We are pleased to announce that the renewal application for the Post-baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) has been funded by NIGMS for 9 positions. The funding re-activates the PREP Scholars initiative initially funded between 2001-2007. The PREP Scholars at WFUSM is a research - intensive program for minorities that had great success in increasing diversity in our biomedical sciences graduate programs. A summary of the statistics for the previous participants in the program is provided in the paragraph at the end of this section.
If you are interested in the program, please contact us or complete the application under the PREP tab. The eligibility for the program requires that the student be from minority group or disadvantaged background and to have completed the undergraduate degree. You must be interested in obtaining a Ph.D. in the biomedical sciences and will be provided with a transition program of 1 - 2 years between undergraduate and graduate school. The positions are funded at an annual salary of $21,000 and the grant provides for tuition for 1 - 2 undergraduate or graduate level courses per year to meet prerequisites for graduate school or to demonstrate competence in graduate level coursework. Qualified applicants must have a GPA of 2.5 or better, must have graduated within the past 3 years, and must be willing to commit to 1 year of a program designed to alleviate academic or research deficiencies that may limit their acceptance into a Ph.D. graduate program. Participants are required to take the GRE as they enter the program (and a GRE prep course if necessary) and to apply to one or more Ph.D. graduate programs by the conclusion of the program. They work with mentors of their choice as post-baccalaureate program trainees. Any graduate level coursework completed successfully (grade of B or better) during this program will be automatically accepted as graduate credits if they apply to and are accepted into one of the WFU graduate programs.
We will be accepting applications for next year until March 31, 2009, and hope to be able to make decisions about students entering next year by mid May 2009. The start date for the program is planned for July 15, 2009 and they will participate in some of the orientation activities with the incoming graduate students in August.
Please see the information on the program (application and information sheet) for more information or contact us, Debra I Diz ddiz@wfubmc.edu or Nobi Sarver nsarver@wfubmc.edu.
Summary of outcomes from 2001-present:
Since August of 2001, a post-baccalaureate research program for minority students (WFUSM PREP Scholars) funded by the NIGMS has provided 1-2 years of research, coursework and GRE preparation to under-represented minority students interested in careers in the biomedical sciences. The program, renewed in March 2008 is primarily to provide intensive research experiences, but is also designed to enhance their acceptance into graduate programs by providing a chance to remedy academic deficiencies or weaknesses and to provide assistance with the GRE. Students participate in a PREP journal club in addition to individualized coursework and a poster symposium is held each summer with an invited prominent minority scientist as speaker. Thirty-six trainees participated in the program between 2001 and the present. Thirty-one of the 36 participants entered graduate or professional programs directly from PREP. Fourteen students were offered positions and eleven entered programs at WFUSM (8 PhD, 1 MD and 2 Master’s), eleven entered PhD programs elsewhere. To summarize the success, 29 trainees entered graduate programs (19 PhD and 10 Master’s) with an 88% retention rate, 7 entered professional schools, 2 are technicians and 4 are teaching math or scienc (numbers add to greater than 36 as some students are counted in more than one category). The majority of these participants were African American (78%). Six students have already completed the PhD (4 from WFU), with another 5 scheduled for completion of their PhD in 2009, 3 have completed the Master’s, and 2 have obtained their teaching certificates.