<p>The application for the 2015 Princeton Summer Journalism Program (to be held in August) is now open. This is a highly selective, all-expenses-paid, 10 day program for low-income students. The application is here: <a href="https://fs4.formsite.com/pusjp/form1/secure_index.html">https://fs4.formsite.com/pusjp/form1/secure_index.html</a> and feel free to ask questions below.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.Princeton.edu/sjp">https://www.Princeton.edu/sjp</a>
What is the Princeton University Summer Journalism Program? We welcome about 25 high school students from low-income backgrounds every summer to Princeton's campus for an intensive, 10-day seminar on journalism. The program's goal is to diversify college and professional newsrooms by encouraging outstanding students from low-income backgrounds to pursue careers in journalism. All expenses, including students' travel costs to and from Princeton, are paid for by the program. Students who attend the program come from across the country. The program will enter its fourteenth summer in 2015.</p>
<p>What is the program like? Classes at the program are taught by reporters and editors from The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, The New Republic, The New Yorker, CNN and ABC News, among other media outlets. Students tour the Times, Newsweek, and CNN; cover a professional sports event; cover news events in the Princeton area; film and produce a TV segment; conduct an investigative project; author a group blog; and report, write, edit and design their own newspaper, The Princeton Summer Journal, which is published on the program's last day. The program is also designed to give students a taste of what life is like at one of the best colleges in the country—students live on campus and eat in one of the university's cafeterias—and to prepare them to apply to top schools. Students meet with Princeton's top professors as well as the school's president and its dean of admissions. Students attend seminars on every aspect of the college admissions process. They also take a practice SAT and attend an SAT class taught by Princeton Review. The program's 2014 schedule can be found on the website. After students return home, program staff remain in contact with them, assisting them during the college application process and helping them to apply for journalism internships once they are in college.</p>
<p>The first part of the application process can be completed here: <a href="https://fs4.formsite.com/pusjp/form1/secure_index.html">https://fs4.formsite.com/pusjp/form1/secure_index.html</a>. Those who move on will be interviewed by the program directors either in person or over the phone, and will be asked to provide printed copies of the following items via U.S. mail: an official transcript; the first page of the income-tax return form (the 1040 or 1040EZ form) of their custodial parent(s)/guardian(s), or a signed statement by their parent(s)/guardian(s) saying that their income is below the level at which they would be required to file income tax returns; a recommendation letter from a teacher; and clips from their high school newspaper or other publication (optional).</p>
<p>To be eligible for the program, students must meet the following qualifications:
- They must currently be juniors in high school.
- They must live in the continental United States.
- They must have at least an unweighted 3.5 grade point average (out of 4.0).
- They must have an interest in journalism.
- The combined income of their custodial parent(s)/guardian(s) plus child support payments, if any, must not exceed $45,000.
Note: This program is for students from under-resourced financial backgrounds. If the combined income of the custodial parent(s)/guardian(s) plus child support payments, if any, exceeds $45,000 and a student still wishes to apply, he or she may attach a letter explaining why his or her family qualifies as financially under-resourced.</p>