The Dean's Scholar's Brochure
Advantages | Selection | Interaction | Results | Career Preparation | Director
The Dean's Scholars Honors Program offers exceptional science and mathematics majors a unique opportunity to enrich their undergraduate education in the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. Since 1983, the Program has challenged talented and highly motivated undergraduates by introducing them to cutting-edge research and placing them into contact with superior students with similar aptitudes and interests. Dean"s Scholars experience the dual advantage of involving themselves in a smaller group of select students while enjoying the opportunities of a large institution.
Participation in the Dean's Scholars Program, which continues throughout an undergraduate's career at UT, offers a number of important advantages. Specifically, students work directly with faculty involved at the forefront of scientific research. Students pursue their own research projects under the direction of distinguished faculty members; pursue any of the more than thirty majors offered by departments within the College of Natural Sciences. Some students are also enrolled in the Plan II Honors Program and gain an important research perspective. Dean's Scholars view science as dynamic--the living, changing exploration of nature.
The Dean's Scholars Program is highly selective, admitting about thirty freshmen each year, as well as a small number of upper-class students. Dean's Scholars seek the intellectual challenge and stimulation of an interdisciplinary program emphasizing scientific research. Although Dean's Scholars typically achieve high SAT scores and class ranking, admission is not based solely on these criteria, but more importantly, on evidence of a student's interest in science, research, and individual discovery. As Dean's Scholars, students are oriented toward research, encouraged through their work to perceive the world as presenting questions that can be answered through experimentation.
Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of the program is the opportunity for superior students representing diverse majors to interact with each other through academic pursuits and frequent informal social activities. In weekly seminars, Dean's Scholars explore contemporary issues and ideas in science and are introduced to the research activities of the faculty. These seminars are supplemented by weekly, informal lunches attended by faculty members from throughout the University community. Weekend field trips traditionally include visits to the McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains and to the Marine Science Institute at Port Aransas. Through these and other special activities, Dean's Scholars gain an appreciation for the research of their fellow students and more fully recognize how their own individual research fits into the entire scientific enterprise.
Recent graduates of the Dean's Scholars Program have entered Ph.D. programs in scientific disciplines at leading institutions world-wide. Some have entered M.D./Ph.D. programs. Additionally, Dean's Scholars have won some of the most prestigious and competitive graduate fellowships, including Marshall Scholarships for study at Cambridge University and National Science Foundation Fellowships.
The Dean's Scholars Program is founded on the principle that the challenge of education is to understand nature and humanity's part in it. As such, the investigation of nature must be the common quest for students and faculty alike. Science is one of the most important intellectual achievements of human history: it is also a central determiner of human development. The Dean's Scholars Program desires students interested in individual discovery and in acquiring a broad view of how science fits into the community--the broad view necessary for assuming important scientific careers and, eventually, leadership positions in the scientific community.
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If you still have questions about the Dean's Scholars Program, we have compiled a Dean's Scholars FAQ, and a Dean's Scholar alumnus has prepared a guide for new students at UT.