Summer Springboard Middle School Nursing

Mornings from 9am to noon are the nursing course itself, where students practice essential care on simulated patients while covering anatomy, physiology, vital signs and health promotion. After lunch there's a recreational activity or an academic excursion at 1:30pm, then an academic skills lab at 3:30pm for project work, free time at 5pm and dinner at 6pm, which is when commuters head home. Residential students have supervised evening activities such as trivia and karaoke at 7pm.

The two campuses describe the course a little differently. The Berkeley version mentions hospital excursions, and subject trips from the Berkeley campus have included the UCSF Kanbar Center for Simulation and Clinical Skills. The Michigan version stresses simulations in a skills lab setting, and every Michigan student tours the campus, with a chance to visit the Big House football stadium as well. Residential and commuter students alike check in on Sunday for orientation and icebreakers.

You need to have finished 6th grade by the time your session starts and have a 3.0 GPA or the local equivalent. Summer Springboard's middle school programs take students from the end of 6th grade through the end of 8th grade. The application includes short-answer essay questions and signed agreement forms, and international students show their English through a telephone interview or test scores.

Summer Springboard reviews every application against its Essential Eligibility Criteria. These ask students to manage their own personal care and medication, walk more than a mile between buildings, follow instructions in English and cope with roommates and long, structured days. Students with some health conditions may be asked for medical clearance and to show at least 12 months of independent stability beforehand, and Summer Springboard says plainly that its programs aren't therapeutic. It doesn't publish a cohort size or acceptance rate.

A residential week costs $2,998 at Berkeley and $2,798 at Michigan, and commuting costs $1,598 at Berkeley and $1,398 at Michigan. Those are Summer Springboard's prices for applications made by 30 November 2026, and tuition goes up on 1 December by an amount it hasn't published. Summer Springboard also lists a $250 course supplement for Nursing at both campuses, which brings a residential week to $3,248 at Berkeley or $3,048 at Michigan. Residential tuition covers all meals, the dorm, excursions and the course. Commuter tuition covers lunch, the course and weekday programming, and weekend excursions cost $125 a day extra.

When you apply you pay a $600 deposit and a non-refundable application fee of $99, which rises to $149 after 21 February 2027 and $199 after 18 April 2027. Flights and health insurance aren't included. The airport shuttle costs $95 each way, and students aged 14 or under who fly must travel as airline unaccompanied minors, which adds $50 each way on top of the shuttle as well as whatever the airline charges.

Need-based scholarships can cover up to 30% of residential tuition or 60% of commuter tuition, but not the deposit or application fee. If you cancel before 1 March 2027, you get all your tuition back except the application fee. Between 2 March and 1 April you lose the deposit as well. After that, the deposit and application fee are kept and refunds shrink, to 75% of tuition from 2 April, 25% after 1 May and nothing after 1 June. An optional Tuition Protection Plan, bought when you apply, lets you cancel for any reason up to the first day, although its own fee isn't refunded.

Applications go through Summer Springboard's enrollment page, and the final general admission deadline is 16 May 2027.

1. 1

   Create an account with basic contact details and confirm the verification email to reach your dashboard.

2. 2

   Start a new application and choose the campus, session, course and residential or commuter tuition. It takes about 30 minutes, and the student has to be there.

3. 3

   Pay the $600 deposit and the application fee to hold the place, ideally before 21 February 2027, when the fee rises and some programs may close or move to a waitlist.

4. 4

   Expect a decision within 5 to 7 business days, after which further forms such as the code of conduct, waiver and medical consent open up.

5. 5

   Pay the balance in full or on the payment plan. For applications before 10 March, the plan means a third each on 10 March, 10 April and 10 May, while applications after 10 May are due in full within 48 hours.

Staff live alongside the students, with a mentor on each hall floor at Berkeley and Summer Springboard staff in the residence halls at Michigan, and other staff are available around the clock for emergencies. Dorms need a key card to enter and campus security patrols 24 hours a day. Residential students are back in the dorm by 8:30pm and have a mentor check-in at 9:30pm. Middle school programs run separately from the high school ones, with their own staff, housing, schedules and activities.

Students share a room and a communal bathroom, with rooms assigned by gender, and the Berkeley dorms have no air conditioning. Staff supervise classes and excursions directly, and program staff go through background checks and training. If a student is sick or injured, staff take them to the nearest medical facility and contact the parents. The family pays any costs, every student must have medical insurance, and students keep and take their own medication.

You leave with a completion certificate and a letter of recommendation from your instructor, but no college credit. Neither is automatic, since Summer Springboard can withhold both for a code of conduct breach or lack of participation. Summer Springboard hasn't yet named the instructor at either campus, and says only that its faculty come from area colleges, universities and professional fields.

The real takeaway is a clearer sense of whether nursing suits you, built from practice with vital signs and health assessments on simulated patients and from conversations about what nurses actually do each day.