Summer Springboard Radiology High School Course

Radiology class runs from 9am to 12pm, Monday to Friday in the first week and Monday to Thursday in the second. That's nine sessions and 27 hours of teaching in all. Afternoons go to Academics in Action (course excursions, guest speakers and instructor-led or independent projects), recreational trips, and the College Readiness Workshops and True You reflection sessions. You pick two of the four 90-minute workshops: Speaking with Confidence, Mastering Money, Developing Leadership, and Prepping for College and Career.

Residential students have breakfast at 8am and dinner at 6pm, followed by clubs from 7pm and night checks at 10:30pm. Commuters leave at about 5pm on weekdays. Weekend trips to places such as Old Town San Diego, Coronado Beach, the San Diego Zoo and Belmont Park are included for residential students. Summer Springboard calls its timetable a sampler, so the real days may shift a little.

You can apply once you've finished 8th grade, and students who graduated from high school that spring are eligible too, as long as you have a 3.0 GPA or its local equivalent. International students show their English in a phone interview or with a TOEFL score of 490 on paper or 60 on the iBT, a Cambridge PET with Distinction or FCE at grade C, or 450 in SAT Reading and Writing. The application itself asks for short-answer essay questions and signed agreement forms.

Summer Springboard publishes no acceptance rate, and places on each course go first come, first served. It reviews applications holistically against its Essential Eligibility Criteria, which expect you to manage your own care and medication, walk more than a mile between buildings and follow staff instructions in English. A student with a condition that needs specific support may be asked for medical clearance and 12 months of stability, and leaving out medical history can lead to an application being turned down or a student being removed.

A residential place comes to $6,347 and a commuter place to $3,647. Those totals add the $5,998 or $3,298 tuition to the mandatory $250 Radiology supplement and the application fee, which starts at $99 and goes up later in the cycle. The tuition figures are for applications made by 30 November 2026, and Summer Springboard says tuition rises on 1 December 2026 without publishing the new amount.

Residential tuition covers your room, all meals, the course and the weekday and weekend excursions. Commuter tuition covers lunch, the course and weekday programming from 9am to 5pm, and weekend trips cost $125 a day if you add them. Flights, health insurance and spending money are extra, and Summer Springboard suggests about $100 a week for spending. So are the group airport shuttle at $95 each way and unaccompanied minor transportation at $145 each way.

You pay a $600 deposit and the application fee when you apply. If you apply before 10 March 2027, the balance is due in three parts on 10 March, 10 April and 10 May 2027. Payments after 10 May bring a $150 late fee, and a balance still unpaid on 1 June can mean losing the place without a refund. Need-based scholarships cover up to 30% of residential or 60% of commuter tuition, but not the deposit or application fee. An optional $699 Tuition Protection Plan, bought with the application, lets you cancel for any reason up to the first day. Without it, refunds shrink as the summer gets closer:

Summer Springboard mentors live in the suites with students, and the Campus Director and Assistant Campus Director live on site and handle emergencies at any hour. Students share double rooms in gender-separated suites and need key cards for the building and suite plus a key for their own room. UC San Diego Police also patrol the campus and residence halls around the clock.

Everyone has to be in their room after 10pm, with night checks at 10:30pm, and sneaking out is grounds for dismissal. A student sent home under the Code of Conduct flies home on the next available flight at the family's expense, with no refund. In an emergency, a staff member goes with the student to the UC San Diego Health Emergency Department, about 2 miles from the dorms. Students keep and take their own medication, which has to be listed on the Health History Form. The rooms have no air conditioning, though Summer Springboard says students have found them comfortable.

Every student who finishes gets a completion certificate and a letter of recommendation from their instructor. The course carries no college credit, which Summer Springboard offers only at its Cal Poly and NYSID programs. The 2027 instructor hasn't been named yet, so you won't know in advance who will write your letter. Summer Springboard says it recruits faculty from area colleges, universities and professional forums.

The main piece of work you take away is the closing team simulation. You analyze complex patient cases, interpret several types of scans and defend a differential diagnosis and treatment plan at a mock tumor board. Guest lectures from medical imaging researchers and sessions on what diagnostic radiologists, interventional specialists and medical physicists do cover the career side.

You apply through Summer Springboard's enrollment page, which leads to its online application portal.

1. 1

   Enter basic contact details, confirm the verification email and log in to the applicant dashboard.

2. 2

   Click Create New Application and choose UC San Diego, Session 2, Radiology and either residential or commuter tuition.

3. 3

   Complete the full application, including the short-answer essay questions, which takes about 30 minutes with the student present.

4. 4

   Pay the $600 deposit and the application fee to hold the place, ideally by the first-wave deadline of 21 February 2027, after which the fee rises to $149 and some courses move to waitlists.

5. 5

   The second wave ends on 18 April 2027, when the fee rises to $199, and the final general admission deadline is 16 May 2027.

6. 6

   Expect a decision within 5 to 7 business days, after which more enrollment forms open in your account.

7. 7

   Sign the Code of Conduct, waiver and medical consent forms, and return pre-departure documents by 1 May 2027 if you enrolled before 25 April, or within 7 days of acceptance after that.