The Longhorn Center for Academic Equity is launching a new prep program to help make the graduate school application process more accessible to historically excluded groups.

As part of the new Strive Graduate Prep Academy, the University partnered with Kaplan, a test prep service, to offer students free preparation material to study for graduate school entrance exams such as the GRE, MCAT and LSAT. The academy also helps students access fee waivers for entrance exams to reduce the cost barriers of applying. LCAE director Eric Dieter said the program will prioritize students who belong to historically marginalized groups. 

In 2020, 47% of the University’s enrolled graduate students were white, 15% were Latinx and 4% were Black, according to the graduate school website.

“We developed Strive to scale up our ability to help undergraduates as they’re thinking about postgraduate opportunities,” Dieter said. “Everybody is welcome to apply, but we’re strongly encouraging Pell (Grant) eligible students, first generation students and historically excluded students to think about applying.”

Kaplan will provide free online courses to students in Strive GPA for 12 months, depending on their needs, Jessica Peterson, director of institutional partnerships at Kaplan, said. The MCAT prep course, the most expensive course, retails at $3,000 per student, Peterson said. The Strive application is located on the academy’s website.

“Exams have been a barrier to certain students because of access to test prep,” Peterson said. “We need more diverse medical fields, we need a more diverse law field. We want to make sure that we help these students get to where they want to go, into top schools, and provide that comprehensive prep for students.” 

Shaina Kambo, a geography and sustainability studies senior, said she was invited to participate in the launch of Strive GPA this summer to prepare for law school applications. Kambo said signing up for the LSAT prep course through Strive GPA saved her over $1,000.

“It’s been very helpful having both online resources where you can practice, and then having the sessions where you’re able to communicate with instructors live,” Kambo said. “So far, it’s been a lot more than I expected from a free course.”

Sociology senior Flavio Ramos said being a part of Strive GPA has given him a head start in the graduate school application process.

“I’ve been prepping for things like this for the last year,” Ramos said. “Now that I’m going to apply in the next two months, it’s like the cake has been baking in the oven for the last year because of these people.”