New Application Deadline: December 5, 2025

Letter of Recommendation Deadline: December 19, 2025

(Please ask your recommenders to submit their letters here: 

https://form.jotform.com/252534905424961 )

The information requested on race, ethnicity, and gender is not used in selection. It is only used in reports to the Department of Education in Washington, DC. The University of Rochester or its programs does not discriminate on the basis of sex, gender, race, religion, color, national origin, age or disability in its decisions.

Please be as specific as you can when answering the questions below.

If you intend to pursue a PhD, research is a central component of your post-baccalaureate studies. In 500-600 words, please describe:

• Your research interests - what is one question, topic, or discipline you would like to study in Graduate School?
• Tell us about your academic and career goals (paying particular attention to how a PhD is essential to those pursuits).
• How would the McNair program help you achieve your PhD goal?

Please list at least two professors with whom you would be interested in conducting research. Please provide a reason for why you would like to work with them.

A letter of recommendation is required from a professor who can speak to your abilities as a student and potential researcher. While the application is due November 22, 2023, the letter of recommendation is not due until January 6, 2024. Please have your recommenders visit the following website in order to submit their letters: https://form.jotform.com/kearnscenter/2023McNairLettersofRec. 

The McNair Program is a federal program that allows low-income status (according to federal guidelines) to be used as part of the selection criteria. In order to verify this portion of eligibility, we must collect the first two pages of the most recent tax forms filed that claim the applicant as a dependent and states the filer's taxable income (typically IRS Form 1040). If you are unable to provide this information, please contact Melissa Raucci (mraucci@ur.rochester.edu) to discuss your options. 

Before final acceptance into the program, students will also be required to provide proof of United States citizenship or Permanent Resident status. It is not necessary to submit this as part of the initial application. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I hereby acknowledge that I have completed this application to the best of my abilities and that my responses are true and accurate.

I understand that providing any false information or altered records in this application will result in my ineligibility to be admitted to the program and that if discovered after my admission to the program, will result in termination from the program.

By signing my name below, I acknowledge the statements described above. I further acknowledge that all information and documents provided by me for this application are true and accurate and I grant the Kearns Center permission to check all relevant academic and University records.