The Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program prepares undergraduate students for doctoral study. Participants in the Program are designated as McNair Scholars.

Program components include graduate-school visits; travel to research conferences; workshops on fellowships, graduate assistantships, and other forms of financial support available to graduate students; workshops on the graduate-admissions process; a speakers’ series featuring successful role models who have earned terminal degrees; preparation for graduate-admissions tests; tutoring support in mathematics and English as well as in computer literacy and in GRE topics; and ongoing individual and group meetings with mentors who are dedicated to insuring participants’ success at Coppin State University. Additionally, each year fifteen participants are selected for summer-research internships, for which each student receives a stipend.

To be eligible for summer-research experiences, students must satisfy the following requirements:

1. They must attend workshops regularly and promptly as well as participate in other required activities.
2. They must meet with their mentors at least once each month during October, November, December, February, March, April, and May of each academic year.
3. They must engage in academic-year research and satisfy all other Program requirements.

The ultimate goal of all Program experiences is to maximize the likelihood that McNair Scholars’ transition from the undergraduate experience to the graduate-school setting is a smooth one. McNair Scholars achieve this goal by honing academic skills and developing personal qualities they will need for success in the graduate environment.