Medical Programs for High School Students in Florida (2027)

TL;DR

Below are 23 medical programs and internships for Florida high school students, each with its cost, pay, dates, deadline, and eligibility requirements. A hospital or lab program shows you what medicine looks like up close. Horizon’s research program lets you work one-on-one with a professor or PhD mentor on a single research question, and finish with a research paper. It’s fully online; cohorts start three times a year.

What a medical program in Florida actually looks like

A medical program for high school students can mean many things. Sometimes it’s a summer job in a neuroscience lab in Jupiter, where you get paid by the hour to run experiments. Sometimes it’s five days of suturing practice, ultrasound, and patient simulators at a medical school. And sometimes it’s a week in a pharmacy lab learning to fill prescriptions.

Florida’s programs cluster around a few big medical hubs: Miami, Palm Beach County, Tampa, Gainesville, Jacksonville and Tallahassee. They run from a three-day career workshop to a six-month research program that stretches into your senior year. Some house you in a dorm. Most don’t.

What will you actually do in a Florida medical program?

The word “program” hides very different summers. Here’s what each type looks like day to day.

Type	What a day looks like	Programs
Research in a lab	You join a working lab, run experiments on a real project, and present a poster or talk at the end	Kenan Fellows, Max Planck Florida, FIU CTS, JJ Vance, FIU Cardiovascular, Mayo SPARK, Moffitt HIP IMO, UF SSTP, UF REx
Medical school camps	A week of suturing, CPR, ultrasound, simulated patients and shadowing doctors	AIM-High, USF Mini-Med, UF SPMPP, FSU Summer Institute, UCF HLSA, Mayo Pathways, USF-Moffitt Oncology
Nursing and pharmacy	Simulation labs, patient care basics, or compounding prescriptions	USF Nursing Pathway, UF Gator Pharmacy, FAMU Emerging Pharmacists
Inside a hospital	You shadow clinicians or work in a hospital department	Baptist Health Observer, Nicklaus Children’s
College courses for credit	Two university classes, labs and field trips, with credit on a college transcript	UMiami Summer Scholars
Online research with a mentor	Your own research question, worked through one-on-one with a professor, ending in a paper	Horizon

If you want to find out whether you’d like being a doctor, a medical school camp is the quickest test. If you already know you like science and want proof you can do it, a lab program is the stronger pick. Not sure what you’d even study? Browse these medical research topics and disease research project ideas first.

Find your part of Florida

If you live in…	Jump to
Miami, Fort Lauderdale or the rest of South Florida	South Florida
Palm Beach, Martin or St. Lucie County	Palm Beach and the Treasure Coast
Tampa, St. Petersburg or Clearwater	Tampa Bay
Orlando, Jacksonville or Gainesville	Orlando, Jacksonville and Gainesville
Anywhere, and you’d rather live on campus or work online	Programs open to students anywhere in Florida

Looking beyond Florida or beyond medicine? Try our national lists of medical research programs, medical camps and medical summer programs, or the statewide list of Florida summer programs.

Medical programs in South Florida

Miami has the most options in the state, from a paid genomics internship to a children’s hospital to a week of medical school at NSU. Almost all of them expect you to commute, and two only take students from Miami-Dade or Broward schools. If you want non-medical options nearby too, our lists of Miami internships and Miami summer programs cover the rest.

1. JJ Vance Memorial Summer Internship at the University of Miami

Location: John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami. In person, and you commute.
Cost: Free, and it’s a paid internship. The current pages don’t give a rate. The 2025 application listed about $15 an hour.
Dates: June 15 to August 7, 2026, eight weeks. No 2027 dates are posted yet.
Application deadline: January 31 for the 2026 cycle, which opened December 1, 2025. No 2027 dates are posted yet.
Eligibility: Outstanding juniors in good standing at Miami and Broward-area high schools. The 2025 application also required proof that you’re eligible to work in the US.

You’re paired with a staff scientist, postdoc or faculty member at the Hussman Institute, which studies how genes shape human disease. Projects span biology and computing. The 2026 interns worked on genetic variants, Alzheimer’s disease, long-read sequencing and the blood-brain barrier. You finish with a short oral presentation at a research luncheon.

It’s very selective. UM says the 2026 cohort was 15 juniors picked from 140 applicants. If genetics is your thing, our list of genetics research programs has more like it.

Who is it right for? You’re a Miami or Broward junior who wants a paid summer doing genetics research at a medical school.

2. FIU Summer Research Internship in Cardiovascular Health

Location: Florida International University’s Modesto Maidique and Engineering Center campuses, Miami. In person, and you commute.
Cost: Not published. The page doesn’t mention a fee or a stipend.
Dates: June 12 to August 7, 2026, eight weeks.
Application deadline: Applications for summer 2027 open in January 2027. No closing date is posted.
Eligibility: South Florida high school juniors, graduating seniors who’ve committed to FIU, or accepted FIU transfer students. You need to be 16 by the start date, have at least a 3.0 unweighted GPA and a strong interest in heart research.

You’ll spend at least 15 hours a week in a research lab with a faculty mentor. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, the group meets for case studies, journal clubs and workshops, plus a seminar on research ethics. At the end, every intern writes an abstract and presents at a symposium, where the top three win awards.

FIU took 28 interns in each of the last two summers. That’s a bigger cohort than most lab programs on this page, which helps your odds.

Who is it right for? You’re a South Florida junior with a 3.0 or higher who wants a full summer of heart research.

3. Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Summer Youth Internship Program

Location: Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, Miami. In person.
Cost: Not published. You can earn academic credit if you pass the internship evaluation.
Dates: Five weeks in summer, at least 30 hours a week. Exact dates aren’t published.
Application deadline: Not published. All applications go through Miami-Dade County Public Schools, at miamiinterns.org.
Eligibility: Rising 10th to 12th graders, ages 15 to 18, enrolled in a Miami-Dade County public school.

Nicklaus Children’s is a pediatric hospital in Miami, and this is a five-week, work-based internship inside it. To apply, you finish an online pre-internship course and send your documents to your school’s internship contact.

There’s also a school-year version, the Teen Academic Year Program. It’s for M-DCPS juniors and seniors with at least a 2.5 unweighted GPA and strong attendance. You’d put in 5 to 10 hours a week from August to May, in person, online or a mix of both. That one focuses on healthcare administration, so expect the business side of a hospital, not patient care.

Who is it right for? You’re in a Miami-Dade public school and want to see how a children’s hospital runs, with school credit for it.

4. Baptist Health South Florida Observer Program

Location: Baptist Health facilities in South Florida. In person.
Cost: Free for high school students, since the fee is waived with proof of enrollment. It’s unpaid.
Dates: Anywhere from one day to four weeks, all year round. Your sponsor sets the length.
Application deadline: Rolling. Apply at least 15 business days before you want to start.
Eligibility: Students who are 16 or older by the start date, with proof of enrollment, a confirmed sponsor at Baptist Health, a health form covering vaccines and a TB test, health insurance and a photo ID.

This is pure observation. You won’t touch patients, but you’ll watch a Baptist Health clinician or staff member at work, in clinical or non-clinical careers. The hard part is the sponsor: you need a Baptist employee or medical staff member to sign off before you apply. So if you know a doctor, nurse or therapist there, ask them first.

Baptist also lists a High School Summer Healthcare Immersion Program and a volunteer program on its high school opportunities page, though no details are posted yet.

Who is it right for? You’re 16, you have a contact at Baptist Health, and you want to shadow on your own schedule, even during the school year.

5. NSU AIM-High (Achieve in Medicine)

Location: Nova Southeastern University’s Fort Lauderdale campus, or its Tampa Bay Regional Campus in Clearwater. A day camp, so you commute.
Cost: $1,800, plus a $50 application fee you don’t get back. Meals, snacks and materials are included. Need-based scholarships are available with a one-page essay.
Dates: Five days, 7+ hours a day. In 2027, Fort Lauderdale runs June 28 to July 2 and July 12 to 16, and Clearwater runs June 21 to 25.
Application deadline: Applications open in November 2026. Seats are filled on a rolling basis, so the real deadline is whenever your session fills.
Eligibility: Rising high school freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors with at least a 3.2 GPA.

AIM-High is run by NSU’s college of osteopathic medicine, and it packs a lot into five days. You’ll practice suturing, CPR and AED, Stop the Bleed, intubation, lumbar punctures, blood draws, splinting and ultrasound, and you’ll take part in a brain dissection. There’s VR simulation, case reviews with physicians and a panel of medical students too. You’ll get a look at more than 15 health fields in one week.

Each session takes up to 50 students. It’s one of the few programs here open to rising freshmen, and the Clearwater session makes it an option for Tampa Bay students too.

Who is it right for? You’re in South Florida or Tampa Bay, you have a 3.2 or higher, and you want to try as many parts of medicine as you can in one week.

Medical programs in Palm Beach and the Treasure Coast

Jupiter is a small town with two big research institutes, and both run paid summer programs for local high schoolers. These are the best-paid programs on this list, but you have to go to school in Palm Beach or Martin County to apply. St. Lucie County students get their own program in Port St. Lucie.

6. Kenan Fellows High School Summer Internship at the Wertheim UF Scripps Institute

Location: Wertheim UF Scripps Institute, Jupiter. In person, and you arrange your own transportation. No housing is provided.
Cost: Free, and you’re paid a $4,480 stipend for the summer.
Dates: June 5 to July 31, 2026, eight weeks, 40 hours a week. Summer 2027 dates aren’t posted yet.
Application deadline: The 2026 cycle has closed. The institute says to check back this fall for the 2027 application period.
Eligibility: US citizens or permanent residents who’ll start their junior or senior year at a Palm Beach or Martin County high school in the fall, with at least a 3.0 GPA. You must be available for the whole internship. The page also lists a minimum age of 14.

The Kenan Fellows program has run since 2005. You’ll work full time in a UF Scripps lab next to a scientist, learning bench skills, experimental design and data analysis, with a scientific seminar each week. You finish by writing a scientific abstract and giving both an oral presentation and a poster.

Few programs anywhere pay high schoolers this well for lab work. So if you qualify, treat this as a top application.

Who is it right for? You’re a Palm Beach or Martin County student with a 3.0 or higher who wants a paid, full-time lab job.

7. Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience High School Internship

Location: Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, Jupiter. In person.
Cost: Free, and you’re paid $14 an hour for 40 hours a week.
Dates: Six weeks in summer. Exact dates aren’t published.
Application deadline: The 2026 cycle has closed. No 2027 deadline or opening date is posted.
Eligibility: Students entering their junior or senior year who are 16 by the start date, live in Palm Beach or Martin County, attend a high school there, and are legally allowed to work in the US. No GPA minimum is listed.

Max Planck Florida studies how the brain is built and how it works. You’ll pick one of four tracks. The neuroscience track is wet lab work: genetic engineering, staining tissue and microscopy. The other three are scientific programming, mechanical engineering with SolidWorks, and a public engagement track where you build online STEM activities.

Every intern writes a scientific abstract and gives a short presentation at the end of the summer. Love the brain? Our list of neuroscience summer programs has options outside Palm Beach too.

Who is it right for? You’re a Palm Beach or Martin County student who’s 16 or older and wants to be paid to study the brain, in the lab or at a keyboard.

8. FIU Center for Translational Science High School Summer Internship

Location: FIU Center for Translational Science, Port St. Lucie. In person.
Cost: Not published.
Dates: Five weeks in summer. The program page still shows the 2025 session, June 9 to July 10, 2025. FIU’s 2026 flyer points to a June 8, 2026 start.
Application deadline: Not published. You apply through your high school guidance counselor, and FIU sends program details to schools in the spring.
Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors who live and attend school in St. Lucie County.

This center is on the Treasure Coast, not FIU’s main Miami campus. You’ll work in a lab with FIU scientists in areas like aging, brain and spinal cord injury, drug discovery, heart and lung physiology, immunity, metabolism and neuroscience. You keep your scientific poster to use in future competitions, and you present at the program’s internship luncheon.

Finish all five weeks and you’ll also get a certificate, a letter from the program director, and more than 100 volunteer hours.

Who is it right for? You’re a St. Lucie County junior or senior and want lab research close to home.

Medical programs in Tampa Bay

Tampa’s programs come from two places: USF Health and the Moffitt Cancer Center, which work together on a couple of them. Three of the four are one-week day programs, and USF’s summer camps filled up early in 2026. So plan to register the day they open. For more science options in the area, see our list of Tampa STEM programs.

9. Moffitt Cancer Center High School Internship in Integrated Mathematical Oncology (HIP IMO)

Location: Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa. In person on weekdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and you commute.
Cost: Not published. Moffitt doesn’t list a fee or pay.
Dates: June 8 to July 31, 2026, eight weeks.
Application deadline: February 1 for the 2026 cycle, which opened November 10, 2025. No 2027 dates are posted yet.
Eligibility: High school students who are 16 or older by the start of the internship. Grade, GPA and county rules aren’t published.

Most cancer research happens at a lab bench. This program does it with math. Integrated mathematical oncology uses math and computer models to study how cancer grows and responds to treatment, and you’ll work on team projects with Moffitt scientists as your mentors. Moffitt is one of the country’s National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers.

If last year’s timing holds, applications open in November. Check the page early. For more programs like this, see our list of cancer research programs.

Who is it right for? You’re 16 or older near Tampa, you like math or coding, and you want to point it at cancer.

10. USF Morsani Mini-Med

Location: USF Health, downtown Tampa. A day camp, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. No housing is offered.
Cost: $695.
Dates: Five days in summer. Exact 2026 session dates aren’t on the page, and every 2026 session has filled.
Application deadline: Registration for 2026 opened February 1, 2026. No closing date is published, so seats go until they’re gone.
Eligibility: Rising 12th graders.

Mini-Med is run with USF’s Morsani College of Medicine, and it’s built around simulation. You’ll practice anatomy and clinical skills on medical mannequins and with actors who play patients. Sessions cover surgery and trauma, emergency medicine, diagnostics, CPR and chronic disease, with workshops on communication and getting ready for college.

Each session takes 30 students. That’s small, so the February registration date matters more than anything else here.

Who is it right for? You’re a rising senior near Tampa and want to see what the first years of medical school feel like.

11. USF-Moffitt Explorers Oncology Program

Location: USF and Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa. A day program, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with an optional housing add-on.
Cost: $525 for the day program. On-campus housing is $1,395 more, covering six days and five nights with meals and evening activities.
Dates: One week in summer. Exact 2026 dates aren’t on the page, and the 2026 session has filled.
Application deadline: Registration for 2026 opened February 1, 2026. No closing date is published.
Eligibility: Rising 11th and 12th graders.

This week is all about cancer care. Through simulations and talks with professionals, you’ll see how cancer is treated and studied, from pharmacy and psychology to genetics and new technology. The program takes just 20 students.

And it’s the only Tampa program on this list with a housing option, which opens it up if you live farther away.

Who is it right for? You’re a rising junior or senior curious about oncology who wants a short, small-group look at the field.

12. Pepin Family USF Nursing Pathway Summer Program

Location: USF College of Nursing, Tampa. In person. Housing isn’t mentioned.
Cost: Free. You even get a pair of nursing scrubs and a stethoscope.
Dates: June 8 to 12, 2026, and you must attend all five days.
Application deadline: Not published.
Eligibility: Current 10th and 11th graders at a Hillsborough, Pinellas or Pasco County high school, who are 16 by the first day and have at least a 2.8 GPA. You can’t have attended before.

This is the only nursing-specific program on the list, and it’s free. You’ll learn in small groups, practice in USF’s simulation lab, and get mentoring from faculty and peers. The application asks for a short personal statement and your report card.

And the 16-by-day-one rule has no exceptions, so check your birthday before you apply. Want more nursing options? Our list of nursing camps covers other states.

Who is it right for? You’re 16 in the Tampa Bay area and you’re leaning toward nursing.

Medical programs in Orlando, Jacksonville and Gainesville

These four sit at medical schools and Mayo Clinic, and you commute to all of them. Mayo Clinic SPARK is the longest research program on this page, and its application window opens October 15. The rest are short and good for a first look. For more nearby options, see our lists of Orlando summer programs and Jacksonville summer programs.

13. UCF College of Medicine Health Leaders Summer Academy

Location: UCF College of Medicine, Orlando. Whether it’s a day or residential program isn’t published.
Cost: Not published.
Dates: July 13 to 17, 2026.
Application deadline: The 2026 application has closed. UCF says to check back in February 2027.
Eligibility: Students entering grades 10, 11 or 12 with at least a 3.0 unweighted GPA. The academy especially wants students from low-income high schools and communities, and students who’ll be the first in their family to go to college.

Over five days, you’ll tour university campuses and facilities and take part in clinical activities. It’s built to show you a path into medicine if no one in your family has walked it. Students who can attend all five days get priority.

The same UCF page also lists a free Medical Research Summer Camp, a newer pilot with lab experiments and public health data work. Its dates and grade rules aren’t posted yet.

Who is it right for? You’re in the Orlando area, you’d be a first-generation college student, and you want a week to see yourself in medicine.

14. Mayo Clinic SPARK (Science Program for the Advancement of Research Knowledge), Florida

Location: Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville. In person in research labs. Housing and transportation aren’t mentioned.
Cost: Not published. No fee or stipend is listed.
Dates: June 3 to December 4, 2027, starting with a mandatory orientation on June 3. You’ll present orally in August and at a poster symposium in December.
Application deadline: December 4, 2026. The application window opens October 15, 2026, and interviews are February 15.
Eligibility: Students who’ll be juniors or seniors at a school in Duval County or St. Johns County in the upcoming school year, with at least a 3.5 unweighted GPA.

SPARK is the longest program on this page: a full-time summer in a Mayo Clinic lab, then research that continues through the fall. You’ll spend at least 40 hours a week with a Mayo mentor in areas like cancer biology, drug development, immunology, neuroscience, epidemiology, AI or regenerative science. Afterward, scholars enter regional, state and international science fairs, and many have won awards.

The application asks for a personal reflection, a scientific reasoning exercise, your transcript, a science teacher recommendation and an ORCID iD, which is a free researcher ID you can set up online. Ask your teacher for the letter now, since the deadline lands in early December.

Who is it right for? You’re a Duval or St. Johns County student with a 3.5 or higher who wants months of real research, not a week.

15. Mayo Clinic Pathways into Healthcare Careers Program, Florida

Location: Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences, Jacksonville. In person, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., and you commute.
Cost: Free. Mayo charges accepted students nothing, and breakfast and lunch are provided.
Dates: July 23 to 25, 2026.
Application deadline: Applications run March 1 to May 1.
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors, as well as college students, who are US citizens or permanent residents. It’s aimed at students in the Duval County region.

Doctors and nurses aren’t the only people in a hospital. This three-day program shows you the rest: the allied health careers that keep a hospital running. You’ll work through scenarios in Mayo’s Simulation Center and meet students, faculty and professionals in those fields. The class size is 60, including college students.

Who is it right for? You’re near Jacksonville, you like health care but aren’t sure about medical school, and you want a free look at other paths.

16. UF Summer Pre-Medical Professions Program (SPMPP)

Location: UF College of Medicine, Gainesville. Non-residential, so you find your own place to stay if you’re not local.
Cost: $1,200, plus a $25 application fee you don’t get back. The price includes daily parking, official CPR certification and meal funding. Limited need-based scholarships are open to students at Florida high schools.
Dates: Three five-day sessions in 2026: June 22 to 26, July 6 to 10 and July 20 to 24.
Application deadline: February 25 for the 2026 cycle, which opened January 5. No 2027 dates are posted yet.
Eligibility: Current 10th and 11th graders. There’s no minimum GPA. Students from other states can apply too, though only a few spots go to them.

SPMPP puts you next to doctors with real patients, which most one-week camps can’t offer. You’ll observe patient care through shadowing, build clinical skills, and finish with a team capstone presentation. You’ll also leave with a CPR certification.

The application is light: an unofficial transcript and one teacher endorsement from a math, science, research or computer science teacher. Want more in Gainesville? See our list of Gainesville programs.

Who is it right for? You’re a sophomore or junior who wants to shadow doctors for a week and can get to Gainesville each day.

Medical programs open to students anywhere in Florida

Live somewhere without a medical center nearby? These seven don’t care which county you’re in. Six of them house you on a college campus, and the seventh is fully online. Gainesville and Tallahassee host most of them, so if you’re nearby, our lists of Tallahassee programs and Florida research programs are worth a look too.

17. UF Student Science Training Program (SSTP)

Location: University of Florida, Gainesville. Residential, in suite-style dorm rooms.
Cost: $5,500, plus a $50 application fee you don’t get back. Housing, supervision, field trips and insurance are included, but daily meals aren’t. Limited need-based scholarships are open to students at Florida high schools.
Dates: June 7 to July 25, 2026, seven weeks. No 2027 dates are posted yet.
Application deadline: March 25 for the 2026 cycle, which opened January 5. No 2027 dates are posted yet.
Eligibility: Rising 12th graders who are 16 by the start of the program. There’s no minimum GPA, though UF calls it academically rigorous. A limited number of spots go to students from outside Florida.

SSTP has run since 1959, and it’s the longest summer research program in this group. You’ll join a UF faculty lab for seven weeks, and depending on your match, that could mean clinical research, bench science, engineering, computing or field work. There’s a lecture series that includes medicine and a UF Honors seminar. You finish with a research paper, two oral presentations and a poster.

It isn’t a medicine-only program, so say clearly in your application that you want a biomedical or clinical lab. If you’d like the research without the price, our list of free university science programs has options in other states.

Who is it right for? You’re a rising senior who wants to live on a big campus and spend a whole summer on one research project.

18. UF Research Explorations (REx)

Location: University of Florida, Gainesville. Residential, in UF dorms.
Cost: $2,500, plus a $35 application fee. Housing, meals, supervision, activities, insurance and supplies are included. Limited need-based scholarships are open to students at Florida high schools.
Dates: Two sessions in 2026. Session 1, June 21 to July 3, is biomedical only. Session 2, July 19 to 31, runs both the biomedical and environmental tracks.
Application deadline: March 25 for the 2026 cycle, which opened January 5. No 2027 dates are posted yet.
Eligibility: Rising 11th and 12th graders. There’s no minimum GPA, and students from anywhere in the world can apply, with limited spots outside Florida.

REx is a two-week taste of lab work. On the biomedical track, you’ll work with UF faculty and graduate students on DNA science, protein science, CRISPR and gel electrophoresis. The environmental track looks at pollutants, aquatic health and conservation instead. Career sessions and evening social events fill out the rest.

It costs less than half of SSTP for under a third of the time, which makes it a good first step if you’re not sure about a seven-week commitment yet.

Who is it right for? You’re a rising junior or senior who wants two weeks of real lab techniques and a taste of dorm life.

19. UF Gator Pharmacy Explorations Camp

Location: University of Florida, Gainesville. Residential.
Cost: No program fee. There’s a $25 application fee you don’t get back, and fee waivers are available for qualifying Florida students. Housing, meals, supervision, activities, insurance and supplies are covered, but getting to Gainesville isn’t.
Dates: June 7 to 13, 2026. No 2027 dates are posted yet.
Application deadline: February 25 for the 2026 cycle, which opened January 5.
Eligibility: Current 11th graders going into 12th grade, at Florida schools only. You have to commit to the full week.

A free week living on a university campus is rare, and this is one of them. You’ll work through pharmacy math and compounding labs, meet licensed pharmacists, hear from PharmD students and do a group public health project. In 2026, the 30 campers also worked with a human patient simulator and visited a history of pharmacy museum.

Pharmacy is a big part of medicine that most programs skip. If chemistry is your favorite class, our list of Florida chemistry programs pairs well with this one.

Who is it right for? You’re a Florida junior thinking about pharmacy, and a free week on campus sounds like a good way to test it.

20. FSU College of Medicine Summer Institute

Location: Florida State University, Tallahassee. Residential, Sunday to Friday, six days and five nights.
Cost: The 2027 fee is pending. It will cover registration, supplies, and room and board on campus. Limited scholarships are open to Florida residents only.
Dates: Three sessions in 2027: June 6 to 11, June 27 to July 2, and July 11 to 16.
Application deadline: Not published.
Eligibility: Students who have finished their sophomore or junior year, with at least a 3.3 unweighted GPA and strong math and science grades.

FSU calls this a mini-medical school, and the week is packed. You’ll shadow a physician, tour the anatomy lab, visit a rural medicine site and take workshops on vital signs and medical ethics. Medical students mentor you, and you’ll finish a team research project with a presentation. There are college admissions seminars too.

Each session takes 20 students. The application is heavier than most: an essay of at least 500 words, a science teacher recommendation, a counselor recommendation and your transcript. So ask for those letters early.

Who is it right for? You have a 3.3 or higher and want a week of medical school with a small group, away from home.

21. FAMU Emerging Pharmacists Summer Camp

Location: Florida A&M University College of Pharmacy, Tallahassee. A four-day residential camp.
Cost: $650.
Dates: Four days in July. FAMU’s camp listing points to July 12 to 15, 2026, but the listing has a typo, so confirm the dates with FAMU.
Application deadline: Not published.
Eligibility: Students in grades 10 to 12, ages 15 to 18.

This camp at Florida’s public HBCU houses 30 high school students on campus. You’ll fill prescriptions in the compounding lab, talk through college plans with pharmacy students and pharmacists, and get SAT and ACT prep.

It’s a shorter, smaller alternative to UF’s pharmacy camp, and it takes younger students. So if you’re a sophomore curious about pharmacy, this is your option.

Who is it right for? You’re 15 to 18, curious about pharmacy, and want a few days on campus with test prep built in.

22. University of Miami Pre-College Summer Scholars, Biomedical and Health Sciences Exploration

Location: University of Miami, Coral Gables. Residential or commuter.
Cost: $10,225.20 residential or $8,561.50 commuter in 2026, plus a $75 application fee. The Cancer Biology option costs $450 more. The Vista Scholarship covers full residential tuition and fees for students with high financial need.
Dates: June 26 to July 16, 2027, three weeks.
Application deadline: 2027 deadlines aren’t posted yet. In the 2026 cycle, early action closed December 31, scholarship applications March 1, and regular applications April 1.
Eligibility: Current high school sophomores or juniors with at least a 3.0 GPA.

Summer Scholars is the only program on this page that gives you real college credit: six credits in three weeks. In the health track, you pick one pair of UM courses, such as cancer biology with health promotion, neuroscience with public health, or microbiology with public health.

It’s the priciest option here. But it’s open to students from anywhere, and the credits go on a UM transcript. Early action is worth it for the popular tracks. For more like it, see our list of Miami university summer programs.

Who is it right for? You want to test college-level health science courses, and earn credit for them, before you pick a major.

23. Horizon Academic Research Program

Location: Online.
Cost: $6,950 per course. Need-based financial aid is available for families earning under $75,000 a year.
Dates: Cohorts run in fall, spring and summer. Fall and spring run 15 weeks, and summer runs 10.
Application deadline: Rolling, three cohorts a year. The winter cohort deadline is November 22, 2026, and it starts December 14.
Eligibility: High school students with at least a 3.67 unweighted GPA.

Horizon pairs you one-on-one with a professor or PhD mentor for a full term, working on a single research question you help shape. You finish with a research paper of about 5,000 words that’s yours to submit to journals or competitions. Publication is an opportunity, not a guarantee, but the paper is yours either way.

Horizon doesn’t run a course called “medicine.” The closest courses are Neuroscience, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Gene Editing and CRISPR, Protein Biophysics, Computational Neuroscience, Medical Sociology, and Environmental Health and Engineering. Each comes with a writing coach and a publication specialist on top of your mentor sessions, and seminar groups average four students. Plan on 8 to 10 hours a week. Horizon accepted 26% of 6,539 applications.

Who is it right for? You live anywhere in Florida, you want a research project that’s yours, and you’d rather finish with a paper than a certificate.

Frequently asked questions

When do Florida medical program applications open and close?
Earlier than most students expect. A few open this fall, and most close by March. Here’s each program’s most recent posted window. Where only 2026 dates exist, use them as a guide to when 2027 will open.

Program	Most recent deadline	2027 status
Horizon (winter cohort)	November 22, 2026	Open now
Mayo Clinic SPARK	December 4, 2026	Opens October 15, 2026
NSU AIM-High	Rolling until full	Opens November 2026
UMiami Summer Scholars	December 31 (early action), April 1 (regular), 2026 cycle	Dates for 2027 posted, deadlines not yet
JJ Vance	January 31, 2026	Not posted; last cycle opened December 1
Moffitt HIP IMO	February 1, 2026	Not posted; last cycle opened November 10
USF Mini-Med and USF-Moffitt Oncology	Registration opened February 1, 2026, and filled	Not posted
UF Gator Pharmacy and UF SPMPP	February 25, 2026	Not posted; last cycle opened January 5
UF SSTP and UF REx	March 25, 2026	Not posted; last cycle opened January 5
FIU Cardiovascular	Not published	Opens January 2027
UCF Health Leaders Summer Academy	Closed for 2026	Opens February 2027
Mayo Clinic Pathways	March 1 to May 1	Same window expected
Kenan Fellows	Closed for 2026	Details expected this fall
Baptist Health Observer	Rolling, 15 business days before you start	Open all year
Max Planck Florida, FIU CTS, Nicklaus, FSU, FAMU, USF Nursing Pathway	Not published	Not posted

How do you get into a competitive Florida medical program?
Most of these programs reward planning more than perfect grades. Here’s what makes the biggest difference.

1. Apply in the first week. AIM-High and the USF camps fill on a rolling basis, and USF’s 2026 sessions sold out.
2. Check the grade and age floors. Many programs need you to be 16 by the start date, and a few, like SSTP and Mini-Med, only take rising seniors.
3. Line up recommenders a month ahead. FSU wants a science teacher and a counselor, Mayo SPARK wants a science teacher, and SPMPP wants a math, science, research or computer science teacher.
4. Talk to your counselor about school-run programs. FIU CTS and Nicklaus Children’s only take applications through your school.
5. Write about why, not just what. Most essays ask why you want medicine. A specific moment or question beats a list of activities.
6. Apply to more than one. JJ Vance took 15 of 140 applicants in 2026, so spread your bets across types and regions.

Resources

More medical program lists from Horizon

• Medical programs for high school students
• Free medical summer programs
• Medicine summer internships
• Pre-med camps
• Pre-college medical programs
• Health science summer programs
• Public health research opportunities

More Florida programs

• Biology programs in Florida
• Marine biology summer programs in Florida
• STEM programs in Orlando
• Research programs for complete beginners

Doing your own research

• What can you actually do with a high school research paper?
• How long does it take to write a research paper?
• Research paper programs
• Biology research topics
• Biology research programs

Mentorship and funding

• Summer research mentorship programs
• Online research mentorship programs
• Free research mentorship programs
• Grants for high school research
• The most competitive research programs
• University summer programs

Worried these programs are too competitive, too far away, or already closed?

Florida’s paid research programs only take students from a few counties, and most of the rest close by March. At Horizon, you work one-on-one with a professor or PhD mentor on a research question in an area like neuroscience, gene editing, or environmental health, and finish with a paper of your own. It’s fully online; cohorts start three times a year. Apply to Horizon and start your own project.

Image source: SPARK