How To Apply

Application Instructions

Previous participants in the Welch Summer Scholar Program are ineligible to apply.

Applications must be submitted by no later than 10:59 PM CDT on April 4, 2027. As the deadline will not be extended under any circumstances, we recommend that you do not wait until the last day to submit your application.

Online application
Instructions for completing the online application and the application link can be found here.  Please follow the instructions exactly! 

Test scores
PSAT, SAT and/or ACT scores are required and documentation must be uploaded with your application.

Essay
Each applicant must write an essay. It should contain a minimum of 250 words and the document should be double-spaced and uploaded as a .pdf attachment.  In your essay, please address one of the following:  

a.    Discuss your present academic focus.  What interests you most about chemistry?
b.    Describe one or two or your significant accomplishments or life experiences, noting your age at the time, and what each meant to your self-development. 
c.    Discuss an individual who has influenced you.  What are the attributes of this person that you most admire? 

Letters of recommendation
You will need to arrange for two letters of recommendation to be uploaded to your application.  Recommenders can be teachers, counselors, mentors, or others who are familiar with your academic achievements or personal character.  Parents and family members are not appropriate recommenders.  Upon submission of your application, your references will receive a link to which they will upload their letters to your application. Your letter writers will not be able to upload their recommendations until you submit your application. Your references will need time to upload their letters so this is further justification to submit your application early. Your references will be able to upload their letters after the deadline but bear in mind that the review of applications begins once the deadline has passed and applications missing one or both letters may not receive full consideration.

Transcript and test score verification
We prefer an official copy of your transcript from your school's registrar's office.  However, if your school will not provide you with an an official transcript, a student copy will be accepted. Either an official or student version must be submitted with your application.

If your transcript does not contain your standardized test scores, you must submit either a scanned copy of a paper score report or screen shots of your scores from the College Board website. We prefer SAT scores, however if you have not yet taken the SATs then PSAT scores will be accepted.  If you have taken both, please upload the SAT score verification.  If you have also taken the ACT, please include those scores as well.

If you have questions, email wssp@cm.utexas.edu but due to potential high volume, response times may vary.  Please be patient and do not send multiple inquiries as this will only further delay a reply.