TL;DR:
Below are 19 medical programs for Massachusetts high school students, each with its cost or pay, dates, deadline, location, and who’s eligible to apply. A summer program shows you what medicine looks like up close. Horizon gives you something to show for it. You’ll work one-on-one with a PhD mentor on your own research question, in a course like Neurodegenerative Diseases or Gene Editing and CRISPR, and finish with a research paper. It’s online; cohorts start three times a year.
Medicine isn’t one subject. It’s patient care, lab science, public health, dentistry, engineering, and a lot of data. A medical program for high school students can mean pipetting DNA in a cancer lab, practicing sutures on a simulated patient, or working the front desk of a hospital floor once a week. Massachusetts has a lot of these packed into a small area, especially around Boston and Cambridge.
Paid internships put you in a research lab or a life sciences company. Hospital and health careers programs put you around patients and health workers. And summer programs you pay for, at places like Harvard, BU, and Tufts, teach clinical skills or college courses over one to seven weeks.
Who can apply to medical programs in Massachusetts?
| If you go to school in… | You can apply to |
| Any Massachusetts high school | Broad (commuting distance to Cambridge), CURE, MGH Youth Neurology, LEAH, BMC, UMass Chan HSHCP |
| Eastern Massachusetts or the Boston area | ADA Forsyth |
| Boston or Cambridge (you live there) | HMS Project Success |
| Boston, Cambridge, Everett, Revere, Lynn, Brockton, Chelsea or another Gateway city | Ragon RISE |
| A Gateway city public school, a vocational school, a public school where 25% or more of students are low-income, or METCO | Tufts TUBERS, MLSC Apprenticeship Challenge |
| Boston Public Schools, Revere High, Chelsea High or Edward M. Kennedy Academy | Mass General Brigham Youth Program, Vertex (BPS only) |
| Anywhere | HMS MEDscience, Harvard Summer School, BU AIM, BU RISE (US citizens and permanent residents only), Tufts Mini Med, Horizon |
Never worked in a lab? Most of these don’t expect you to have. Our list of research programs for complete beginners has more.
Tight budget? Start with the paid internships and the hospital programs, then look at the ones with aid. Our lists of paid medical internships, free medical programs and research grants for high school students have more options.
Paid medical internships in Massachusetts
1. Broad Summer Scholars Program
Location: Broad Institute, Cambridge. You commute every day.
Cost: Free. You get a $3,600 stipend plus partial reimbursement for travel.
Dates: June 29 to August 7, 2026 (six weeks). 2027 dates aren’t posted yet.
Application deadline: January 21 for the most recent posted cycle. The last application opened November 24, so watch for the 2027 one in late fall.
Eligibility: Rising seniors at a Massachusetts high school within commuting distance of the Broad, with a B or better in science and math. You must be a US citizen, a permanent resident, or a non-citizen with work authorization.
You’ll join a lab at one of the biggest genomics research centers in the world and work on a project with a scientist mentor. Research areas include cancer biology, psychiatric disease, chemical biology, computational biology, and infectious disease. You don’t need any research experience.
Who is it right for? A junior with strong science grades who can get to Cambridge every day and wants paid, serious lab work.
2. Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences (CURE) at Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center
Location: Longwood Medical Area, Boston. You commute five days a week.
Cost: Free. It’s a full-time paid internship with a summer stipend. The amount isn’t published.
Dates: A 7 to 11 week summer internship. The start date isn’t published.
Application deadline: February 6 for the most recent posted cycle (2026). No 2027 date has been posted.
Eligibility: High school sophomores, juniors and seniors who are 16 by the start, live or go to school in Massachusetts, and can travel to Longwood five days a week.
CURE places you in a cancer research lab with a mentor for the summer. On top of lab work, you’ll go to seminars and journal clubs, build lab skills, and finish by writing and presenting an abstract. To apply, you’ll need a transcript, a resume and two recommendations, one from a science or math teacher.
Want to go further? YES for CURE is the 2.5-year version, with paid summers at Longwood and meetings during the school year. It’s for Massachusetts sophomores and juniors who are 16 by the start. Its last deadline was December 1, 2025. For project ideas in this space, see our disease research project ideas.
Who is it right for? A student who wants to study cancer and can commute to Longwood all summer.
3. MGH Youth Neurology Education and Research Program
Location: Massachusetts General Hospital neurology labs. Exact sites aren’t published.
Cost: Free. It’s a paid summer internship at 40 hours a week. The rate isn’t published.
Dates: Not published. No 2027 dates are posted.
Application deadline: Not published. The program page doesn’t have an application link right now.
Eligibility: Massachusetts high school and undergraduate students. The program focuses on female, Black, Latinx, American Indian and first-generation students. Grade and age rules aren’t published.
You’ll do mentored research in a Mass General neurology lab. Around that, there’s a speaker series, career forums, leadership workshops, research presentations and peer mentoring. The program started in 2020 and has had more than 100 interns.
The page is light on details right now. Check it again in late fall, since most paid internships here open their applications between November and January. Need ideas for what you’d want to study? Our medical research topics list includes neuroscience questions.
Who is it right for? A Massachusetts student who’s fascinated by the brain and wants a full-time, paid lab summer.
4. ADA Forsyth Student Scholars Summer Program
Location: ADA Forsyth Institute, 100 Chestnut Street, Somerville. In person, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Cost: Free. You’re paid minimum wage for 35 hours a week, plus a transit pass.
Dates: June 29 to August 21, 2026. 2027 dates aren’t posted yet.
Application deadline: April 1 for the most recent posted cycle (2026). The opening date isn’t published.
Eligibility: Students in 9th, 10th or 11th grade when you apply, from the Eastern Massachusetts and Boston area, with an interest in STEM or oral health careers.
You’ll get a mentor and run an independent project in oral health, immunology or microbiology. There are weekly presentations, college-level lectures and a final poster. You’ll apply with a resume, a transcript, short answers and at least one reference, and some applicants get a virtual interview.
The outcomes are strong. Forsyth reports that 95% of its alumni finish a four-year degree. It’s also one of the few paid lab programs that takes 9th graders. Thinking about dentistry? Our dental research opportunities list goes deeper.
Who is it right for? A 9th or 10th grader near Boston who wants a paid lab summer early, especially if dentistry interests you.
5. LEAH Project
Location: Kendall Square, Cambridge. LEAH Knox runs in an MIT biology lab, and LEAH Daly runs at Biogen. You commute five days a week.
Cost: Free. Summer interns earn up to $2,250.
Dates: Five days a week from July into August. Exact dates aren’t published.
Application deadline: LEAH Knox takes applications from January to March each year. LEAH Daly’s window isn’t published.
Eligibility: Massachusetts residents or students who are 16 by the start and have finished high school biology. You must be a US citizen, a permanent resident, or a non-citizen with work authorization. The main service areas are Boston, Cambridge and Gateway cities.
LEAH stands for Leaders through Education, Action and Hope, and it has two tracks. Knox is a data science and biomedical research internship, starting in the summer after 10th or 11th grade. Daly is a five-week wet lab program with job shadowing at Biogen.
And it doesn’t end in August. Both tracks can place you in an academic or company lab the following summer. That makes LEAH a multi-year path, not just one summer. For similar programs, see our biochemistry internships list.
Who is it right for? A sophomore or junior near Cambridge who wants a paid way into biotech labs over two summers.
6. Harvard Medical School Project Success
Location: Harvard Medical School and affiliated labs, Boston. You commute.
Cost: Free. It’s a paid internship. The amount isn’t published.
Dates: June 29 to August 14, 2026, full time. 2027 dates aren’t posted yet.
Application deadline: February 4 for the most recent posted cycle (2026). No newer cycle has been posted.
Eligibility: Students who live in Boston or Cambridge, are in 11th or 12th grade, have at least a 2.70 GPA, and are 16 by the start. You need to have finished algebra, biology and chemistry, and you’ll need work papers and a parent’s consent.
You’ll be placed in a research lab at Harvard Medical School or one of its partner institutions and work on a project with a mentor. There are hospital and biotech visits, career sessions, and workshops on lab skills and public speaking. You’ll apply with a science teacher recommendation and a transcript going back to 9th grade.
Worried about your grades? The 2.70 GPA floor is lower than most programs here, so don’t count yourself out. For more Harvard options, see our list of Harvard research programs.
Who is it right for? A Boston or Cambridge junior or senior who wants a paid summer in a Harvard lab.
7. Ragon Institute Summer Experience (RISE)
Location: Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge. In person. Housing isn’t mentioned.
Cost: Free. High school students earn $17 an hour for 25 hours a week.
Dates: June 22 to August 7, 2026 (seven weeks). 2027 dates aren’t posted yet.
Application deadline: February 15 for the most recent posted cycle. The last application opened November 24.
Eligibility: Rising seniors, or seniors graduating that spring, who are 16 or older and attend school in Boston, Cambridge, Everett, Revere, Lynn, Brockton, Chelsea or another Massachusetts Gateway city. You need a 3.0 GPA and the legal right to work in the US.
The Ragon Institute studies the immune system, and RISE puts you in its labs for the summer. It’s part-time at 25 hours a week, which leaves you some room in your schedule.
Check the city list carefully. If you’re a senior from a Gateway city with a 3.0, this is one of the simplest paid lab programs to qualify for. For more free science options, see our list of free university science summer programs.
Who is it right for? A senior from Boston or a Gateway city who’s curious about immunology and wants paid lab hours.
8. Tufts Biomedical Engineering Research Scholars (TUBERS)
Location: Tufts University Science and Technology Center, 4 Colby Street, Medford. In person. No housing is mentioned.
Cost: Free. You’re paid $17 an hour.
Dates: July 6 to August 13, 2027 (six weeks, 35 hours a week).
Application deadline: April 16, 2027. The opening date isn’t published.
Eligibility: Students who are at least 16 and attend a vocational technical high school, a Gateway City public high school, a public school where at least 25% of students are low-income, or METCO. Recent graduates of those schools who aren’t in college can also apply.
You’ll spend six weeks in Tufts biomedical engineering labs, working on projects that sit between engineering and medicine. You have to attend all six weeks.
Good news if you like to plan. TUBERS has already posted its 2027 dates and deadline, which most programs here haven’t. If you lean toward the engineering side, see our engineering internships in Boston.
Who is it right for? A student who likes building things and wants to see how engineering solves medical problems.
9. Massachusetts Life Sciences Center High School Apprenticeship Challenge
Location: Research institutions and life sciences companies across Massachusetts. Hybrid roles have to be at least 40% in person.
Cost: Free. MLSC reimburses your host up to $4,080 per intern, based on $17 an hour for six weeks of full-time work. Your exact pay rate isn’t published.
Dates: Any time between May 1, 2026 and April 30, 2027 for the current cycle. Roles can be part-time or full-time.
Application deadline: Rolling. Funding is first come, first served, so apply early.
Eligibility: Students who are at least 16 by the start and attend a qualifying school. That includes Chapter 74 vocational schools, public or charter schools in the 26 Gateway Cities, public high schools where at least 25% of students are low-income, METCO, and some others listed on the MLSC page. Recent graduates who aren’t in college can also apply.
This isn’t a single program. It’s a state fund that pays companies and labs to host high school interns. You create an account on the MLSC site and apply there. Some students come in through partner programs instead, like LEAH Project, BioBuilder, WPI MeDHigh and Digital Ready.
And it’s big. With more than 150 new spots each year, it’s the biggest program on this page. For more ideas, see our list of STEM internships in Boston.
Who is it right for? A student at a qualifying school who wants a paid placement at a life sciences company.
10. Vertex Boston Learning Lab summer internship
Location: Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ Boston Learning Lab at its Boston headquarters.
Cost: Free. It’s a paid internship. The rate isn’t published.
Dates: Six weeks in the summer. Exact dates aren’t published.
Application deadline: Not published. You apply through the Boston Private Industry Council (PIC) and the Mayor’s Summer Jobs program.
Eligibility: Boston Public Schools high school students. Grade and age rules aren’t published.
Vertex is a Boston biotech company that has run this internship every summer for more than a decade. You’ll build lab and STEM skills, learn how the business side of biotech works, and get mentors. The 2024 cohort had 30 students, and more than 300 BPS students have taken part since 2012.
One tip before you search. The way in is the city’s summer jobs system, so start with the Boston PIC, not Vertex. For more company internships, see our biotech research summer programs.
Who is it right for? A Boston Public Schools student who wants to see how a biotech company works from the inside.
Hospital and health careers programs in Massachusetts
11. Boston Medical Center Junior Summer Volunteer Program
Location: Boston Medical Center, Boston. In person only.
Cost: Free. It’s an unpaid volunteer role.
Dates: June 29 to August 21, 2026 (eight weeks). 2027 dates aren’t posted yet.
Application deadline: In 2026, it opened January 21 for Boston Public Schools students and March 6 for everyone, then closed March 9 after 100 applications. No 2027 dates have been posted.
Eligibility: Students entering junior or senior year who can commit to all eight weeks. Boston residents get preference.
You’ll volunteer at least one three-hour shift a week on campus and go to a weekly one-hour talk with a healthcare professional. You get credit for your hours and a certificate at the end. BMC accepts about 70 students.
Here’s the catch. Last year the public window lasted three days, so have everything ready before it opens. Want more options like this? See our list of medical volunteer programs.
Who is it right for? A rising junior or senior who wants to be around patients and staff at a busy hospital, a few hours a week.
12. Mass General Brigham Youth Program
Location: Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital and Mass Eye and Ear, Boston. Afternoon hours.
Cost: Free. You’re paid for internships during the school year and summer. The rate isn’t published.
Dates: A multi-year program that starts in 10th grade, with support through college. Exact dates aren’t published.
Application deadline: Applications open in the spring, and students are chosen over the summer. No exact date is published.
Eligibility: 10th graders at a partner school: Edward M. Kennedy Academy for Health Careers, Revere High, Chelsea High, or any Boston public school. You need a 3.0 GPA and an interest in healthcare careers.
This program grew out of Brigham and Women’s old Student Success Jobs Program. You’ll work paid jobs inside Mass General Brigham hospitals over several years, not just one summer. About 75 students from Boston, Revere and Chelsea get in each year.
Think long term here. If you’re a Boston public school student, this is the longest-running hospital job you can get on this page. Rising 10th, 11th and 12th graders from Boston Public Schools can also apply for separate MGB summer jobs through the Boston PIC. For more ideas, see our list of hospital internships.
Who is it right for? A Boston, Revere or Chelsea sophomore who wants paid hospital work that lasts through high school.
13. UMass Chan High School Health Careers Program (HSHCP)
Location: UMass Chan Medical School, Worcester. It’s residential, and you live at Worcester State University.
Cost: Free, including housing and meals. You get a $600 stipend on the last day.
Dates: July 11 to August 6, 2027 (four weeks).
Application deadline: March 1, 2027, with no extensions. Applications open December 1, 2026.
Eligibility: Current sophomores or juniors who are 16 by July 1, 2027, live in Massachusetts and attend a Massachusetts high school. You must be a US citizen or permanent resident and have health insurance.
You’ll work in a small group on a health equity research project, get exposure to clinical and biomedical research, and do some job shadowing. You need a transcript, a one to two page personal statement and two recommendations. You can’t hold a job or another program during the four weeks.
Housing is the big draw. It’s the only free program on this page that also houses you. If you go to a Worcester public school, UMass Chan also runs MD CAMP, a free two-week day camp for rising juniors and seniors. Its last session ran July 6 to 17, 2026, with a May 15 deadline. For more on this field, see our list of public health research programs.
Who is it right for? A sophomore or junior from outside Boston who wants a free month away from home exploring health careers.
Medical summer programs you pay for, in Boston and online
14. HMS MEDscience
Location: Harvard Medical School, 210 Longwood Avenue, Boston. It’s a commuter program, with no housing.
Cost: $2,800 for a five-day week or $2,250 for a four-day week in 2026, including lunch and scrubs. The two-week MEDscienceTECH Visionaries track is $5,800. A limited number of partial and full scholarships go to Greater Boston students with financial need.
Dates: One-week sessions from June 8 to August 21, 2026. 2027 sessions aren’t posted yet.
Application deadline: The 2026 window ran January 1 to March 15, with decisions on April 8. No 2027 dates have been posted.
Eligibility: Students in grades 9 to 12 when they apply. MEDscienceLAB also requires you to be 16 by the start.
MEDscience is a set of one-week tracks. In Clinical, you treat simulated emergencies and practice vital signs, suturing, IVs and intubation. In LAB, you run DNA extraction, PCR, gel electrophoresis and ELISA on real patient samples. There are also Forensics, Dental and a surgical robotics and AI track.
Short on time? It’s the shortest program on this page at Harvard Medical School, and one of the few open to 9th graders. For a track-by-track look, see our list of Harvard medical summer programs.
Who is it right for? A student who wants one week to find out if clinical medicine is for them.
15. Harvard Summer School: premedical sciences and ethics courses
Location: Harvard University, Cambridge. You can live on campus, commute, or take courses online.
Cost: For 2027, the 7-week program is $4,180 (4 credits) or $8,160 (8 credits) online or commuting, and $15,980 residential. The 4-week program is $4,180 online or commuting and $9,260 residential. There’s a $75 application fee.
Dates: June 21 to August 6, 2027 for the 7-week program. The 4-week sessions run June 14 to July 8 and July 12 to August 5, 2027.
Application deadline: January 13 (early), February 10 (regular) and March 31 (late), 2027. Applications open December 1, 2026. Apply by the early or regular deadline if you want financial aid.
Eligibility: Students graduating high school in 2027, 2028 or 2029 who are at least 16 by mid-June 2027 and won’t turn 19 before July 31, 2027. Harvard lists both June 13 and June 20 as the age cutoff on different pages, so check the one for your session.
These are real Harvard courses for college credit, through the Secondary School Program. Medical options include Introduction to Biomedical Ethics, Introduction to Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, and Psychopathology. Financial aid is open to US citizens and permanent residents.
Want something shorter? Harvard’s Pre-College Program runs two-week, noncredit sessions for $6,250, but it’s residential only and closed to current seniors. For every Harvard summer option, see our list of Harvard summer programs.
Who is it right for? A student who wants college credit and a real Harvard transcript in a medical subject.
16. Boston University AIM: Introduction to Medicine
Location: Boston University’s Charles River Campus, Boston. Residential or commuter.
Cost: $5,991 commuter or $7,875 residential in 2026, plus a $75 application fee. There’s no financial aid. 2027 prices will be posted December 17, 2026.
Dates: Three-week sessions in 2027, either June 27 or 28 to July 16, or July 18 or 19 to August 6. The session for this course isn’t posted yet.
Application deadline: Applications open December 17, 2026 and close when the program fills. No fixed deadline is posted.
Eligibility: Students entering junior or senior year in fall 2027. You’ll need a transcript, a personal statement and one teacher recommendation.
Mornings are seminars on anatomy and physiology, infectious diseases and current issues in medicine. In the first week, your afternoons are simulation labs: physical exams, vital signs, suturing, anatomy and radiology. Weeks two and three move to physiology lab work, and you finish by presenting your findings.
Timing matters here. It fills up instead of closing on a date, so apply soon after December 17. For similar options, see our list of pre-college medical programs.
Who is it right for? A rising junior or senior who wants three structured weeks of clinical skills and lab work, and can cover the cost.
17. Boston University RISE Internship and Practicum
Location: Boston University, Boston. Most students live in the dorms, but you can commute from a relative’s home.
Cost: $6,415 commuter or $10,735 residential in 2026, plus a $75 application fee. Limited need-based aid is available. There’s no stipend. 2027 rates post December 17, 2026.
Dates: June 27 (residential) or June 28 (commuter) to August 6, 2027 (six weeks).
Application deadline: February 3, 2027. Applications open December 17, 2026.
Eligibility: Students entering senior year in fall 2027. Only US citizens and permanent residents can apply.
In the Internship track, you work about 40 hours a week in a BU faculty lab. Health-related areas include medical laboratory research (anatomy and neurobiology, biochemistry, virology and immunology, pharmacology, psychiatry), biomedical engineering, neuroscience, nutrition and public health. The Practicum track is more structured, with a computational neurobiology option.
Expect tough odds. About 190 students get in out of thousands of applicants. It’s noncredit and you get a certificate. For other competitive options, see our list of the most competitive research programs.
Who is it right for? A rising senior who wants six full weeks in a university lab and can pay for it.
18. Tufts University Mini Med School
Location: Tufts University’s Medford campus and Boston Health Sciences campus. Residential or commuter, depending on the session.
Cost: $3,625 for a one-week commuter session, up to $6,950 for two weeks residential. Prices are posted for 2027 but may change. Limited need-based scholarships are available.
Dates: Three sessions: a one-week commuter session, a two-week session and another one-week session. 2027 dates haven’t been released.
Application deadline: Applications open December 14, 2026. The deadline hasn’t been posted.
Eligibility: Students entering grades 11 or 12 who are 16 by the start and have taken a year of high school biology.
Tufts medical school faculty design the program, and medical students teach it. You’ll do clinical simulations, anatomy dissections and microbiology labs, and practice suturing and vital signs. There’s a multi-day lab where you diagnose a bacterial infection, and a group capstone project with current medical students.
Not set on being a doctor? You’ll also meet dentists, vets and physician assistants, so you can compare careers. Tufts runs a Mini Dental School on the same model, at $3,625 for one week or $5,425 to $6,950 for two. For more programs like this, see our list of pre-med camps.
Who is it right for? A rising junior or senior who wants a short, clinical taste of medical school with real med students.
19. Horizon Academic Research Program
Location: Online.
Cost: $6,950 per course. Need-based financial aid is available for families earning under $75,000.
Dates: Fall and spring terms run 15 weeks, and summer runs 10 weeks. Labs last 12 to 16 weeks, and Seminars last 10 to 12.
Application deadline: Cohorts start in the spring, summer and fall, each with its own deadline. Check the programs page for the next one.
Eligibility: High school students with at least a 3.67 unweighted GPA.
Horizon pairs you one-on-one with a PhD mentor, and you choose your own research question. Medical and life science courses include Neuroscience, Computational Neuroscience, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Gene Editing and CRISPR, Protein Biophysics, and Environmental Health and Engineering. You’ll spend 8 to 10 hours a week and finish with a research paper of about 5,000 words.
You get more than a mentor. A Lab includes 15 sessions with your instructor, plus four with a writing coach and four with a publication specialist who can help you look at journals or competitions. Horizon accepted 26% of its 6,539 applicants, so it’s selective, but where you live and which school you attend don’t matter. Learn more about online research mentorship programs.
Who is it right for? A student who wants their own medical research question and a finished paper, from anywhere in Massachusetts or beyond.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. The Boston Medical Center Junior Summer Volunteer Program is the clearest one, with weekly shifts and talks from health workers. It fills fast, so apply the day it opens. The Mass General Brigham Youth Program is paid work rather than volunteering, but it puts you inside hospitals for years. Our list of volunteer programs for high school students has more.
On this list, Horizon is fully online, and Harvard Summer School offers online courses. Most lab internships need you in person. If you can’t get to Boston or Cambridge, see our lists of online medical research programs and online medical summer programs.
Yes, a few run past the summer. The MGB Youth Program pays you during the school year, YES for CURE runs for 2.5 years, and LEAH Knox includes STEM events during the year. MLSC placements can happen any time between May and April. Horizon runs fall and spring terms too, so you can do research while you’re in school.
More than you’d think. Clinical courses like HMS MEDscience, Tufts Mini Med and BU AIM let you try being a doctor. CURE and Broad focus on cancer research, and MGH Youth Neurology and BU RISE cover the brain. ADA Forsyth is built around oral health, and Tufts and MEDscience both run dental tracks. TUBERS is biomedical engineering, HSHCP centers on public health, and LEAH, Vertex and MLSC put you in biotech. For more, see our lists of nursing programs, dental research opportunities and public health summer programs.
That’s common, since the cohorts are small and many programs only take certain schools. Horizon is fully online, so your city doesn’t matter. You’ll work one-on-one with a PhD mentor on a medical research question you choose and finish with your own paper. Tuition is $6,950, with need-based aid for families earning under $75,000.
Massachusetts has an unusual number of hospitals, research institutes and biotech companies in a small area, so you’ll find a lot of paid lab programs close together. The catch is that many of them are only for local students. For national options, see our lists of medical summer programs and internships and medicine summer internships.
Harvard runs more programs than we could fit here, including other MEDscience tracks and Harvard Medical School’s HMX pre-college program. We cover them in our list of Harvard medical summer programs. For online options, see online Harvard research opportunities.
It can be, if you pick the right one for what you want to learn. A short clinical course helps you find out if you like medicine before you commit years to it. A lab internship shows you how research works and what scientists do all day. And either one gives you something concrete to talk about when you explain why you’re interested in health careers. For a closer look, read whether summer research programs help with college admissions.
Resources
Official sources used for this page:
- Massachusetts Life Sciences Center High School Apprenticeship Challenge
- DF/HCC YES for CURE
- UMass Chan MD CAMP
- Harvard Pre-College Program
- Tufts Mini Dental School
- HMS MEDscience fees and scholarships
More medical programs from Horizon:
- Health science summer programs
- Summer hospital internships
- Public health research opportunities
- Biology research programs
More in Massachusetts and Boston:
- Free summer programs in Massachusetts
- Free summer programs in Boston
- Internships in Massachusetts
- Boston summer programs
Doing your own research:
- Ways to get research opportunities in high school
- How to publish research in high school
- Research journals for high school students
- Research competitions for high school students
- What you can do with a high school research paper
- Biology research topics
Start your own medical research with Horizon
Most programs on this page give you a summer inside someone else’s project. Horizon lets you ask your own question. You’ll work one-on-one with a PhD mentor in a course like Neurodegenerative Diseases, Gene Editing and CRISPR, or Computational Neuroscience, and finish with a research paper of about 5,000 words. A writing coach and a publication specialist help you get it ready to submit to journals or competitions, though publication is never guaranteed.
It’s fully online, so where you go to school doesn’t matter. Cohorts start in the spring, summer and fall, and need-based aid is available for families earning under $75,000. Explore Horizon’s courses and apply.
Image source: Tufts University