 5 years PhD without already holding an MS degree. After BS you can't apply to direct 5 years PhD, you need to apply for those programs under Fulbright which offer only separate MS degree. In other words, in direct admission you can go for 5 years PhD right after BS but for Fulbright you can only apply to either 2 years MS (if you have done BS) or PhD if you have done MS (not just BS).
- Fulbright doesn't allow you to choose a university you like and you can only propose your suggested universities in the form etc. Direct admission are more logical as you will normally get into the degree commensurate to your profile.
- Related to the 4th point, ALWAYS KEEP IN MIND, Fulbright is not a purely merit based program, they also account for minorities, neglected sectors of society, prefer fields which are vital for Pakistan, your impact as depicted by co-curricular and extra-curriculars/unique research/jobs etc. Direct admissions are always based on merit irrespective of your socio-economic/ethnic/religious background.
- You don't need to apply twice for MS and PhD under direct admissions if you are sure that you need an academic career and PhD is your dream. So you will be saved from costs and efforts of applying again, so one time efforts can be enough for a full package.
- Lastly from a behavioral and psychological perspective, there are 2 ways to ace in life, either compete and come on top in a thing chased by many (scopic) or make the competition irrelevant by being unique. So if you apply via Fulbright you are competing against many other good applicants and it is a rigorous process while in direct PhD, it is highly likely that you will be competing against very less applicants (because they all will be only from your field and it is less likely that many would be from our region or from Pakistan). So if you are competent, you will be assessed on the basis of your field worth and not on "other" criteria as I mentioned above which are important for Fulbright.
Yes, if you have a BS or MS you can apply for MS or PhD respectively in Fulbright (as a chance) and if you don't get in then you may prefer direct admissions, especially those who don't want a PhD and only master degree or they at least don't want PhD at this stage.
For Fulbright, you can apply in any intake (like the one coming up soon for 2018 and deadlines are normally around end of April or start of May), if your degree ends before the end of same year that is before the end of December 2018 for the upcoming intake.
**You don't need TOEFL to apply to Fulbright, only if you get selected in first round, they ask you to submit TOEFL score once you are called for Interview. You need only GRE to submit application for Fulbright.
But for direct admissions, GRE and TOEFL both are required to apply before the submission of application.
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