12 Summer Medical Programs + Pre-Med Summer Programs for High School Students in Arizona for 2024
If you are a high school student in Arizona interested in exploring medicine beyond the classroom, consider joining a summer medical program, or a pre-med summer program for high school students in Arizona!
A summer medical program for high school students in Arizona can help deepen your understanding of the medical field and human health, develop problem-solving and reasoning skills, and improve the well-being of the community in which you live and work. A healthcare career requires substantial knowledge and people skills which can only be gleaned through hands-on experience like that provided by a solid pre-med summer program.
If you’re applying to college, participating in these summer medical programs in Arizona can also enhance your college applications by showcasing your commitment to the medical field through.
With that, here are 12 great summer medical and pre-med summer programs for high school students in Arizona in 2024.
Cost: $5000, financial scholarships and tuition waivers are available.
Application Deadline: The deadline for the 2024 summer program was February 1. TBD for 2025.
Program Dates: 6 weeks, mid-June to July
Eligibility: Must be U.S. citizens and one-year Arizona residents who have completed junior year in high school, have a strong interest in healthcare, and have a GPA higher than 3.0. The program encourages students from underrepresented and ethnic minority backgrounds to apply!
This six-week academic medical enrichment program is meant to improve both information and access to healthcare careers for high school students. In combination with tours of healthcare facilities and labs, and lectures on health careers, students are also expected to take intro-level college courses in English, Math, and Chemistry that yield transferable credits. Participants will reside in Arizona University’s Residential Hall for the entirety of the program.
Veritas AI is an AI program for ambitious high school students, founded and run by Harvard graduate students. In the AI + Medicine program, students learn how AI is used in the healthcare and medical industry. You will get a chance to work on real-world projects using AI & ML models to diagnose diseases, sharpen medical scans, and explain their outcomes to aid doctors and patients. Here is the program brochure and the application form.
Cost: $1790
Eligibility: High school students who have completed the AI Scholars program
or have prior Python experience.
Duration: 10 sessions, 2.5 hours per session
Dates: Jun 9 - Aug 11 (Sundays, 11 AM - 1:30 PM EST)
Application Deadline: Varying deadlines based on cohort. Main summer deadlines are March 15, April 15, and May 15
Duration: Options range from 12 weeks to 1 year.
Location: Remote — you can participate in this program from anywhere in the world!
Eligibility:
You must be currently enrolled in high school
Students must demonstrate a high level of academic achievement. (Note. students have an unweighted GPA of 3.3 out of 4)
No previous knowledge of your field of interest is required!
Program Dates: Summer cohort runs from June to August, Fall cohort from September to December, Winter cohort from December to February, Spring from March to June
The Lumiere Research Scholar Program is a rigorous research program tailored for high school students. The program offers extensive 1-on-1 research opportunities for high school students, across a broad range of subject areas that you can explore as a high schooler.
The program pairs high-school students with Ph.D. mentors to work 1-on-1 on an independent research project. At the end of the 12-week program, you’ll have developed an independent research paper! You can choose research topics from subjects such as medicine, life science, psychology, physics, economics, data science, computer science, engineering, chemistry, international relations, and more. You can find more details about application form here!
Location: Virtual
Application Date: May 21, 2024 for the summer cohort, and September 25, 2024 for the fall cohort
Program Dates:
Summer seminar - June 24, 2024 - September 2, 2024
Fall seminar - October 23, 2024 - February 19, 2025
Lab dates are flexible, but you must apply 4 weeks in advance.
Eligibility: High school students with good academic standing (>3.67/4.0 GPA) can apply. Most accepted students are 10th/11th graders! Only a couple of tracks require formal prerequisites, more details of which can be found here.
Horizon offers trimester-long research programs for high school students across subject areas such as medicine, public health, data science, machine learning, political theory, biology, chemistry, neuroscience, psychology, and more! It is one of the very few research programs for high school students that offers a choice between quantitative and qualitative research!
Once you select a particular subject track and type of research you’ll be paired with a professor or Ph.D. scholar (from a top university) who will mentor you throughout your research journey. You’ll work to create a 20-page, university-level research paper that you can send to prestigious journals for publication as a high school student.
This program is a solid opportunity for you to pursue a research program in highly specialized fields, under the guidance of a top scholar. The program also provides a letter of recommendation for each student, as well as detailed project feedback that you can use to work on future projects and on college applications. Apply here!
Cost: $1990 (Financial Aid Available)
Location: Remote! You can work from anywhere in the world.
Application deadline: Deadlines vary depending on the cohort
Program dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year
Eligibility: Students who can work for 10-20 hours/week, for 8-12 weeks. Open to high school students, undergraduates and gap year students!
Ladder Internships is a selective start-up internship program for ambitious high school students! In the program, you work with a high-growth start-up on an internship. Start-ups that offer internships range across a variety of industries from medicine, health tech, tech/deep tech, marketing, journalism, consulting, and more. You can explore all the options here on their application form. Ladder’s start-ups are high-growth companies on average raising over a million dollars. Past founders have included YCombinator alums, founders raising over 30 million dollars, or founders who previously worked at Microsoft, Google, and Facebook. In the program, interns work closely with their managers and a Ladder Coach on real-world projects and present their work to the company. Here is the application form.
Interns are offered one-on-one training in communication, time management and other such valuable skills and will also have the opportunity to attend group training sessions with other interns in their cohort. The virtual internship is usually 8 weeks long.
Cost: Free
Application Deadline: The deadline for the 2024 volunteer program was January 17. TBD for 2025.
Program Dates: 8 weeks, from June to July.
Eligibility: Students must be between 15 and 18 years to participate, and be able to commit to the program dates, a virtual interview, and the in-person orientation.
The Student Volunteer Program at Mayo Clinic’s Phoenix campus introduces high school students to the healthcare environment through non-patient and patient interaction service assignments. Student volunteers are assigned to a weekly four-hour shift where they take on these assignments and help with the clinic’s day-to-day operations. While the number of hours they can contribute is flexible, volunteers need at least four and not more than twelve hours each week.
Cost: Free. Participants receive academic credit for their participation.
Application Deadline: TBD for 2025.
Program Dates: 7 weeks, typically from early June
Eligibility: Students must be at least 16 years old, and U.S. citizens or legal residents with a minimum of one year of Arizona residency.
The KEYS internship at the University of Arizona is a competitive opportunity for students to delve into medical and data science research guided by mentors. The first week will teach participants science literacy, and general bioscience and data science techniques. From their second week, students work in labs alongside researchers and mentors for 35–40 hours each week.
Participants can expect weekly science seminars to help with their research presentation, and develop their research poster. At the internship's end, students will present their research poster to faculty, peers, mentors, and staff. With a total of 430 applications received for the 2024 cohort, the program will begin in June with a select cohort of 56 students, reflecting an acceptance rate of approximately 13.02%. This underscores the program’s rigorous selection process and the high demand among aspiring researchers.
Cost: Free. Students must arrange transport to and from the event location at Midwestern University’s Glendale Campus in Arizona.
Application Deadline: TBD for 2025. Typically around the beginning of April. More information here.
Program Dates: 8 days, typically at the end of June as per the previous year’s schedule.
Eligibility: Open to all Arizona high school students.
Midwestern University will host a free 8-day hands-on Health Careers Institute at their Glendale campus, running daily from 9 AM to 4 PM. This event will offer participants an in-depth exploration of various healthcare professions. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with faculty and students while learning about fields such as Osteopathic Medicine, Pharmacy, Dental Medicine, Podiatric Medicine, Biomedical Sciences, Clinical Psychology, Optometry, Veterinary Medicine, and Public Health, among many more. The workshop aims to provide valuable insights and practical experience for Arizona high school students interested in pursuing careers in healthcare.
Cost: $500 which covers meals, room & board, camp activities, scrubs, t-shirt, group transportation during camp, and group evening activities. Full & partial needs-based financial aid is available.
Application Deadline: TBD for 2025. Typically around March as per the previous year’s deadline.
Program Dates: 6 days, tentatively in the first week of June as per the previous year’s schedule.
Eligibility: Open to current 11th-grade high school students.
The Summer Scrubs Residential Program is a six-day camp at the University of Arizona College of Medicine’s Phoenix campus allowing rising seniors to explore their future as potential healthcare physicians. This enrichment program includes hands-on activities, field trips, lab experiences like simulations, and interactive lectures from healthcare providers and medical students. There is also a Summer Scrubs Day Camp open to rising seniors and the Healthcare Team for current high school freshmen and sophomores.
Cost: Free to attend virtual camp
Application Deadline: TBD for 2025. Get more information here.
Program Dates: 1 week in June
Eligibility: Open to Arizona high school students
The Colorado Plateau Center for Health Professions (CPCHP) collaborates with other AHECs in Arizona for the Future Health Leaders Camp, a week-long virtual summer camp for high school students across Arizona. The camp, offered at no cost, provides opportunities to interact with professionals from a wide range of health careers. Past activities have included exploring different health careers, college preparation, local college tours, First Aid and CPR training, TGEN tour, nurse training simulations, community health volunteer work, and recreational activities like rock climbing and a Diamondbacks baseball game.
This program is highly beneficial to high school students interested in medicine, offering them early exposure to various health careers, hands-on training, and opportunities to interact with healthcare professionals. This can help in informed career decision-making and college preparation.
Cost: No cost, stipend provided
Application Deadline: TBD for 2025, with the tentative deadline likely in February.
Program Dates:
In-Person Program, typically four weeks in June
Virtual Program, typically one week from July 8–12
Eligibility: Arizona high school freshmen, sophomores, and juniors are eligible to apply!
The mission of the Mayo Clinic Career Advancement, Research, and Education Summer (CARES) Program is to expose students to the full spectrum of healthcare careers and provide longitudinal mentorship. Over the summer, participants will explore diverse healthcare careers, gain hands-on hospital experience, and connect with professionals.
The program aims to inspire future healthcare leaders by helping students discover their strengths and promoting wellness. Additionally, selected Mayo Clinic mentors will offer long-term mentorship beyond the program. View the 2024 program flier here.
Cost: Free. The program covers food and lodging, materials, and classes. However, participants will be expected to travel to and from the program at their own expense.
Application Deadline: The deadline for the 2024 summer program was April 1. TBD for 2025.
Program Dates: Two camps, typically a week each in June as per the previous year’s schedule.
Eligibility: Rising seniors in high school expected to graduate the following year are eligible to apply!
This program, held at Arizona State University's downtown Phoenix campus, is a one-week immersive camp introducing healthcare careers to high school students. Students can expect to learn more being a physical therapist, optometrist, dentist, physician, occupational therapist, and health care provider. Participants will be taught medical skills like suturing, and working with IVs, injections, and intubations. They will directly communicate with the healthcare team and tour the various healthcare facilities within Arizona’s health corridor.
Trisha Malhotra, an Ashoka University alumna, has 5 years of experience being a freelance writer and currently writes for Lumiere Education. She is passionate about music, reading, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, as well as a devoted cat parent.
Image Source: University of Arizona logo