NIH Undergraduate Scholarship Program

Deadline

Overview

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Undergraduate Scholarship Program (UGSP) offers competitive scholarships to students from disadvantaged backgrounds who are committed to careers in biomedical, behavioral, and social science health-related research. The program offers:

• Scholarship support
• Paid research training at the NIH during the summer
• Paid employment and training at the NIH after graduation

Benefits

Scholarship support

The NIH UGSP will pay up to $20,000 per academic year in tuition, educational expenses, and reasonable living expenses to scholarship recipients. Scholarships are awarded for 1 year, and can be renewed up to 4 years.

Research Training at the NIH

For each full or partial scholarship year, you are committed to two NIH service obligations. The obligations are actually benefits of the UGSP, providing you with invaluable research training and experience at the NIH.

1. 10-week Summer Laboratory Experience. After each year of scholarship support, you will train for 10 weeks as a paid summer research employee in an NIH research laboratory. This employment occurs after the receipt of the scholarship award. Each scholar will work directly with an NIH Principle Investigator or an NIH postdoctoral fellow, who will serve as mentors.
2. Employment at the NIH after Graduation. After graduation, you will continue your training as a full-time employee in an NIH research laboratory. You must serve 1 year of full-time employment for each year of scholarship.

Eligibility criteria

• U.S.A. citizen or U.S.A. permanent resident
• Enrolled or accepted for enrollment as a full-time student at an accredited 4-year undergraduate institution located in the United States of America
• Undergraduate University Grade Point Average of 3.3 or higher on a 4.0-point scale or within the top 5 percent of your class
• Having 'Exceptional Financial Need' as certified by your undergraduate institution financial aid office (Federal Register: Vol. 80; Thursday, January 22, 2015) - see table (updated September 30, 2015).

Application Process

Visit the Application Center to learn more about our application requirements and review the videos "How to Apply to the NIH Undergraduate Scholarship Program" and "How to Find an NIH Mentor".