Berkeley Edge Conference
The Berkeley Edge Conference
is designed to encourage underrepresented minority students*
who are competitively eligible for our Ph.D. programs to plan to apply
to UC Berkeley. Approximately fifty students are chosen from the
applications submitted.
Applications for the 2008 conference are due on June 15, 2008!
The 2008 conference will be held October 16-19, 2008 at the University of California, Berkeley. To learn more about the conference, read about:
We will pay all travel (airfare and airport transfer to/from Oakland or San Francisco airport) and conference expenses (lodging and meals) for students accepted to the conference .
Conference Activities
- Workshops on preparing a competitive application for Berkeley graduate
school admission and fellowships
- Tours of Berkeley campus and national laboratory facilities
- One-on-one consultations with UC Berkeley faculty and researchers
from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL),
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL),
and Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia)
- Opportunities to meet and network with UC Berkeley graduate students
- Advisement on the personal statement portion of the application for admission. Students will be advised to send a copy of their personal statements at least two weeks prior to the conference. Advisors will review the statements and give critical and pragmatic feedback to the student. Sessions will vary depending on major and department.
- Roundtrip travel to Berkeley, meals, and accommodations are provided.
The 2007 conference agenda is available to download as a PDF. Please check back for the 2008 agenda.
To view and print PDF documents, you will need the Adobe
Acrobat© Reader. This free software, along with instructions for
downloading and installation, is available at the Adobe
site.
Student Eligibility Criteria
- Science, Mathematics, or Engineering Ph.D. goal (please see the list of participating UCB PhD programs)
- Minimum G.P.A. of 3.2 and currently in good academic
standing
- Academic major in science, mathematics, or engineering
- Students must submit one letter of recommendation. The letter can be written by, either a faculty member, or a research scientist. We welcome letters from scientists at national laboratories, research experience for undergraduate (REU) programs, and other institutional or federal summer or academic year programs, if they have supervised the student in research. It is optional to submit a second recommendation. A second, additional, recommendation can be written either by a program director (for example, program directors of McNair Scholars, LSAMP, MARC, MBRS, HHMI and other undergraduate research programs), or a faculty member, or a research supervisor. For applicants in the Biological Sciences and Chemistry, it is strongly recommended to have a letter from a scientist who has supervised you in research. All recommendations must be completed online.
- US Citizenship or Permanent Residency
- Preference will be given to:
- students with prior research experience, especially through
UC Berkeley-sponsored programs
- juniors/seniors who are applying to graduate school for the 2009-2010 academic year (students should be graduated or graduating no later than the Summer of 2009)
- students who are interested in academic careers
- students from underrepresented minority groups, as defined by
the National Science Foundation (NSF).
* The NSF defines an underrepresented minority
in science, mathematics, and engineering as African American,
Chicano/Latino/Hispanic, American Indian, Alaskan Native, or Native
Pacific Islander.
Instructions for Students and Recommenders
Students
The student must complete the on-line Student Application Form, where complete instructions may be found. Students must have an on-line recommendation to participate in the conference as well as submit an official OR unofficial transcript for each degree she or he is working towards or has earned.
Recommenders
Faculty, research scientists, and program directors who recommend students
are asked to complete an on-line
Recommendation Form for each student (instructions are
found on the form). Faculty, program directors, and other professional
scientists are encouraged to recommend all students they anticipate
will succeed in a Ph.D. program at Berkeley. If the student did not
initiate the application, please notify the student of his/her recommendation
with instructions to complete the on-line student application form and to send supplementary materials.
The Berkeley Edge Program
University of California, Berkeley
366 LeConte Hall #7300
Berkeley, CA 94720-7300
Phone: 510-643-2921
Fax: 510-643-8497
Email: berkeleyedge@berkeley.edu
