Visiting Scholars Program Application

Applications should be submitted prior to August 15, 2008. Applications received after this date may be considered only in extraordinary circumstances.

To apply to participate in the Dean's Scholars Honors Program during your visit to the University of Texas at Austin, prepare responses to thirteen items below, place them in a text file, and attach the file in an electronic mail message to cline@cs.utexas.edu.

An official transcript should be sent to:

University of Texas at Austin
Dean's Scholars Honors Program
1 University Station G2550
Austin, TX 78712

They can also be emailed to deans-scholars@cns.utexas.edu, or faxed to 512-232-1435.

Finally, ask two faculty members, both of whom are science or mathematics teachers, to complete the Faculty Reference forms (requires Adobe Acrobat. HTML version here). The forms should also be sent in an electronic mail message to cline@cs.utexas.edu.

1. Full Name
2. Email Address
3. Date of Birth
4. Postal Address (including country)
5. Telephone Number
6. University
7. Major(s)
8. List each school or community activity in which you have been involved during the last three years in order of its importance to you. Include only those in which you had a significant role. Include your period of involvement, the role you had, an approximation of how much time was devoted to it, and a short description of what you did. Please list no more than five.
9. List part-time or internships, summer jobs, and volunteer positions, you have held during the last three years in order of their importance to you. Include your position, period of involvement, and hours per week. List no more than four.
10. List in order of their importance to you any significant honors and/or scholarships received during the last three years. Include the award sponsor, basis for the award (e.g. leadership, scholarship, need, etc.), and date received. For awards such as science fairs be specific with respect to the level of competition (e.g. school-wide, nation-wide, international, etc.).
11. Briefly, identify your educational and career goals.

12-13 Write a 300-500 word essays on Topic I and II below.

12. Topic I: - Explain a belief you accepted at some time in your life but recently rejected on the basis of a rational process. You might choose your former belief in the existence of Santa Claus, for example, but you should remember that the rejection you discuss must have been made on a rational basis. Rejection based upon simply accepting someone's word is not appropriate for this essay. In your essay, explain the belief itself, your former reasons for holding it, and, most important, the rational process that led you to reject it.
    
    You may interpret "rejection" in a weak sense, such that you do not need to show that your former belief was false. For example, if you rejected "eating spinach makes me strong" you need not have come to the conclusion "eating spinach does not make me strong." All you need for this example is good reason for thinking that your information is not sufficient to support any conclusion as to whether or not spinach makes you strong. Please consider your topic carefully. We mentioned "Santa Claus" by way of illustration only. A good essay will use a serious belief that you have rejected recently.
13. Topic II: - Carefully describe a situation outside the scientific laboratory (i.e. in everyday life) in which it is sensible to apply the scientific method, show how the method is applied, and tell what results you expect to obtain. The scientific method is a broad range of protocols for using data to formulate and test hypotheses; you may choose any version of the method.
    
    Consider writing one paragraph on each of the issues: the situation, the application, and the expected results.
    
    As a sketch of an example, one might hypothesize "The color of clothing I wear affects how attractive others find me." The method employed could be to divide one's wardrobe into six color families and cycle through them ten times attempting to wear as much variety as possible within each family. The number of compliments on appearance could be measured for each family and a positive conclusion drawn if one family receives 30% or more than the average number of compliments.