About

The Penn Medicine Summer Program is a four-week residential medical immersion at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, running June 28 through July 24, 2026. Designed for rising juniors and seniors with serious interest in medicine, the program is academically administered by Penn Medicine faculty — who handle admissions and deliver all curriculum — while day-to-day residential logistics are managed by BOLD Summers, a third-party operator. Students live in Penn residence halls and follow a schedule modeled after first-year medical school, blending morning lectures from Penn clinicians and faculty with afternoon hands-on simulation sessions. The 2026 program fee is $11,255, covering housing, instruction, and 18 of 21 meals per week.

Eligibility requires current 10th or 11th grade enrollment, a completed high school biology course, and a minimum 3.5 GPA. The application includes transcripts and two letters of recommendation, one of which must be from a STEM teacher. International students are welcome and TOEFL scores are not required. Admissions are competitive and rolling; applications closed February 26 for the 2026 cycle.

The curriculum draws on the Jordan Medical Education Center's simulation facilities, where students practice CPR, suturing, and identifying cardiac and pulmonary sounds, alongside sessions in pathology, microbiology, and anatomy. A highlight of the program is the possibility of observing a live surgery under clinician supervision — though this is explicitly not guaranteed, and in some cases a faculty member walks students through a recorded procedure instead. Evenings and weekends include organized social programming and Saturday trips to regional destinations.

Penn Medicine faculty are direct about the program's purpose: it is career exploration and early clinical exposure, not research training. For the right student — one who is genuinely uncertain whether medicine is the right path and wants more than a shadowing experience to find out — the simulation access and faculty caliber make this one of the stronger pre-med immersions available at a top-five medical school. Students who already know they want medicine and are seeking a genuine research opportunity might find more value elsewhere.