You are not limited to the faculty listed on our website. The faculty listed are those faculty who have already been involved in the program, but if you’re interested in a specific faculty member at Brown who is not listed, please let us know and we will reach out to them to see if they’re interested in becoming a PREP mentor. 

As a program funded by the NIH, PREP is focused primarily on life and behavioral sciences.

You are eligible to take any graduate or undergraduate level courses offered while you’re here that you and your mentor agree would be beneficial and in line with your goals. Typically students enroll in one course during the year (either spring or fall semester) but sometimes can petition to take two, depending on their research progress and academic need. 

PREP at Brown is specifically designed for students working towards a Ph.D. track so we are not as well suited to those students seeking a MD/Ph.D Program. However, there are several other universities that have an NIH PREP program geared towards MD/Ph.D. programs. You can see the full list of institutions here. 

In addition to your stipend, you will receive medical and dental coverage through Brown. You will also have a Brown ID which gives you access to Brown’s various facilities and digital services. Your Brown ID can also be used to ride RIPTA buses at no cost to you. 

The PREP program does not provide housing, you will be responsible for finding and securing housing for the duration of the program. However, Brown offers resources to help in your search including an off campus housing website, a guide to living off campus, and a graduate student council housing webinar.

As a PREP scholar, you will primarily network with your home lab and department, your advising team, other PREP scholars and Brown graduate students. Over the summer you will also form part of the Leadership Alliance network. In addition you will have networking opportunities at our regional PREP events that are held in conjunction with other local PREP programs, such as Boston University, UMass, Yale and the Marine Biological Laboratory among others. Finally, you will have the opportunity to attend an academic conference which will provide additional networking opportunities and grad school fairs. 

In addition to working closely with your advising team, you will participate in professional development workshops leading up to graduate school applications that focus on writing personal statements, sharpening your CV, networking, choosing PhD programs, interviewing, etc. Beyond PREP programming, you will also have access to workshops and events within the larger Brown community.

After PREP at Brown, 66% of our scholars have been admitted to PhD programs across the country, including Johns Hopkins, UC Berkeley, Princeton, Dartmouth, Texas A&M University, Vanderbilt, Emory, and University of Colorado, among others. Of our 29 scholars since 2018, 21% have enrolled in a PhD program here at Brown. Of those who have applied for fellowships such as the NSF GRFP, 36% have been awarded.

The committee will begin reviewing applications after the application close date, February 3rd, 2025 and typically beging reaching out to applicants for interviews in mid March.