HS Students

A: Step one is choosing “Kinder Institute Democracy Lab” on MU’s online housing preference form when it opens up each fall. This will save your spot in the program, which you’ll then need to confirm by signing a housing contract with Res Life by the appropriate deadline (typically near the beginning of the February prior to matriculation). This will ensure that you’ll be able to take part in the residential aspect of the program.

You’ll also have the option to complete a brief scholarship application, which will be made available each year by September 1 through Mizzou’s central Scholarship Universe platform (instructions for creating a Scholarship Universe profile can be found here). Doing this will give you priority enrollment status in the courses associated with the Democracy Lab, should we exceed our 40-student cap, and make you immediately eligible for one of our Kinder, Morgan, or Atterbury Scholarships for first-year students. All students who submit materials by the December 1 early admission scholarship deadline will be notified about the status of their applications by the end of December at the latest. The regular application deadline will be January 15 each year, so all scholarship decisions can be made prior to students signing housing contracts.

A: In the past, cohorts have lived in either Wolpers Hall, a recently renovated, community-style dorm located in the heart of campus, right across the street from the Rec and the MU Student Center and a short walk from the Kinder Institute’s offices in Jesse Hall, or in the Honors College’s Mark Twain Residence Hall.

A: All students in the Democracy Lab will be introduced to the mode of interdisciplinary inquiry at the heart of all Kinder Institute academic programming through first year classes that engage them in consideration of the relationship between idea and action in the early United States and beyond. During the fall, students will take either “Intellectual World of the American Founders” (POL SC 2450), a small seminar that examines the political philosophy that informed the founding of the United States, or “Revolutions” (GN_HON 2245H), a global history of democratic revolutionary movements that’s part of the newly reinvigorated Honors College social science sequence. All KIDL students will also take HIST 2150, a small lecture course focused on taking a global perspective in interpreting the causes, events, and consequences of the American Civil War. In the spring, students will take either HIST 2100: The Revolutionary Transformation of Early America or the “Constitutions” half of the Honors social science sequence. Seats will be saved in another spring class or classes (TBD each year) for all Democracy Lab participants.

All courses associated with the program are part of the B.A. in Constitutional Democracy curriculum, which Democracy Lab participants can be as much as a third of the way toward completing at the end of their first year on campus. Program participants are not at all required to declare a Constitutional Democracy major, though we do encourage students interested in pursuing the degree to apply. Additionally, Honors eligibility is not a pre-requisite for being part of the program. By completing all four KIRC classes, anyone not pursuing the B.A. will immediately become eligible for the Certificate in American Constitutional Democracy.

Along with the two three-credit classes associated with the Democracy Lab, students will enroll during the fall semester in a one-credit hour seminar, designed specifically for residents by the program’s Graduate Teaching Assistant, that consists of guest lectures, group discussions, introductions to other Kinder Institute programs, and excursions in and around Columbia. A second one-credit hour course will be offered in the spring, focusing on campus history.

A: We’re excited to be able to supplement select students’ regular financial aid packages with a limited number of Morgan, Atterbury, and Kinder Scholarships, which range in amount from $500 – $2,000, and which are designed to support incoming freshmen during their first year in the Democracy Lab. Applications will run through Mizzou’s central Scholarship Universe platform (tips on how to set up a Scholarship Universe profile can be found here) and will open September 1 each year, with an early deadline of December 1 and a regular deadline of January 15.

A: Not at all. There will be no cost associated with the program other than standard tuition, fees, and room and board costs.

A: Absolutely! You can continue to live in the dorm. You can apply to be a Democracy Lab R.A. You can keep taking classes in the Constitutional Democracy B.A. curriculum whether you’re pursuing the major or not. And you can just stop by Jesse Hall for the various faculty-led and student-developed extracurricular programs and activities that are a huge part of the Democracy Lab experience.

Plus, we hope you’ll take advantage of some of the other unique undergraduate opportunities at the Kinder Institute. Our programs are open to all students on campus and, in addition to the B.A., include a yearlong academic fellowship program, a chance to study at Oxford for a week or full year, and a summer program in Washington, D.C. In other words, we envision the Democracy Lab being a four-year, not a one-year, experience.