Posse Application Details
About Posse
The Posse Foundation identifies, recruits, and trains individuals with extraordinary leadership potential. Posse Scholars receive a full-tuition, merit-based leadership scholarship from Posse’s partner colleges and universities.
Please note that the Posse Scholarship is neither a minority nor a need-based scholarship. It is open to students of all backgrounds.
History
Posse was founded in 1989 because of one student who said, “I never would’ve dropped out of college if I’d had my posse with me.” The simple idea of sending a group of students together to college so they could “back each other up” became the impetus for a program that today has identified, recruited, and trained more than 15,000 students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential. Since 2006, Oberlin has welcomed hundreds of Posse Scholars from Chicago and Houston.
Mission
The Posse model works for both students and college campuses and is rooted in the belief that a small, diverse group of talented students—a Posse—carefully selected and trained, can serve as a catalyst for individual and community development. As the United States becomes an increasingly multicultural society, Posse believes that the leaders of the 21st century should reflect the country’s rich demographic mix. The key to a promising future for our nation rests on the ability of strong leaders from diverse backgrounds to develop consensus solutions to complex social problems. Posse’s primary aim is to train these leaders of tomorrow.
Posse program goals
- To expand the pool from which top colleges and universities can recruit outstanding young leaders from diverse backgrounds.
- To help these institutions build more interactive campus environments so that they can be more welcoming for people from all backgrounds.
- To ensure that Posse Scholars persist in their academic studies and graduate so they can take on leadership positions in the workforce.
What the Posse Scholarship Covers
Students who are selected to become Posse Scholars receive a full-tuition scholarship. Additional financial aid for room and board may be provided by Oberlin based on your level of financial need. This aid may include loans.
Posse Application Process and Requirements
To be eligible, you must:
- Reside in either the Chicago or Houston metropolitan area
- Be nominated by your high school, a community-based organization, or a Posse alum
- Be in the first term of your senior year of high school
- Demonstrate leadership within your high school, community, and/or family
- Demonstrate academic potential
- Apply on time; depending on the Posse city or program, nominations are accepted in the spring and summer before your senior year begins (contact your local Posse office for specific deadlines)
Posse seeks students who are:
- Leaders in their high schools and communities
- Committed to their education and those who demonstrate academic potential
- Interested in teamwork and diversity
- Positive, motivated, talented, ambitious young people
From September to December each year, Posse conducts a “Dynamic Assessment Process” (DAP), a unique evaluation method designed to identify young leaders who might be missed by traditional admissions criteria but who can excel at selective colleges and universities.
Using nontraditional forums to evaluate potential, DAP offers students an opportunity to demonstrate their intrinsic leadership abilities, their skill at working in a team setting, and their motivation and desire to succeed. DAP has proven to be an extremely effective tool for identifying outstanding young leaders. Through a three-part assessment process that includes large-group and individual interviews, Posse staff and partner college and university administrators ultimately select a diverse group of 10 students — a Posse — for each institution.
Posse Application Timeline
- June – July: Posse nominations are accepted
- Late August/early September: DAP 1 Interviews (Posse staff)
- Mid/late September: DAP 2 Interviews (Posse staff)
- October: Finalists for each college partner are selected and notified
- Early November: Students submit their Common Application to Oberlin through the Early Decision application round
- Early December: DAP 3 Interviews (Posse staff and Oberlin staff)
- Mid-December: Posse staff and Oberlin staff work together to select one Posse from Chicago and one from Houston. If you are not selected for the Posse Scholarship, your application is no longer binding and will be reviewed for admission in Oberlin's Early Action round.
- January-Early August: Pre-collegiate Training
- Late August: Arrive at Oberlin with your Posse!
Posse staff will let you know after each DAP stage whether you have advanced to the next round.