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GCSP Application & Off-Term Experience Proposal

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Eligibility

Dartmouth AB students may apply as early as Sophomore Summer. Dual Degree students may apply as early as their first term in residence at Dartmouth. All students may apply no later than three terms prior to completion of their BE degree.

Application Process

The GCSP Application and the Off-Term Experience Proposal (including the funding proposal) are accepted each term (Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring) for review by the Dartmouth GCSP Committee.

Application deadlines are the third Friday of each term. Late applications will be reviewed with the batch received the following term.

The application should include a brief essay (300 words) in which applicants discuss why they want to participate and what led them to choose one of the Grand Challenges. Applicants will also be asked to outline feasible options for the core components of the Dartmouth GCSP:

  1. a mentored research experience or independent project (for Dartmouth credit)
  2. a related off-term experience

NOTE:

Between the two core components and Dartmouth's AB degree requirements, it is expected that each of the five competency requirements can be met.

Off-Term Experience Proposal

Details of the off-term experience—generally a project or internship—will not be required at the time of the initial application; however, thoughts on possible options should be presented. The off-term experience must relate to the chosen Grand Challenge and will serve as a likely platform for achieving both the entrepreneurship and social consciousness competencies, as well as potentially the multicultural competency.

The Off-Term Experience Proposal must be submitted a minimum of one term prior to the start of the GCSP-related off-term experience. The termly proposal deadline is the third Friday of each term. The proposal should include a 250-word essay on the student's plans for their off-term. This essay must be reviewed and signed by the student's faculty advisor prior to submittal.

Students are encouraged to be creative about tailoring the off-term experience to match the learning objectives of the program, but there are other ways to fulfill these competencies if they cannot be addressed in the off-term experience.

Students applying for funding from Dartmouth for their off-term experience must include a detailed budget as well as discussion of other potential funding sources. NOTE: not all off-term experiences will be funded either in-part or in-full due to a limited GCSP annual budget.

DHE Compost Tea

Improving Crop Nutrition

Dartmouth Humanitarian Engineering (DHE) members demo their "compost tea project" prototype to improve crop nutrition in Quito, Ecuador.

Selection

The GCSP Committee will review applications quarterly to provide constructive feedback and/or approval. The hope is to admit all applicants with a reasonable plan to accomplish the program goals. Proposals for off-term experiences will also be reviewed by the GCSP Committee quarterly, with feedback and/or approval to be provided to the student in a timely manner.