University students who don’t want their education to end with a bachelor’s degree can get a head start with their graduate school applications through the McNair Program.
The program, part of the Academic Learning Services’ TRIO Program, helps qualifying undergraduates prepare for graduate school by offering specialized classes, workshops and paid summer internships. A general information session will be held Thursday.
The program currently has 13 participants, but there are more openings available.
“Because of the program, I feel much more confident about the whole graduate school application process,” said Deana Dartt, a senior anthropology major and McNair student.
Dartt said she particularly appreciates that the program offers student assistance in writing graduate school personal statements and gives students vouchers for the Graduate Record Examination.
“It’s nice because I only have to go to one place,” she said.
The McNair Program, a nation-wide organization, is designed for low-income, first generation college students or students from groups under-represented in graduate schools.
This is the second year the University is offering the McNair program through the University’s broad TRIO Program, which was launched on a national level in the mid-1960s. Congress created the McNair Program in 1986 in honor of Ronald E. McNair, one of the astronauts killed in the Challenger explosion of 1986. McNair came from a low-income background, but he pursued a higher education, earned his Ph.D. and was accepted into the NASA program.
Today there are 155 McNair Programs nationwide, said Gail Unruh, McNair coordinator. Unlike some branches of the program, the University’s chapter does not limit areas of study in which students can participate.
Unruh said he is confident of the program’s ability to prepare students for graduate school.
“Even though it’s technically an undergraduate program, universities across the country have recognized the value of McNair,” he said.
John Lopez, an architecture and international studies major and a McNair student, agrees that the program is valuable. He said he thinks it gives him the ability to compete at a university level.
“First generation college students are not as well off as second and third generations, but the program gives me the foundation to pursue my Ph.D.,” Lopez said.
The University’s McNair Program also offers students a paid summer internship in which they work with faculty and McNair staff to produce written and oral research.
“I think what attracts students most to the program is the opportunity to do the research and get paid for it,” Unruh said.
Susan Lesyk, project director of the McNair Program, thinks students who participate in the program increase their chances of being accepted to their first choice graduate school because of the experience they gain.
“It opens up doors for students,” she said. “They enter graduate school understanding the culture of a research university.”