Accelerate to Success

Kosha Joshi

This semester 24 VCU students started their freshman year earlier than their peers. The 24 students are taking part in the first year of the university's Acceleration Program.

What is it?

VCU's Acceleration Program is designed to recruit and retain underrepresented minority students.  These students often come with socio-economic or educational disadvantages, and the program is designed to help keep them on track as they pursue degrees in the health sciences at VCU. The program is the brainchild of director and coordinator of the Students Academic Support Center, Cheryl Chesney-Walker, and director of pre-health sciences advising, Seth Leibowitz.

Once accepted into the Acceleration Program, students attend a four-week Summer Bridge Program. In late June, students stay in the dorms on campus and study basic math and science courses to prepare them for their core classes in the fall. A stipend is also given to each student for attending the summer program. At the end of their freshman year, the students will attend a six-week Health Careers Opportunity Program over the summer to expose them to a variety of higher-level health science courses and internships. The students will also take a one credit hour Spanish medical terminology class.

Over the course of their four years at VCU, the students in the Acceleration Program will be required to complete 50 hours of volunteer service each year. The students are also supposed to go to mandatory tutoring and study sessions.

Learning Community

Students in the Acceleration Program are the also the first to participate in VCU's Living Learning Community. These pre-health majors are required to live together, take classes together and study together during their freshman and sophomore years. During their junior and senior years, the students will conduct medical research. Scholarships will also be rewarded to those who have graduated with a bachelor's degree and that have been accepted to MCV.

For the 2006-2007 academic years, the Acceleration Program will accept up to 34 students. This year's class of 24 will mentor their younger peers. The directors also have plans of trying to reserve an entire floor in Brandt Hall for Acceleration students.

The program is already bringing new students to VCU.  "I was actually really excited about being accepted because I was offered so many options at many other schools. It was really difficult to make a decision and this was the leading decision to why I came to VCU," said Acceleration student, Shalini Navale.

Interested?

For those who are interested in joining the Acceleration Program in the years to come, visit http://www.has.vcu.edu/students/acad_advising/pre_health/acceleration.html for guidelines and the application.