40 Hours for the Forty Acres April 2022

Who We Are

Longhorn Center for Academic Equity's (LCAE) Grad Prep initiative offers information, materials, and coursework that will increase students' likelihood and prospect of attending graduate and professional school. This initiative helps address the diversity needs of professional fields. Leaders in academia, law, medicine, etc., are calling out the lack of diversity in their fields, which negatively impacts their capacity to provide culturally competent care in hospitals, unbiased treatment in courts, and inclusivity in college classrooms. While these services are available to all UT students, LCAE's grad prep is doing its part to help prepare the next generation of professionals and scholars from diverse backgrounds.

What We're Fundraising For

We hope that by establishing the initiative within the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, students who are low-income, first-generation, historically excluded, disabled, and/or from a racial and ethnic minority groups will engage with the program to prepare for their graduate studies. Donations to this fund help sustain these services and supports.

Services will include:

1. Advising on how to apply and pay for graduate and professional school;
2. Free test prep for the GRE, LSAT and MCAT exams;
3. Application fee waiver support;
4. Interview coaching and preparation;
5. Statement of purpose workshops;
6. College visit assistance;
7. GRE information sessions (in partnership with the Sanger Learning Center).

Your Impact

LCAE's grad prep program helps meet the need of any student looking for information and resources related to going to graduate school. The program compliments and extends the many other resources available across campus, and LCAE actively works to collaborate with partners on campus to ensure robust support networks for students. In the end, if colleges improve the graduation rates and GPA's of first-generation, low-income, and other high-priority students, but does not equipping them with the familiarity with and confidence to apply to graduate studies, these students are still leaving college without reaching their full potential. For low-income students, the costs associated with preparing and attending graduate school can be discouraging, especially if they are already carrying a heavy debt load from their undergraduate degree. Encouraging and educating students on how to get into graduate and professional schools could be the single factor that changes their professional and financial outlook, not just for the immediate student, but for their entire families, for their future generations.