Benefit of McNair Scholars

[raybans7]

Hi everyone, 

 

   I have a quick question about the usefulness of the McNair Scholars program when it comes to applying to graduate school. Does anyone know how much of a boost (if any) this gives an application? I am currently a McNair Scholar, but the program is extremely frustrating. Deadlines are rarely met, it's catered towards non-STEM majors, and it's a load of unnecessary work ( i.e. annotated bibliographies) considering that I have worked in a lab for an extended period of time. I've been debating dropping the program, because I don't know what kind of reputation it has among Chem departments. Can anyone shed some light on this? 

 

 

Additional information:

Junior at a public ivy 

1.5 years in electrochemistry lab 

REU at Northwestern 

Currently in a polymer lab (had to switch because the PI in my first lab retired after my grad student defended) 

1 2nd author publication (JACS), another 2nd author paper in prepartion 

 

 

 

[MajorityMinority]

Hi raybans

 

I was a McNair Scholar for my last two years of undergrad and I'm currently attending a top graduate school for chemistry. To this day, I still receive assistance and encouragement from the director of my McNair program when I ask for it. I'm sorry that your McNair program is poorly run, but I would suggest finishing at least your current term in the program. Yes, I had to complete work that was useless/unrelated to my field, but the experiences I got during the summer research portion of the program (long hours with lost of work, friends in different departments, sleepless nights, deadlines, presentations, conferences, workshops, seminars, etc.) definitely prepared me for life as a graduate student. Furthermore, my McNair office hired a PhD in english as a writing coach to help us craft our SoPs and fellowship materials while we were applying to graduate school. That was an invaluable resource and it definitely made a difference in the caliber of my graduate school application. If your program doesn't already have a writing coach, you should suggest they get one. McNair offers financial assistance to support you if you decided to attend a conference to present research or visit a school before applying. Doing either or both of those things will increase the chances that you get into the graduate school of your choice. McNair scholars often receive fee waivers for the GRE and most schools offer free graduate school applications to McNair scholars. There are fellowships available specifically for McNair Scholars that you can find listed on the national website. The whole point of McNair is to prepare you for graduate school and help you get there and be successful. 

 

I had pretty good stats when I applied to graduate school so I'm not sure how much of a "boost" being a McNair scholar gave me in the eyes of admission committees, but I know for a fact that my experiences as a McNair scholar helped me gain perspective on graduate schools and life as a graduate student that most students would not have gotten on their own while working in a research lab. 

 

 

I could talk about the benefits of the McNair Scholars program all day, but suffice it to say that it's a great program that will definitely help you in the future. I don't mean to get all sappy, but McNair is a family. Being able to attend national conferences, meet complete strangers, and have the common bond of being an alum of the McNair Scholars program is pretty special and even opens doors to future opportunities. 

 

Have a great rest of your year!