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ELIGIBILITY

Applicants must meet the following requirements in order to be considered for the program:

  • US citizen or Permanent legal resident (or classified as described below)
  • 16 years or older (at time of application)
  • Junior or Senior in high school (at time of application)
  • Be of a underrepresented minority group, disadvantaged background, or have a disability
    (as described below)


CITIZENSHIP

Do I have to be a US citizen to apply?
Not necessarily. If you are not a US citizen, you must be one of the following:

  • Non-citizen national of the US
  • Permanent legal resident of the US
  • Permanent legal resident of a US affiliated territory
  • Permanent legal resident of the Republic of Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands, or the Federated States of Micronesia

Do I have to prove citizenship prior to the program?
Yes. All students are required to submit a copy of a US passport, US birth certificate, or a government issued photo ID.

Who is considered a non-citizen national?
Non-citizen nationals are persons born in American Samoa, certain former citizens of the former Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and certain children of non-citizen nationals born abroad.


OTHER REQUIREMENTS

Is there an age or grade level eligibility required to apply?
Yes. You must be 16 years of age or older. Applicants must also be in their Junior or Senior year of high school at the time of the application period. Those in their Sophomore year must wait for next year’s program.

What constitutes an “underrepresented minority”?
The following racial and ethnic groups have been shown to be underrepresented in biomedical research: African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders. These are individuals from racial and ethnic groups that have been shown by the National Science Foundation to be underrepresented in health-related sciences on a national basis.

What is the definition of “disadvantaged background”?
An individual from a disadvantaged background is defined as an individual who comes from:

  • A social, cultural or educational environment that has demonstrably and recently directly inhibited an individual from obtaining the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to develop or participate in a research career or

  • A family with an annual income below established low income thresholds

For individuals from low income backgrounds, the institution must be able to demonstrate that such participants have qualified for Federal disadvantaged assistance or they have received any of the following student loans: Health Professions Student Loans (HPSL), Loans for Disadvantaged Student Program, or they have received scholarships from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the Scholarship for Individuals with Exceptional Financial Need. Press the blue button directly below for more information on the Current Poverty Guidelines. 

Current Poverty Guidelines


Do I have to submit financial data to be considered economically disadvantaged?

No. However, students must self-report family income levels on the application to apply on the basis of being “disadvantaged.” The following income levels determine what constitutes a low-income family for determining economically disadvantaged students.

What constitutes an individual with a disability?
According to the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), a disability, with respect to an individual, is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual.

If I have a disability, will reasonable accommodations be granted?
Reasonable accommodations will be provided to selected applicants with disabilities unless doing so would cause undue hardship to the coordinating centers or research mentors. Selected applicants must request the need for reasonable accommodations prior to beginning his/or her summer research experience. Accordingly, whether a particular accommodation will impose an undue hardship to the coordinating centers or research mentors will always be determined on a case-by-case basis. In all cases, individuals supported under this program must, with reasonable assistance, be able to contribute to the research conducted by the research mentor.

 

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