Details for Prospective Students

The McNair Scholars Program provides an enriching educational experience for students from underrepresented groups and first generation/low income students, to excel as undergraduates, succeed in graduate school and ultimately enter faculty positions in our nation’s colleges and universities.

Program Benefits

The program provides a challenging and supportive environment that is conducive to learning and personal/professional development. We offer students:

  • Individualized academic and personal support from McNair staff
  • Involvement in a cohesive community of scholars and educators
  • Experience conducting research
  • Summer research internship and research stipend
  • Faculty, graduate student, and peer mentoring
  • Opportunities to participate in research conferences and visit graduate schools
  • Assistance in locating and applying to graduate schools
  • Workshops on the graduate school application process, financial aid, scholarships and fellowships
  • GRE preparation

Eligibility Criteria

  • Must have a desire to attain a Ph.D or Ed.D (Medical (MD) or other professional degrees (JD, MBA, PharmD, etc.) are not eligible for the program.)
  • Must be a low-income student (Low-income guidelines are established by the US Department of Education) who is also a first-generation college student (neither parent or legal guardian has a Bachelor's degree); or be a member of a group that is underrepresented in graduate education (African American, American Indian/Alaskan Native, or Hispanic/Latino)
  • Must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident
  • Must have minimum GPA of 3.0
  • Must be enrolled as a full-time student at UCF and have completed 60 credit hours