UPenn's Grad School of Education Offers Black Male Grad Prep Academy!

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Black Male Grad Prep Academy- University of Pennslyvania
An Initiative Focused on Preparing for Doctoral Study in Education

According to the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), black men earned only 2.1% of doctoral degrees awarded at American universities in 2008.

In response, UPenn's Graduate School of Education (GSE) has made a serious commitment to preparing promising Black male scholars for admission to and success in Ph.D. programs in education. UPenn seeks to identify talented Black male undergraduates who are entering their junior year for participation in a Black Male Grad Prep Academy, a program that includes a four-day visit to the University of Pennsylvania in November 2009.

The school will select 10 Black male juniors and cover all their travel expenses, lodging, and meals. During their visit to our campus, the selected scholars will learn more about applying to and succeeding in graduate school; hear about the excellent research of our faculty; interact with our Black male graduate students and alumni; and tour Philadelphia. Next spring, they will pay for Academy participants to take a three-month Kaplan course valued at $1,200 to prepare for the Graduate Record Exam (the GRE is required for admission to most education doctoral programs). Additionally, each Academy participant will be paired with a current Black male Ph.D. student in education at UPenn's GSE or elsewhere who will offer mentoring throughout the graduate school application process, feedback on essays and other application materials, and advice on where to apply for graduate study.

Lastly, Academy Scholars who apply for Fall 2011 admission to a Ph.D. Program at UPenn's GSE will receive an application fee waiver. That deadline is December 1, 2010

Because a master’s degree is not required for admission to Ph.D. programs at Penn GSE, the goal is to enroll as many of the Academy participants as possible in doctoral programs in Fall 2011, the semester after completion of their undergraduate degrees. Each Ph.D. student is fully-funded for 4 years and supported by paid research assistantships with faculty. Academy participation in no way guarantees eventual admission to the University of Pennsylvania. The larger aim is for all 10 scholars to enroll in highly-selective graduate programs in education at top research universities in Fall 2011.

THIS PROGRAM IS FOR BLACK MALE JUNIORS ONLY– those who are starting their junior year of college in Fall 2009 and anticipate earning bachelor’s degrees at the end of Spring 2011. Applications are invited from students across all majors, not just education. However, only those who have intellectual interests that are somehow related to education (the study of teaching and learning, human development, educational psychology and counseling, history of education, K-12 or higher education leadership, sociology or philosophy of education, language and literacy, educational disparities that disadvantage certain populations, education finance, research methodologies applied to education, student affairs and college student development, or K-12 or higher education policy) should apply.

All application materials must be submitted electronically no later than 11:59 p.m. (EST) on Friday, August 21, 2009. Each applicant will receive a decision within four weeks.

For more information, see here: http://www.gse.upenn.edu/grad_prep

*photo courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Current. Michael Eric Dyson, PhD. is an author, radio host, and professor. He is a former UPenn professor.