Applying to SURF – Undergraduate Research & Scholarships

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF)

Applications for SURF L&S 2025 are due by 12:00 NOON (Pacific Time) on
Friday, March 14, 2025.

Draft workshops to support applicants from each disciplinary area (e.g., Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences, Biological Sciences, and Math & Physical Sciences) will be offered by SURF mentors throughout the month of February. Please note: The Application Portal will automatically close at 12noon on March 14, so use the worksheets below to prepare your materials in advance and do not wait until the last minute to enter your responses in the portal.

Applying to SURF L&S

The application portal for SURF L&S 2025 will open on 9am February 28, 2025.

Please use the SURF L&S Application Worksheet, posted below, to begin preparing your application and research proposal.

When you are ready to submit, and the portal link becomes active, you will enter your responses into the application form. The application must be complete in a single session, so it is important to have drafted your responses and proposal using the worksheets provided to avoid losing any data.

Please Note: To access the application materials (both the portal and worksheets), you must login from a bMail (berkeley.edu) account. Students external to UC Berkeley are ineligible for these programs and will not be granted access to the worksheets or application materials.

Application Portal

The SURF 2025 Application Portal Link will go live at 9am on Friday, February 28, 2025.

Application & Research Proposal Worksheet

SURF L&S Application Worksheet

Faculty Recommendation Portal

The SURF program will send a confirmation request directly to the faculty mentor who is indicated on the SURF application, asking them to verify that they have agreed to serve as the applicant’s research supervisor. Please be sure to discuss your proposed research project with your faculty mentor.

Application Checklist:

Review the SURF L&S Information Session presentation (slides linked here)
Review the eligibility criteria (see the program main page linked here)
Prepare a draft of the application, using a the research proposal worksheet.
Although it is not required, applicants are strongly encouraged to attend both a ‘how to write a research proposal’ (slides linked here) in January and get feedback on your draft proposal by attending disciplinary-area oriented draft workshop offered in February (schedule forthcoming)
Send a draft of your proposal to your faculty mentor; once you have submitted your application, please let them know to expect a communication from the SURF program, verifying their intent to mentor your research.
Sign up for the OURS newsletter to receive timely program updates and updates about the workshop offerings.
Submit your application via the application portal by 12:00 NOON (Pacific Time) on March 14, 2024.