Application Procedure and Submission
- Applications must be endorsed by a Vanderbilt faculty mentor. Each faculty mentor may support no more than two applications per competition.
- The application includes sections to be completed by the student and by the faculty mentor.
- Students complete their section, including personal details. Faculty mentors complete the application by submitting the faculty portion of the application.
- All portions of the application are submitted through InfoReady.
- Students are strongly encouraged to send their completed portion to their faculty mentor by January 17 to ensure ample time for faculty to draft and submit their portion.
- Applications for summer 2026 open on November 12, 2025 and close at 11:59 PM on January 28, 2026. Late applications will not be accepted.
- Students complete their section, including personal details. Faculty mentors complete the application by submitting the faculty portion of the application.
Responses should abide by character limits.
- Applications for summer 2026 open on November 12, 2025 and close at 11:59 PM on January 28, 2026. Late applications will not be accepted.
- Submission of the application on time is the student's responsibility to coordinate with their faculty mentor in advance of the deadline.
Application Writing Workshops
All interested undergraduate applicants are invited to attend a VUSRP Proposal Preparation Workshop. We will offer one workshop on January 6 and one on January 14.
VUSRP is a competitive fellowship program. Successful applicants will spend ten weeks engaged in full-time research (any topic) under the mentorship of a full-time Vanderbilt faculty member during the summer. VUSRP recipients are awarded a stipend and reduced-cost summer housing is available for students with financial need.
Meet with experts and peers to learn about the importance of a strong proposal and receive feedback on your proposal draft for developing your VUSRP proposal (bringing a draft is encouraged, but it is not required). Registration for the workshop is also strongly encouraged but not required for participation.
*Please note that faculty mentors are welcome to attend the workshop with the student applicant*
VUSRP Application Workshop, Spring 2024:
Application Review
- Applications will be reviewed by a committee of faculty members, representing a broad range of academic disciplines. When writing the VUSRP application, assume that reviewers are not experts in your area of study. A part of the scoring rubric includes the student's ability to communicate the research to a layperson.
- Reviewers will consider the justification for the proposed work; whether the research design/methods are sufficiently explained and the approach is sufficient to address the question/hypothesis; the appropriateness of the plan to support student progress and to provide timely and useful feedback; student preparation and readiness to undertake the proposed work; and how the proposed project contributes to the student’s stated personal goals.