ARISE: How to Apply | NYU Tandon School of Engineering

ARISE: How to Apply

Everything you need to know about preparing and submitting your application to the ARISE program

student working in a chemistry lab

Before You Apply

  • Be sure to read through the ARISE main page and this How to Apply page carefully.

  • Add k12.stem@nyu.edu to the ‘safe senders’ list in your email program. We will communicate with you regularly throughout the application process.

  • Read the short descriptions of participating labs and use the links in those descriptions to learn more. Students choose a general STEM area of interest on their application: Computer and Data Science, Life Science or Engineering — with a ranking of 1 being your most preferred.

  • Ask a person not related to you to provide a Recommendation

  • Double-check that you meet all the eligibility criteria. 

  • Be absolutely sure you can make the commitment to attend the entire ARISE summer program if you are selected.  These dates are:

    • Orientation: Friday May 31st
    • Program: June 3 to August 9, 2024, full days, Monday through Friday (and at least one day per week will run until 6pm).  That is, during the seven weeks of ARISE you will not be able to have any other weekday, 9am to 6pm obligations — no classes, tutors, jobs, etc.
    • View All Key Dates

  • Gather all the information listed in the requirements section and write/edit your essay in a word processing program before you begin the online application. You can save the application form and return to it later. Your recommender will receive an automated email after you hit “submit”. Therefore, do not submit practice applications or multiple applications. Submit once, after you’ve prepared your essay and other information.

Application Requirements

Students must complete their own application.  

Applications are submitted online, only. We do not accept documents via email or paper mail for ARISE. The online application form requests information in the following areas:

1 – Information About You

  • The basics, plus an email address and contact number you check regularly.
  • Demographic information about yourself, including race/ethnicity and household/family income, excluding any income you as the student bring to the household.

2 – Information About Your Academic Record

  • Your cumulative GPA (out of 100*) from the beginning of high school through the last marking period. There is no minimum GPA required in order to apply.  
    *If you need to convert a 4-point GPA to a scale of 100 please refer to this helpful grade conversion guide.
  • Your average grade (out of 100) in all your high school science and math classes, and the number of classes you have taken in these subjects. You can calculate this by reviewing your transcript and averaging the grades from the relevant classes. Please include math and science classes you are currently taking, with the grades through the last marking period.
  • NOTE*** You can submit your unofficial transcript with letter grades. We only ask for the conversion of letter grades for your response to your cumulative GPA . 

3 – Preferred Area of STEM Research

  • Read carefully all the descriptions on the Research Opportunities page, and note the Area of STEM Research (Engineering, Life Sciences or Computer and Data Sciences) indicated next to the labs that are most interesting to you. Additional labs may be added, prior to the lab tours.
  • Use the links provided with the lab descriptions to explore more about the faculty, their labs and research projects. You will find this helpful in writing your essay.
  • On the online Application Form, you will be asked to rank your preferred Areas of STEM Research (with a ranking of 1 being your most preferred). Take your time in selecting your preferred STEM area because once you make the selection and submit the application we cannot make any changes.

4 – Recommendation 

  • The application requires only one Recommendation from an adult who knows you and who can comment on your academic abilities and strengths. This person cannot be a member of your family or someone you live with. 

  • The Recommendation individual should be someone with knowledge of your academic record, work ethic, and interests, such as a teacher, counselor, principal, mentor. The person should be familiar with aspects of your character such as motivation, sense of personal achievement, ethics, or ability to make and fulfill commitments, as well as your school activities and career goals.

  • Please ask your person before putting their name in the application and ensure they say “yes” because you will not be able to change your Recommender after you submit the application. If they agree, ask them for the best email address for you to include in the application and let them know they will need to submit information through an online form, not by email or paper mail. Ask them to add k12.stem@nyu.edu to their ‘safe senders' list in their email program.

  • The Recommender will receive an email with a link to an online form and instructions to complete a short questionnaire form with numerical ranking of different aspects of your academic performance. Their submission will complete your application.

5 – Essays

You will have to write short paragraph responses to questions similar to those below.

Do not copy and paste a resume or CV or email us additional documents such as resumes, CVs, or awards, which can not be added to or considered with your application material. 

  • Why are you interested in participating in this program? What parts of the program are you most interested in?
  • Describe a social problem or dilemma impacted by the area of research you are interested in the most.
  • Identify the ways that you think your experience in ARISE will impact your STEM ambitions.
  • Tell us how you currently make a difference or the ways you plan on making a difference when it comes to supporting diversity in STEM. 

We advise that you write and edit your responses in a word processing program so that you can copy and paste them into the online application form when you are ready to submit

After you Apply

student and teacher in a lab

  • If you have submitted an application, please provide your full name with any inquiry and on the email subject line state: ARISE Application.
  • Both you and your Recommender should add k12.stem@nyu.edu to your email address lists.
  • We strongly prefer to communicate directly with students and suggest that parents/guardians encourage students to contact us via email. Students who are most likely to succeed in a program such as ARISE are those who independently seek out an intensive research program and complete the application process on their own.
  • Parental or guardian consent to participate in the program will be required. Forms, including a contract of commitment attesting to your full participation in the program, will be emailed to the selected students that accept their program placement.
  • Please note that once the application deadline has passed, we will not answer individual application status inquiries via email or phone. Everyone will be notified of his or her status periodically throughout the process.
  • Check your spam folder, since we email updates that may require a response from you by a certain deadline!

    Application Process

    Upcoming details about our revised application process will be posted shortly.

     

    Step 1: Online Application

    • Prepare for and complete the ARISE application and submit by March 6, 2024 at 11:59 PM EST. No exceptions.

     

    Step 2: Recommendation

    • After you submit, check in with the person you asked to write your Support Letter

    • The Recommendation IS NOT DUE on March 6

    • They should have received an email with instructions directly from NYU

    • Ensure they submit the letter via the email prompt by March 10, 2024 at 5:00 PM.

     

    Step 3: Lab Tours and Group Interviews 

    • Invitations to selected applicants for Lab Tours and Group Interviews will be sent the 2nd Week of April

    • . Note, you will likely tour 8-12 labs associated with your most preferred Area of STEM Research, however, this is not guaranteed and depends on the number of applicants.

    • Lab Tours and Group Interviews will take place on April 16 through April 19 in the evening. 

    • Students not selected will be placed on a waitlist. Those students will receive notification by April 15. It is possible some students will come off the waitlist and be invited to Lab Tours and Group Interviews.  If you do not ultimately attend a Lab Tour and Group Interview, you will no longer be considered for ARISE 2024.

    students and faculty observing in a lab

    Step 4: Rank Labs

    • Students who attend Step 3 and are invited to continue in the application process will be given approximately 24 hours to respond to our notification email and will be asked to rank your preferences for one-on-one interviews with Lab Personnel. You may only rank labs you toured.   

    • We will reach out within 24 to 48 hours of the completion of Step 3 to let applicants know if they have been invited to proceed to the lab ranking process.  

    • Students not selected to proceed to Step 4 will be placed on a waitlist. It is possible some students will come off the waitlist and be invited to complete Step 4 and proceed in the selection process. If you do not ultimately proceed to Step 4, you will no longer be considered for ARISE 2024.

    Step 5: One-on-One Lab Interviews

    • Students completing Step 4 will proceed to one-on-one interviews with lab personnel.  These interviews are mandatory for final consideration in the ARISE program and will take place on April 28th or April 29th.

    • You can expect to interview with about 4-6 labs during this part of the process. Interviews are an opportunity for students to learn more about the work done in each lab, they will not be grilled with questions.

    Step 6: Rank Labs Again

    • Within 24 hours of the one-on-one interviews, you will re-rank only the labs you interviewed with, designating most preferred placement to least preferred placement. Lab personnel will also rank their preferences among interviewees. Placement offers will be made based on the highest/best match between your preference for a lab and a lab’s preference for you.

    Step 7: Selection, Acceptance and Waitlist

    • We will notify you of a placement opportunity within two to three days of the one-on-one interviews. You will have 36 hours to accept your selection to the ARISE 2024 program, and be accepting your placement you commit to attending the entire program and are stipulating you do not have, and will not make, any plans (other programs, courses, tutoring, vacation, etc.) that will interfere with your full-time participation in ARISE.

    • Those completing Steps 5 and 6 and not initially matched with a lab placement will be placed on a waitlist. Our experience is that a small number of students on this waitlist are ultimately offered a lab placement. This last part of the process usually plays out over the 7 to 10 days following the one-on-one interviews.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Yes, as long as you meet the criteria (10th or 11th grade, live in NYC, etc.)

    No, you must be in either 10th or 11th grade when you apply. No exceptions.

    No. We offer many other free and tuition-based summer programs that may interest you, however.

    No, you must be a resident of one of the five NYC boroughs (Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island) in order to apply. No exceptions. Please check your home zip code if you are unsure.

    No, you must be a resident of one of the five NYC boroughs (Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island) in order to apply. No exceptions. Please check your home zip code if you are unsure.

    Yes. There are no specific courses that are prerequisites for ARISE.

    No. Students are assigned to labs based on a matching process that is part of being admitted to the program.

    No.  Students are assigned to lab tour groups randomly. While you cannot choose to tour a specific lab you will get to tour labs that fit your interest in either life science, computer and data science, or engineering.

    No. The dates for our program events are pre-scheduled and cannot be changed.

    No, the lab tours are one step in the application process.

    No, the interviews are one step in the application process.

    No, unfortunately, the whole application has to be entered at once. You can’t save it and come back later. For this reason, please read Before You Apply and Application Requirements and make sure you have all of the needed information, including your essay, ready before you start the application. If you click “submit” with incomplete information or with a practice essay entered, we receive it and recommendation requests are sent to the emails you typed in for your recommender. If you then have to apply again with a complete essay, your recommender will receive more emails, leading to confusion.

    The application form will only accept GPA and grades on a scale of 100. Please convert a 4-point GPA or grade to a scale of 100. You can refer to this guide for more information.

    During the ARISE summer program, June 28 to August 11, students are in workshops during the first 2 weeks from approximately 10 AM to 4 PM. In addition, there will be workshops from 4 PM to 6 PM once a week. Students conduct research in a lab for 5 weeks and make a schedule with the lab members. The hours might be weekdays, 10 AM to 6 PM, 9 AM to 5 PM, or something slightly different than that. We can’t provide a specific lab schedule, ahead of time, since this depends on the lab. However, from Monday to Friday ARISE students make a commitment NOT to have any other outside work such as a job, summer classes, and/or recreational activities that will impede them from working successfully in the lab.

    ARISE applicants who are offered a spot are asked to agree to attend full-time. We understand that people may have a dentist appointment or their grandmother’s 80th birthday party to attend and it’s fine to miss a day if you let us and your lab know ahead of time. However, if you know that you will not be present for at least several days, ARISE is not a good fit for you. We have a limited number of spots to give to students, so we can’t keep someone in the program if they have overlapping summer plans. Students who complete the program receive a $750 stipend.

    No, see above. ARISE applicants who are offered a spot are asked to agree to attend full-time. Many students apply to more than one program, which is perfectly fine. However, if you are offered a spot in more than one summer program and the schedules overlap, you will have to choose one and allow another student to have the opportunity to participate in the other. You should make this decision quickly and be sure to contact all programs to which you’ve applied so that someone from a waitlist can be offered a spot. Many of the research programs you may apply to other than ARISE are part of our larger consortium so we become aware if you have accepted both spots. You must commit to one program during the June 28 to August 11 time frame.

    Yes, as long as you meet the other requirements, you can apply. No previous experience is necessary.

    No, all dates listed as mandatory on the ARISE website are mandatory. Hundreds of high school students, NYU professors, NYU graduate students, and NYU staff are involved in these events and they’re scheduled ahead of time to try to accommodate as many people as possible. It may not be perfect for everyone, but we hope that giving advance notice will help you plan. Applicants invited to tours or interviews can not send a parent or friend in their place.

    Unfortunately, the labs are not designed to hold a large group and we are trying to accommodate as many students as possible. Thus, family members or friends are not included in the lab tours. In addition, we find that to succeed in ARISE or a similar program, students need to be self-motivated and independent.

    The interviews are arranged in a single room in a “speed-dating” format with a couple of members from each lab sitting at a table and student interviewees rotating through the tables. Students interview with four labs and labs interview about 10 students. Usually, we have only a small section of seats for students, thus, we don’t invite family members or friends to interviews. In addition, we find that to succeed in ARISE or a similar program, students need to be self-motivated and independent. The interviews are not high-pressure discussions, but more like a chat with lab members about the work they do. Students should read the short descriptions of the labs on our website and use the links in those descriptions to learn more. It’s a good idea for students to view the labs’ websites to prepare useful questions.

    ARISE doesn’t have partnerships with specific schools or non-profits nor do we set aside spots for or give preference to students affiliated with a particular school or program. All eligible students must apply through the same channels.

    No, the ARISE program is completely free to participants. The Pinkerton Foundation, in addition to other funders, generously supports the ARISE program and other summer research programs in New York City.

    No, participants are responsible for their own meals and transportation during ARISE. While the program is free to participants, we raise money from donors to be able to cover costs of the program. We prefer to use all of these funds to allow the largest number of students to participate rather than covering meals and metrocards. Some high schools are able to get metrocards for students in summer programs. Please speak with your high school about this prior to the summer.

    Yes, you should absolutely apply if you meet the requirements, are truly interested in the program, and can attend full-time for the 7 weeks.  Last year, 70 ARISE participants came from 42 different high schools, big and small, and were from every NYC borough.

    A Recommender is an adult who knows you and how your academic work but who is not related to you and who doesn’t live with you. This person can be a teacher, counselor, principal, mentor, . Please ask your person first before putting their name in the application. Once you do so we cannot go back and change the information in the system. However you can add an additional recommender if the first recommender fails to provide a recommendation for you. We want to know about your character, work ethic, interests, school activities, love for science, and what are your career goals. We will send her/him/them an online form to ask them to numerically rank your ability to deal with challenges, your academic potential, and how they think you would do in ARISE. It is normal for individuals who recommendations to keep their answers private from applicants, so you should not expect them to tell you what they wrote.

    Emails to your Recommender is automatically generated when you click “submit” on your application. If you typed the email address incorrectly (this happens more often than you’d think), they didn’t receive it. Please ask them to check their spam folder and add our email address (k12.stem@nyu.edu) to their contacts. If they still can’t find the email, please email us with your first and last name, their first and last name and proper email address. Ask us in the body of the email to re-send the form. Then remind them to check their email, including their spam folder.

    In addition to applying to ARISE, you can check out the programs offered by other members of the New York City Science Research Mentoring Consortium. Each of these programs is free for NYC high school students and is offered at major research institutions (universities, medical schools, or museums) across the City. Each program has its own application process and its own schedule. You will need to contact specific programs or read their websites for details.

    Application Form

    STOP: have you read all of the above instructions?

    Applications are due by 11:59 PM, March 6, 2024. Recommenders have until 5 PM, March 10, 2024.

    Application Form