Apply

Applications for the 2020-2021 ERSP-UCSB cohort are now open. Deadline to apply is Friday, May 29, 2020 at 5pm. extended to August 10, at 5pm

Link to application form: https://bit.ly/UCSB-CS-ERSP-Application-2020-21.

You may edit your responses in the form until the deadline. Read about the eligibility criteria and the application (below).

Slides from the info session: http://bit.ly/ERSP-InfoSession-Slides

ELIGIBILITY

ERSP targets students who are just beginning their CS careers, and early in their careers at UCSB. To apply you must:

• Be in your first year at UCSB at the time of application (i.e. spring 2020 for the 2020/21 cohort). Note this does not imply freshman standing, simply being in your first year at the university, regardless of whether you entered from high school or transferred from another college or university.

• Not have completed any courses in the CS upper division at the end of the spring quarter that precedes the program year (i.e. spring 2020 for the 2020/21 cohort).

• Be in a CS related major in the CS department.

If you do not meet these eligibility requirements you may still apply, but you will need to provide an additional essay discussing why an exception should be made. We do make exceptions for students every year (particularly for students in closely related majors outside the CS department), so don’t be afraid to apply if you think you have a valid reason for not meeting the above criteria. Some valid reasons might include starting the major very late or taking courses out of sequence for some reason.

PREPARING AND SUBMITTING YOUR APPLICATION

Applications for the 2020-2021 Cohort are open! The deadline to apply is May 29.

Before you click on the application link, we recommend that you read the questions below, prepare your responses in a separate file, and then copy and paste them into the application.

To help you prepare your application, below we give the essay questions we will ask. We provide the following context to help you address the second and third questions below. One goal of ERSP is to promote and increase diversity in the CSE community. Preference goes to those whose participation in ERSP will help increase CS participation for students with minoritized, under-represented status using a broad definition that includes (but is not necessarily limited to) gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic status, ability, sexual orientation, and first-in-family to attend university. Note that if you are from a majority, well-represented group, you could still have an understanding of what it’s like to be from a minoritized, under-represented group.

• 1. What is your specific motivation for participating in the CS Early Research Scholars Program?

  2. Explain how your status as minority in CS has affected your experience in CS so far OR Explain your understanding of how being from a underrepresented group affects a person’s experience in CS and how you came about this understanding.

  3. How would your participation in the CS ERSP program help increase the diversity of students in the CS community?

If you make it to the final list of candidates, we may ask you to list the name and email of a professor who can talk about your performance in their class. If and when that happens, please ask your professor if it’s OK for you to list their name. For now you don't need to contact any Professors to serve as a reference.

Finally, ERSP targets students who have not taken any upper division CS courses and are in their first at UCSB at the time of application. We do make exceptions on an individual basis, so if you do not meet the above criteria you must also include in your application a short essay (again 1 or 2 paragraphs) describing why you feel that an exception should be made in your case.

Before you apply, review answers to frequently asked questions. Please note that you can edit your responses to the application form until the application deadline.