National Institutes of Health Undergraduate Scholarship Program
Who Can Apply: US Citizen or US Permanent Resident – Freshmen – Sophomores – Juniors – Seniors – From a disadvantaged background – minimum GPA of 3.5 or placement within top 5% of class
Description: 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 of up to $20,000 per year, paid research training at the NIH during the summer, and paid employment and training at the NIH after graduation. (See details below.)
Award Amount: 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.
National Deadline: The application for Fall 2025 admission will open in January 2025.
Program Preferences: Strong applicants are able to demonstrate their commitment to a research career. Applicants are most able to demonstrate this commitment if they have already participated in laboratory research, been involved in extracurricular science activities, or have taken advanced courses relevant to their field.
Service Obligation: For each full or partial scholarship year, you are committed to two NIH service obligations. The obligations themselves are benefits of the program—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 be assigned to an NIH researcher and an NIH postdoctoral fellow, who will serve as mentors. You will also attend formal seminars and participate in a variety of programs.
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.