Community Health Initiative (CHI) Undergraduate Scholarship

The CHI Undergraduate Scholarship, sponsored by the Office for Business & Community Economic Development (OBCED) with funding from Medica, supports full-time undergraduate students who are pursuing a health-related career and who show academic promise and financial need. Students must be currently enrolled at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus and must demonstrate maturity, adaptability, and respect for diversity and other cultures. The CHI Undergraduate Scholarship is administered by the Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence (MCAE).

ELIGIBILITY

Scholarship recipients must also meet the following requirements:

• Must be enrolled, degree-seeking undergraduate students at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus pursuing (or on track to pursue) a health-related career (i.e., medicine, nursing, dentistry, public health, social work, and others)
• Must have second-year status (30 credits or more) or higher
• Must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents from a population that is underrepresented or underserved in the health professions and/or have past work/community experiences that demonstrate a commitment to addressing health disparities in underrepresented or underserved populations
• Must be full-time students (13 credits minimum)
• Must submit all requested application documents (see below) 
• Must have a completed FAFSA on file and show financial need

Preference will be given for applicants with a cumulative GPA of 2.8 or higher

APPLICATION PROCESS

Applications will be available online and accepted starting Monday, February 7, 2022. There are several steps to the application process so please review the instructions below to ensure your application is complete and submitted on time.

Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. All parts of your application (including recommendation letters) must be received by the deadline of Friday, May 13, 2022 at 11:59PM (Central Time).

Step 1: Apply online. (Application soon to be live) Faxed or emailed copies of this form will not be accepted. You must be logged into your UMN email account in the same browser to access this form.

Step 2: Submit an essay of no more than 500 words about the applicant’s motivations for pursuing a healthcare career and plans for utilizing their health-related degree to positively impact underrepresented or underserved populations.

Step 3: Submit your 2021-22 *Student Aid Report (SAR) via email to chischolarships@umn.edu.  Please label your document: “CHI 2022--First and last name--SAR” and put the same in the email subject line.

Step 4: You will need two (2) letters of recommendation. Please ask your letter writers to send completed recommendations directly to chischolarships@umn.edu. The email should include the subject line "2022 CHI Undergraduate Recommendation for (your name)" and they should address the letter to "CHI Undergraduate Selection Committee".

• We REQUIRE students to submit at least one letter of recommendation from an academic area (faculty, staff, or academic advisor)

Recommendation letter writers should address the following:

• How long has the writer known the applicant and in what capacity?
• What has the applicant done to learn more about or address health disparities in underrepresented or underserved communities?
• What are strengths and areas of improvement for the applicant?
• For students who have received the CHI Undergraduate Scholarship in the past: What progress has the applicant made towards working on health disparities for underrepresented or underserved populations?

Note: Applicants should stress to letter writers the importance of incorporating all these questions into their responses

Step 5: You will need to submit an unofficial college transcript. Please upload them on application or send them to chischolarships@umn.edu