The College of Engineering (COE) at North Carolina A&T State University offers a five-week bridge program entitled, Helping Orient Minorities to Engineering (HOME). Since 2005, approximately 15-25 students per year from across the United States have participated in this corporate sponsored program.
This program is a recruitment/retention initiative that seeks to attract and retain high achieving students in Engineering and Computer Science.
During the program, all participants are enrolled in Calculus I and upon completion receive college credit. The students also participate in professional development workshops, Toastmasters, social outings, and site visits to local corporate facilities. In order to help facilitate the transition from high school to college the group is assigned a supplemental instructor to assist them academically as well as mentors to help in personal development. We promote the cohesiveness of the cohort by providing group social activities throughout the summer. We also provide students with the opportunity to network by providing them with their sponsor’s contact information. It is the goal of the sponsors to help students potentially obtain internship or co-op experiences, and possibly even acquire a full-time position if a satisfactory GPA is maintained upon graduation.
Requirements for consideration to the HOME Program include: a minimum high school GPA of 3.3 and an 1100 SAT or the equivalent ACT. Students must minimally have a math SAT score of 580 or 24 math ACT. All invited candidates are required to complete an application and conduct a telephone interview. Once candidates have been selected and notified of acceptance, each participant is required to submit a nonrefundable administration fee of $300.
Additionally, corporate partners specify the desired majors and geographical residence within the country. Recognitions of some past/present HOME Scholars: • Two HOME scholar alumni have received the Black Engineer of the Year Award in Washington, D.C. since working in corporate.
