MMUF Student Experience
Undergraduate program
Each year, five new MMUF fellows are selected from among applicants in the rising junior classes at each of the MMUF member institutions, with the exception of the UNCF consortium, which selects a total of 25 fellows from across its member institutions.
These fellows join the rising and graduating senior fellows in their institution's campus MMUF program, where they are provided with mentoring and financial support as they prepare for entry into PhD programs and eventual careers as scholars and faculty members.
While each campus MMUF program is given flexibility to tailor its structure to its institutional needs, strengths, and academic calendar, the timeline below gives a general sense of the program milestones and obligations undergraduates can expect to encounter. While this timeline assumes a semester calendar, the general chronology of program milestones is similar at schools on the quarter or trimester system.
Sophomore year
- Spring semester: At member institutions on semester calendars, students apply to MMUF and fellows are selected in the spring of their sophomore year. For member institutions on the quarter system, the timing of selection varies but is generally slightly later.
- Summer: Newly selected fellows participate in structured summer programs designed to acclimate them to the research process and prepare them for their academic-year MMUF work.
Junior year
- Fall semester: The first full year of MMUF begins. In addition to regular meetings with their coordinators, mentors, and peers, most fellows will attend the undergraduate MMUF conference for their region. Some fellows choose to study abroad while meeting their MMUF commitments via advance arrangements with their coordinators and mentors.
- Spring semester: Regular program meetings and activities continue. Fellows whose regional undergraduate conference did not take place the previous fall will attend it this semester. Many institutions build GRE preparation into junior year MMUF programming.
- Summer: Some fellows will participate in formal research programs; others will travel to conduct research or receive language training pertinent to their fields.
Senior year
- Fall semester: Fellows check in with coordinators and mentors regarding the status of their summer research; seniors are working toward the culmination of their undergraduate MMUF research in a formal thesis paper, a presentation, or both. For those seniors applying to graduate school for the fall immediately after college
graduation, the application process begins or is already under way; others are taking the GRE and preparing applications for the future. - Spring semester: Graduating fellows complete and submit their MMUF research projects; many institutions require formal, public research presentations by fellows. Seniors sit for their MMUF exit interviews, in which they update their coordinators on their postgraduate plans and contact information. They also receive reminders about the graduate benefits available to them if they enter PhD programs in approved fields.
Graduates and PhDs
MMUF’s support for fellows continues as they enter graduate school and into their postdoctoral and faculty careers.
Mellon provides this ongoing support by awarding grants to two nonprofit organizations with extensive experience administering academic programs: the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) and the Institute for Citizens & Scholars (IC&S).
With supervision from MMUF staff, the ACLS and IC&S administer a broad array of professional development opportunities and grants designed to provide targeted support to fellows who are enrolled in eligible PhD programs or have completed the doctorate.