UCSC UC LEADS Eligibility

Selection

The UC LEADS program identifies students who have:

1. Experienced educational barriers to their academic progress, or who express a commitment to address the barriers that prevent participation of students from underrepresented groups in graduate academic programs.
2. Experienced situations or conditions that impacted their advancement or ability to advance in a STEM field (e.g. the absence of a role model in the STEM field, absence of a family member who received a four-year college degree, or graduation from a high school with poor financial or curricular support).
3. Leadership potential to address the issues of underrepresentation of domestic minorities in the STEM fields.
4. The potential to gain the personal and multicultural competency skills necessary to address the needs of a diverse State and global community through science and technology.

Eligibility

To be eligible for selection, applicants must be:

1. Enrolled in, or about to be enrolled in, a UC undergraduate degree program in the sciences, technology, engineering, or mathematics by the Fall of the first year of the program;
2. On track to receive a bachelor’s degree at the conclusion of the second year of the UC LEADS program (i.e. should apply prior to junior year or prior to the fourth year if on a five-year plan);
3. In good academic standing in undergraduate degree program with minimum GPAof 3.0;
4. Able to demonstrate potential for success in a Ph.D. program; and,
5. Citizens or permanent residents of the United States.