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Minority students' achievement gaps in STEM majors and the concomitant lack of diversity in the workforce in this career have been serious concerns for a long time, prompting the need to search for intervention strategies. Research that updates the problem and seeks remediation took varying approaches, including investigating the issue from the perspective of SBP participation. Past research in the area employed variable research methods and yielded mixed outputs. In this study, a quantitative methodology involving causal-comparative design was used. It aimed to investigate the impacts of SBP participation on the Freshman GPA of minority students in STEM majors. In addition, it also sought to investigate whether the belief that SBP should be mandatory differs between SBP participants and non-participants. Tinto's student integration theory was used as the theoretical underpinning for this research. Data on Freshman GPAs and students' opinions were gathered on the instrument from 99 SBP participants and 179 non-SBP participants. The Non-Parametric Mann-Whitney U test yielded statistically significant results, Z = -12.79, p < .001, indicating significant differences in Freshman GPA among the groups. The SBP participant group (Mean Rank = 218.74, Median = 5.00) had significantly higher Freshman GPAs than their counterparts (Mean Rank = 95.67, Median = 3.00). Likewise, the Mann-Whitney U test findings for students' opinions were also statistically significant, Z = -12.25, p < .001, revealing significant differences between the two groups. Furthermore, the Kruskal-Wallis H test was conducted. The test’s result showed statistically significant differences in achievements and opinions between different categories without specifying which categories of the independent variables differ from which other categories. Hence, the subsequent Dunn-Bonferroni post-hoc test was run. It indicated no "within-group" significant differences in Freshman GPA and opinion based on genders, age categories, ethnicities, and majors–p = 1.00–among the SBP participants. However, the test revealed "between-group" differences between SBP participants and non-participants–p = .00. The results revealed that well and thoughtfully designed SBPs can help minority students accumulate better GPAs in STEM majors. Conversely, the discrepancies in students' opinions suggest that non-participant students may need to be informed of the program. Hence, the implications of this study offer valuable guidance for higher education institutions to thoughtfully develop their programs and enhance their promotional efforts to engage a broader student audience.