About

The Summer Nursing Academy, hosted by UC Irvine's Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing, is a five-day commuter program introducing high school students to the nursing profession through hands-on simulation and clinical skills training. Founded in 2017 as the Nursing Camp in Summer and rebranded in 2026, the program runs two identical sessions — Session 1: July 13–17 and Session 2: July 27–31 — at UCI's Nursing Simulation Center on the Irvine campus. The cost is $2,000 per session; the Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing offers up to five need-based full scholarships for 2026, awarded through the application process itself rather than a separate scholarship application. Continental breakfast, lunch, and snacks are provided daily. Eligibility is limited to students entering 10th, 11th, or 12th grade in Fall 2026. In 2026 the program instituted a formal application process for the first time, prompted by overwhelming demand the prior year — a meaningful signal of growing interest. Applications were accepted February 2–28, with faculty and staff reviewing all submissions and notifying accepted students by April 15. The application requires two short essays: one on the student's interest in nursing and what they hope to gain, and one on a personal or academic experience that shaped their interest in healthcare. Programming takes place 8:30am–4:00pm daily and centers on UCI's Nursing Simulation Center, where students practice clinical skills including handwashing, injections, vital signs, and CPR — with the opportunity to earn American Heart Association Basic Life Support (BLS/CPR) certification and an American College of Surgeons Stop the Bleed certification. Nursing-type simulations using high-fidelity simulators and task trainers give students direct exposure to the physical realities of patient care. Faculty and credentialed nurses from UCI's School of Nursing and UCI Medical Center lead instruction throughout the week, and current nursing students are often present — giving participants an unusually direct line to people one step ahead of them in the pipeline. For a high school student seriously weighing nursing as a direction, the Summer Nursing Academy offers something most pre-health programs don't: immersion in the clinical and technical skills that nursing actually requires, taught by people who practice and teach them at a major academic medical center. Five days is a short window, but the certification opportunities, simulation access, and UCI institutional weight make this one of the more substantive one-week pre-nursing programs in California.