A very interesting NYTimes read on the very well-known (in academic circles) Meyerhoff Scholarship Program at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County campus. Students who participated in this undergraduate program total 550 with 271 of them pursuing graduate work in a scientific area. That's impressive! Of course, these students of color were high achieving to begin (great grades and standardized test scores) but it still says a lot in this day and age.
At Minnesota, we have a much smaller-scale program in Psychology called the Research Experience for Undergraduates in the Behavioral and Cognitives Sciences. It is a 10-week summer program funded by NSF and UMN for advanced undergraduate students seeking careers in psychology. I have mentored three students in my 6 summers in Minnesota and all three eventually went on to PhD graduate programs in psychology. That's a pretty typical track record for these students.
And, importantly, as mentioned in the NYTimes article, it begins with good science.
Posted by richlee at March 13, 2007 02:13 PM