Summer Programs
for Minority & Underrepresented Students
There are also a number of summer programs designed specifically for minority and other underrepresented students. The National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions maintains a database of such opportunities.
For summer research opportunities, see here.
Dentistry
- Marquette University's Dental School offers a number of summer programs for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
- The University of Michigan School of Dentistry and Medical School offers the Profile for Success program to prepare students from disadvantaged and underrepresented backgrounds to be successful applicants to dental or medical school. The program is free to all participants.
Optometry
- UC Berkeley's School of Optometry offers a summer 'Opto-Camp' program to introduce underrepresented pre-health science majors to Optometry and to prepare them to be successful applicants to optometry school.
- Illinois College of Optometry offers the Focus on Your Future Summer Program aimed at exposing underrepresented minority undergraduates to the profession of optometry.
Pre-Med Preparatory Programs
- Summer Medical and Dental Education Program (SMDEP) is a FREE (full tuition, housing, and meals) six-week summer academic enrichment program that offers freshman and sophomore college students intensive and personalized medical and dental school preparation.
- UCLA Pre-Medical/Pre-Dental Enrichment Program (PREP) is an intensive, six-week summer program where promising students from disadvantaged backgrounds are exposed to the rigors of academic medicine and or dentistry.
- UCLA Re-Application Program (RAP) is a post baccalaureate program designed to assist students from disadvantaged and or/underserved backgrounds who applied and have been unsuccessful in gaining admissions to any U.S. medical school.
- Great Lakes Native American Research Center for Health (GLNARCH) offers a Student Development Program for Native American undergraduate students interested in a range of clinical, public health and environmental issues.
- The Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine offers a Summer Scholars Program for multicultural and/or economically disadvantaged students who would like to take medical-school inspired coursework taught by OU-COM faculty.
Public Health
- The Barbara Jordan Health Policy Scholars Program brings talented African American, Latino, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Asian/Pacific Islander college seniors and recent graduates to Washington, D.C., where they are placed in Congressional offices to learn about health policy.
- The Minority Health International Research Training (MHIRT) Program at the University of Alabama offers research training opportunities to minority undergraduate, graduate and health professions students who have an interest in the areas of nutrition, tropical infectious diseases, reproductive health and/or sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS and chronic disease.
Funded by the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates
