Summer Discovery UC San Diego

Summer Discovery's sample day has two class blocks, from 9:30 to 11:30 am and from 1:00 to 3:00 pm. An all-day academy fills both, while an individual course takes just one, so you either commit to one academy or pair a morning course with an afternoon course. The sports training camps run in the morning slot, which means choosing a camp leaves you an academic course after lunch.

• All-day academies

  Business & Entrepreneurship Academy, Medicine Academy and Aerospace Engineering Academy.

• Morning courses

  Psychology: Mental Health & Behavior, Dive Deep: Marine Biology & Oceanography, and training camps in basketball, tennis, soccer, golf, volleyball and surfing.

• Afternoon courses

  AI Scholars: Build Intelligent Systems For Social Good, Mental Performance & Leadership with IMG Academy, ACT/SAT Success Studio and Build the Movement with DoSomething.org.

Around the classes, the sample day starts with an 8:00 am wake-up, breakfast at 8:30 and lunch at 11:45. Activities begin at 3:30 pm, dinner is at 6:00 pm and evening events start at 8:00 pm. Residential students are back in the residence hall by 10:30 pm, on their floors by 11:30 pm and in their rooms by midnight. At UC San Diego, Summer Discovery lists weekend trips to La Jolla Shores Beach, the San Diego Zoo, Old Town by trolley and the Little Italy Mercato Farmers Market, plus a weeknight Padres game during the first week.

Commuters choose from the same courses, with weekday drop-off at 8:30 am and pick-up at 6:00 pm, although Summer Discovery says these times can differ by campus.

The Business & Entrepreneurship Academy has the clearest teaching lineup, because UC San Diego's Office of Innovation and Commercialization designs and leads it. It's taught by Greg Horowitt, the university's Director of Innovation Design and a founding partner of T2 Venture Creation, who has also worked as a startup founder and investor. His co-teacher, Jacques Chirazi, is the office's Senior Director of Programs and oversees its venture creation programs. Summer Discovery names some possible guest speakers but says speakers and pitch judges are subject to confirmation.

Summer Discovery doesn't name instructors for the medicine academy or the marine biology course. Two afternoon courses are run with partners, IMG Academy for mental performance and DoSomething.org for social impact. Across all its programs, Summer Discovery says its instructors are university instructors and distinguished visiting instructors, and that enrichment courses are also taught by graduate students, local professionals and secondary school teachers. So if one course matters most to you, it's fair to ask who will teach it.

Every course ends with a Summer Discovery certificate of completion and a letter of recognition, which Summer Discovery says is designed to strengthen college applications. Neither one is college credit, and the claim about college applications comes from Summer Discovery, not from any college.

The project you build may say more about you. In the business academy, your team leaves with a venture concept, a sales and marketing plan and the pitch you gave to the judges. Medicine Academy students present a healthcare-career case project, and the marine biology course ends with a team ocean-cleanup solution or conservation awareness campaign. In Build the Movement with DoSomething.org, you plan and lead a community impact day, which earns 10 or more volunteer credit hours.

Summer Discovery accepts qualified applicants in grades 9 to 12 on a first come, first served basis until courses fill, and it says the earlier you apply, the more choices you'll have. Its UC San Diego courses are for students who have completed 9th, 10th, 11th or 12th grade by the summer, so students who are seniors in the 2026-27 school year can still go.

The application asks for your current GPA, which you report yourself, and your counselor's or advisor's full name and exact email address, because Summer Discovery contacts them for you. Decisions usually come within 3 to 5 business days. Summer Discovery says it generally doesn't make age exceptions, and it doesn't publish a cohort size. The business academy needs no business background, while the medicine academy asks you to be ready to work with anatomical material.

Two weeks cost $7,499 if you live on campus or $4,499 if you commute, in either session. The residential price covers classes, housing, supervision and transport to the included activities. Residential students eat in the university dining halls each day, and commuters eat lunch there. Flights and airport transfers, meals off campus, medical costs, laundry and spending money are all extra. Summer Discovery also says some courses and academies carry an additional academic fee but doesn't list one for UC San Diego, so ask before you choose.

On top of tuition there's a $100 application fee, which doesn't count toward tuition and isn't refunded if you cancel. Once you're accepted, you hold your place with a deposit of $1,900 if you enroll before 31 January 2027, $2,500 from 1 February or $3,500 from 1 April. If you enroll before 1 April 2027, the balance is due on that date, and if you enroll later, you pay the full price when you enroll. Students who live outside the US also pay an international registration fee of $379 as residential students or $239 as commuters. It covers US medical insurance and help with visa paperwork, plus airport transfers for residential students. Paying by card adds a 3.5% surcharge, while an eCheck from a US bank costs nothing extra.

Summer Discovery offers scholarship help mainly through mentoring organizations and says its own scholarships are limited. If you apply for one of its scholarships and aren't selected, it refunds the application fee. Canceling gets expensive quickly. Summer Discovery charges a fee from 1 February 2027 and refunds nothing after 1 June 2027, and every cancellation has to be made in writing.

Summer Discovery staffs its high school programs at one staff member for every 10 students. Its Resident Counselors are at least 20, have passed background checks and safety training, and live on the residence hall floors with students. Staff are on duty around the clock, most halls use key card entry, and there are daily sign-ins and nightly room checks.

Students can't leave campus alone. At set times, staff may let them walk around a mapped home area in groups of three or more, and every off-campus trip is chaperoned. Medical care is available 24/7, and staff take students to appointments and tell parents afterward. All medication, even over-the-counter, goes to the site nurse and is given out by staff, apart from inhalers, allergy injectors and some diabetes medication. Parents can't go into the residence halls and must approve every visitor.

A student who's dismissed for breaking the rules is sent home immediately at the family's expense, with no refund.