Frequently Asked Questions

We receive a lot of applications each year and only accept 10 fellows. The main factors we look at when selecting applicants for interviews are research interest, prior research engagement, and career goals. Those who apply during the Fall Application Cycle deadline have a higher chance of being accepted due to Spring Application Cycle only having the spots remaining after the Fall Application Cycle applicants have accepted.

The 4 short essay questions (less than 200 words) cover the topics of career goals, research interest, research engagement, and program fit.  

Interviews may be completed by the program director or advisors along with current and former fellows. Interviews occur over Zoom and consist of us asking you questions regarding your application and research interests as well as a time to ask any of the interviewers questions.

Your application will be reviewed if it is late only under certain circumstances. We highly recommend emailing us a Science_Fellows@baylor.edu if you submit a late application. We will then let you know if we will review your application or not.

We look at applicants based on their research engagement, research interest, and career goals. So engaging with research, having a high interest in the research field, and having a research-oriented career goal will increase your chances of being accepted.

We also recommend applying during the Fall Application Cycle to increase your chances of being accepted.

The deadline for the Fall Application Cycle is usually in early December and those who apply at that deadline will receive their notifications earlier (in January) than Spring Application Cycle notifications (in April). Those who apply during the Fall Application Cycle have a higher chance of being accepted as all 10 spots will be available. Spring Application Cycle is used to fill the remaining spots left after the Fall Application Cycle.

It will all depend on what your goals are in the future.  If you want to go to graduate school to get a Ph.D. in Chemistry, your classes will be mostly related to chemistry.  However, you will not have to take all the requirements needed for a chemistry degree, and you can substitute classes.  A student that wants to obtain an MD/PhD will take the courses recommended to apply to medical school.

Absolutely!  We highly encourage minors.  Minors require around 18 credit hours (9 of them at the 3000-4000 level) of classes.  For more information on specific class requirements consult your class catalog. A minor does not need to be in science, it can be anything that interests you, like history, international relations, philosophy, professional writing,etc…

Theoretically, it is possible; however, we would advise against it since it would require you to take more of the common core on top of the major requirements and may add an extra year to completing the fellows program.

We will make sure you take the classes required for your field and will help you get into graduate school with letters of recommendation.  As a matter of fact, part of the letter of recommendation explains the SRF major and its requirements.

At this moment, only incoming freshman can be accepted into the Science Research Fellows.

There are several differences.  First, a lot of mentoring and help.  We carefully advise and guide the fellows in the process of selecting a research professor during their first year.  The mentoring does not stop there. The fellows get reminders for applications for research program applications, national and international fellowships, and other opportunities that other students are probably not aware are available.

Second, the SRF students do not have to take all the classes required for a regular science major but can take most of the classes and add other ones that are of interest to the student.  They must complete the requirements needed for any class they want to take. 

Third, the SRF group is small and close knit.  During the year 2021-2022, there will be 41 fellows on Baylor’s campus. We are a close family and we take care of each other.

Yes. The minimum overall GPA is 3.5 to remain a science research fellow.  If the GPA drops below a 3.5, the student will receive a warning and has one semester to bring up their GPA. If the student is unable to improve their GPA after one semester, they will be removed from the program. Once removed from the program, the requirements for their new major will have to be met, which could include a second language and English.

Baylor gives out freshman academic scholarships to offset the cost. If you are able to apply for the fellows program, Baylor is guaranteed to award you a scholarship of up to $21,000 per academic year. The fellows are highly competitive for top national undergraduate scholarships (Fulbright, Goldwater, and Marshall Scholarships) as well as other Baylor scholarships. The fellows program does not offer its own scholarship at this time due to fellows receiving sufficient outside scholarships. 

Science Research Fellows get to register for classes earlier than their peers. This ensures that the fellows will be able to take almost any class they want without worrying if the class will have spots left when they register which happens often for underclassmen.

The Science and Health Living and Learning Community (LLC) is the residence hall for science majors. All freshman are required to live on campus and the Science and Health LLC is one of the highly requested residence halls. It holds some of the nicest rooms on campus and is extremely close to the science building while other residence halls are on the other side of campus. Most Science Research Fellows choose to live in Earle their freshman year.