Applying to ERSP
Applications for ERSP are currently closed. Applications for the 2025-26 cohort will open in March 2025.
Students: PREPARING AND SUBMITTING YOUR APPLICATION
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. Also be sure to check the eligibility requirements to know if you are eligible to apply.
The application will ask you to answer the following essay questions:
- What do you hope to get out of participating in the CSE Early Research Scholars Program?
- One goal of this program is to broaden access to university research to students who have historically faced barriers—financial commitments, lack of role models/community/knowledge of graduate study, first-generation, etc. Please describe how your participating in this program would be helpful to you in overcoming such barriers.
- Another goal of ERSP is to promote and support a diverse CSE community along many dimensions including (but not necessarily limited to) gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic status, ability, sexual orientation, and first-in-family to attend university. Part of building this community involves creating a space where students from minoritized groups feel included. Explain your understanding of how being from a minoritized group affects a person's experience in CSE and how you came about this understanding.
Additionally, ERSP targets students who are in majors in the CSE department, have not taken any upper division CSE courses and are in their first year at UCSD or an incoming transfer student 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. For more information, refer to the eligibility requirements page.
Before you apply, you might also want to check out the FAQ page.