Minorities get push to Ph.D.s

If you are a minority undergraduate student in the Wharton School and have not made plans yet for this summer, the Wharton doctoral program may be just the place for you. The business school recently received a grant from the General Electric Foundation designed to increase the amount of minority students pursuing Wharton doctorates by allowing them to serve as research assistants during the summer after their sophomore or junior year. The GE Foundation, which proposed the program, has been supporting minority students in the Wharton doctoral program for several years through the "Forgivable Loan" program. This program allows minority students to delay payments on their graduate school loans if they decide to teach and research in the business field. Wharton Doctoral Programs Vice Dean and Director Mark Pauly said Wharton officials decided to pursue the grant because it offered an opportunity to "provide an enriched experience for a small but select number of Wharton undergrads." Only African American, Hispanic and Native American Wharton undergraduates will be allowed to apply to be a summer scholar. Doctoral program administrators have already invited 25 students to apply for the program based on their test scores and grade point averages. Applications are due on March 1. Four students will be selected based on their applications and a subsequent interview. According to Pauly, a major criterion in selecting applicants will be "quantitative aptitude" of the student because they "have to be able to think analytically." Accepted students will conduct research with a professor in their chosen field for two or three months during the summer. They will have 12 academic departments to choose from and will receive a monetary stipend for their work. Once scholars complete their summer research position, they will not be required to make any further commitments except to attend a seminar during the subsequent fall semester to address prospective candidates. Only two minority students are currently enrolled in the Wharton doctoral program. One of those students, Darryl Banks, who is African American, praised the program, saying that the "minority population has to have a better representation in the Ph.D. profession." The problem of minority under-representation in doctoral programs is not "peculiar to Wharton," Banks added. "It's a problem in society in general." From that perspective, Banks hoped the new GE summer scholars program would not only affect the Wharton School, but would help to create a more "balanced enlightenment" in society as a whole. Banks, who earned a master's degree in business administration before entering the Wharton doctoral program, encouraged students who are interested in earning their doctorate to explore this new opportunity. He added that the profession is the "ultimate in entrepreneurship" because people are "paid to create ideas."