Competitive Edge

Owned by Edgar Beas
Last updated: Mar 15, 2024
3 min read

Competitive Edge is a summer transition interdisciplinary program for incoming Ph.D. and MFA students. This year the program will expand to officially offer support to students throughout their first full year as a graduate student in the form of peer mentoring, periodic 1:1 check-ins with the coordinators, and community-building events.  

MISSION
To foster an inclusive community of incoming diverse graduate students that will enhance their academic, personal and professional persistence & success throughout their journey at UC San Diego.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
The Competitive Edge program aims to:

  • ease students with the acclimation and transition into their respective graduate programs.
  • acquaint students with campus and department-level resources.
  • grant students early access to research.
  • promote interdisciplinary networking amongst members of the cohort.
  • create spaces of open dialogue where opinions, views, and ideas contribute to the development of our students.
  • identify and address gaps of resources supporting the graduate student community.

STUDENT BENEFITS

  • Advanced introduction to UC San Diego faculty
  • Advanced introduction to key UC San Diego campus resources
  • Early move-in to graduate campus housing
  • Acquisition of critical writing, teaching, and communication skills through workshops and lectures
  • Access to peer mentors and a community of incoming graduate students 
  • Summer stipend of $3,000
  • Health insurance during the summer 

ELIGIBILITY
To be considered for the Competitive Edge program students must:

  • Have accepted the offer of admission.
  • Provide responses to at least three of the seven experiential questions found under the Additional Educational Experiences section of the online application for admission.
  • Be in a Ph.D. or MFA program starting in the Fall quarter.
  • Be a US citizen or permanent resident. DACA and AB540 students are also eligible. 
  • Nominees that you think could benefit substantially from this transitional/bridge program are preferred.

NOMINATION

The nomination period is now OPEN and will remain open until April 26, 2024. Please submit your nominations using this form: https://forms.gle/GM1sBpYKu68Kddg46

Graduate programs need to select 1 student for nomination through the traditional sharing of costs between the program and the Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs (GEPA).

If you want to have additional students in the program, submit the same form for each additional student and select “Fully Sponsored by Graduate Program” under Type of Nomination.

FUNDING COMMITMENT
Here are the TWO ways your incoming students can participate in the program in 2024:
1-    ONE Nominee Per Program – Each graduate program will be selecting 1 student to be in the program and sharing the costs with the GEPA. 

  • Commitments include:
    • Student’s $3000.00 stipend during the program ($1500 will come from the GEPA and $1500 from the graduate program)
    • Student’s Early SHIP Insurance during the summer ($300 will come from the DGEPA and $300 from the graduate program to pay for the cost of Early SHIP)
    • Total due from the graduate program $1800 

2-    Additional Fully Sponsored Students – Graduate programs can fund additional students to participate in the program.

  • Commitments include:
    • Student’s full $3000 summer stipend
    • Student’s full cost of Early SHIP Insurance $600
    • Student’s summer programming cost $358
    • Total due from the graduate program $3958

FORMAT
4-week in-person program. 

HOUSING
This is not a residential program, therefore students are expected to find housing and secure an early move-in date. The stipend is designed to help students with housing and moving costs. 

SUMMER PROGRAM DATES
Summer program dates are August 5 through September 2, 2024.

PROGRAMMING

In addition to the research experience, participants are required to attend workshops to acclimate them to the campus environment. Workshop facilitators are members of the UC San Diego community and serve as faculty, staff or continuing graduate students in various academic fields. In addition to the workshops, participants are expected to attend an orientation at the beginning and a luncheon at the conclusion of the program.

QUESTIONS

For additional questions, please contact the program director Edgar Beas (eabeas@ucsd.edu) at 858-822-1492.