The Posse Foundation identifies public high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential who may be overlooked by traditional college selection processes. Those Posse Scholars who are admitted by UC Berkeley are awarded a four-year, full-tuition leadership scholarship. Posse Scholars graduate at a rate of 90 percent and make a visible difference on campus and throughout their professional careers.
The Benefits
- Full tuition scholarship and possible supplemental aid
- For-credit seminar with fellow Posse Scholars addressing academic study skills, leadership skills, stress management, time management, writing, research skills and methodology, graduate school application, community service, mentoring, and learning about campus resources.
- Posse retreats, including Annual Posse Plus Retreat
- Faculty, staff, and peer mentoring
- External Posse support and program evaluation
- Senior officer at UC Berkeley to act as liaison with Posse staff
Some History and Statistics on Posse
- Founded in 1989 by Deborah Bial, who thought of the idea of Posse after a student told her, “I never would have dropped out of college if I had my posse with me.”
- Started at Vanderbilt University with five students from New York City, all of whom graduated with honors and accolades four years later.
- Has sent more than 2,600 Scholars to top-tier colleges and universities throughout the country.
- Nationally, Posse Scholars have won more than $260 million in scholarships from Posse’s partner institutions.
- Posse students graduate at a rate significantly above the national average.
- Given the opportunity to go to college, 70 percent of Posse scholars either have founded an organization or have become president of an existing one.
For more information on The Posse Foundation, see: http://www.possefoundation.org/.
For more information, please contact:
Jennifer Bradford, Posse Advisor
Academic Achievement Programs
2515 Channing Way #2410
Berkeley, CA 94720-2410
jbradford@berkeley.edu
(510) 643-6286