The Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP)
- The Program
- History and Achievements
- Comments of Past Student Participants
- Benefits and Conditions
- Who May Apply
- Application
- Current Faculty Mentors
- Guidelines for Students and Faculty Mentors
- Corporate and Government Sponsorship
The Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP) is an eight-week competitive research experience at Northwestern University for sophomores and juniors from colleges and universities across the United States. All fields of research at Northwestern are open to SROP participants including the social sciences and humanities, physical sciences, chemical and biological sciences, technology, math and engineering fields. The program encourages students from underrepresented minority and other disadvantaged groups to apply. For 2012, the program will run from June 17 through August 11.
Each selected participant is thoughtfully matched with a Northwestern faculty member and will carry out an appropriate full-time research project. Some faculty mentors have agreed to work with students to craft an independent research project based on the student’s interests, and other mentors will have students contribute to an ongoing project.The research training is coupled with activities that prepare students for the graduate school application process, success in graduate school, and the development of their professional careers. Workshop topics include preparation for GREs, research presentations and communication skills. The summer research experience culminates with students writing a final paper and presenting their findings, and many SROP students go on to present their research at national research conferences. The SROP is designed to position students for success in their graduate and professional careers.
The SROP provides both fun and intensive training. Participants are expected to make a full-time commitment to their research, work energetically on their projects, and develop a professional attitude toward their research, faculty supervisors, SROP administrators and fellow student researchers. During the eight-week period of the SROP, each participant is expected to work at least 30-40 hours per week on their project. The hard work is rewarded with plenty of social time to develop new friendships and explore Chicago.
History and Achievements
For 26 years, the Northwestern University SROP has provided undergraduates with an opportunity for direct involvement in research and a taste of graduate student life at a world class university. Its mission has been to increase diversity among students pursuing graduate education and to provide a valuable academic research experience for students.
The success of Northwestern SROP participants has been significant. Our most recent statistics indicate that 61% of the NU SROP students who complete their bachelor’s degrees have enrolled in graduate or professional schools across the country. This is more than double the national average where only about 30% of bachelor’s degree recipients pursue advanced study. The SROP is also a great tool for recruiting students to and maximizing the diversity of Northwestern’s graduate programs: 70% of participants that apply to Northwestern are admitted, and of those, 80% matriculate.
Past participants have come from colleges and universities including:
| Bates College | Spelman College |
| Brown University | St. Mary's University of San Antonio |
| California Institute of Technology | Stanford University |
| Carleton College | Texas Southern |
| Cornell University | Tuskegee University |
| Dartmouth College | Truman State University |
| Georgetown University | University of Chicago |
| Grambling State University | University of Florida |
| Hampton University | University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign |
| Harvard University | University of Maryland - Baltimore County |
| Howard University | University of Maryland - College Park |
| Jackson State University | University of New Mexico |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez |
| Morehouse College | University of Texas – Austin |
| Rice University | Vanderbilt University |
| San Diego State University | Winston-Salem State University |
| San Francisco State University | Xavier University of Louisiana |
- a $4000 stipend
- a round-trip plane ticket (to Chicago)
- University housing (single rooms)
- a campus meal subsidy of $450 (not intended to cover all meals)
SROP participants who choose to live off campus will be responsible for their housing expenses during the summer.
Early Admission Decision Program
This program provides an accelerated and early admission process that enables qualified rising seniors to apply for admission to a Northwestern PhD program without submitting GRE scores. The qualification process begins between a student's sophomore and junior year. Rising juniors who successfully complete their SROP research project and demonstrate that they have the potential to succeed in a Northwestern PhD program may be invited back for a second SROP experience. If they choose to accept the invitation and the first 4 to 5 weeks of their second summer experience go well, they may be invited to participate in the Early Admission Decision Program (EADP).
Students who accept an invitation to participate in the EADP will participate in admission interviews and submit an admission application before the end of their second SROP experience (mid-August). Admission decisions will be sent out by mid-October. Please note that some programs/departments do not participate in the EADP.
Course Credit
Who May Apply
To be considered for acceptance into SROP, you must:
- be a current sophomore or junior
- have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale
- be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident
- have an interest in pursuing a doctoral degree at Northwestern University
Those belonging to groups which have been traditionally underrepresented in graduate education (e.g., certain racial and ethnic minorities, first-generation college students, etc.) are encouraged to apply.
Current juniors who applied to the SROP in 2011 are eligible to apply for the 2012 program.
Please note: applicants interested in pursuing MBA, JD, or MD degrees are not eligible for this program. Also, Northwestern University students are not eligible to apply for this program and should contact Mario Craigen for information about programs to which they may apply.
The application deadline has been extended to March 23 for NEIU students. We will begin notifying applicants of the status of their applications as early as April 9, 2012. Please note that you will not be able to save your work on the application, and it would be best to take the following steps:
1) review the application to determine what is required, and
2) prepare the required statements (ideally, in an MS Word doc) and gather all of the required information before completing the application. As a precaution, you will want to have everything ready before you start completing the application. For example, if some sort of technical problem arises and your application vanishes, you will have copies of your statements, and this will save you time.
Also, please note that the application calls for two letters of recommendation from professors and a transcript. Letters of recommendation should contain an assessment of your academic abilities and potential for success in a doctoral program.
Applications will be considered incomplete until all of the information required on the application is submitted and the letters of recommendation and transcript(s) have been received. Letters of recommendation can be sent to the address below or as PDF files to m-craigen@northwestern.edu.
Official transcripts should be sent to:
Mario Craigen
The Graduate School
Northwestern University
633 Clark St. Room 1-502
Evanston, IL 60208
You may access the application by clicking here.
Corporate and Government Sponsorship
Providing financial support to the Northwestern SROP can benefit a company in several ways. For example, a corporate sponsor would have the opportunity to sponsor students from institutions with whom it has strategic alliances. Also, corporate sponsors are featured in program promotional materials, at research forums, and on the scholars’ research posters which are frequently presented at national conferences. Additionally, the company may promote careers at the company and invite SROP students to visit its facilities.
Baxter Healthcare Corporation
The Office of the Provost
Past supporters of the Northwestern SROP include:
Ariel Capital Management
CNA Financial Corporation
Ford Motor Company
Microsoft Corporation
Nycomed Amersham Imaging Inc
Unilever
The Omron Foundation
The Abbott Fund
MARC/Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB)
The National Institutes of Health (NIH)
The National Science Foundation (NSF)
The National Science Foundation – Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (NSF-AGEP)
