Summer Springboard Sports Medicine High School Course

Your class meets from 9am to noon on weekdays in Kendall Square, next to MIT, rather than on the campus itself. Afternoons start at 1:30pm with either a course-related excursion or a recreational outing, followed at 3pm by a College Readiness Workshop or True You, a two-session group reflection on your goals. Over the two weeks you pick two of four 90-minute workshops: Speaking with Confidence, Mastering Money, Developing Leadership, and Prepping for College and Career.

Commuters leave at 5pm. Residential students have dinner at 6pm, clubs or evening activities from 7pm and dorm checks at 10:30pm. Breakfast and dinner are in an MIT dining hall, while everyone eats lunch at nearby eateries on a prepaid card. The weekend trips Summer Springboard lists for its Cambridge campus include a Boston city day with a Duck Boat tour, the Freedom Trail, bowling, Harvard and MIT campus tours and Six Flags New England.

The course is open to students entering grades 9 to 12 with a 3.0 GPA (or the local equivalent), and students starting high school in the fall or graduating in the spring can also enroll. Residential students must be at least 14 on the day the session starts, which is an MIT campus rule with no exceptions. International students prove their English either in a phone interview or with a minimum score: 490 on the paper TOEFL or 60 on the iBT, PET with Distinction or FCE at grade C, or 450 in SAT Reading and Writing.

Besides the form itself, the application asks for short-answer essays and signed agreements. Summer Springboard publishes no acceptance rate and fills courses first come, first served, which matters here because Sports Medicine runs in only one session. Applicants also have to meet its Essential Eligibility Criteria, which include managing your own care and medication and walking more than a mile. Students with some health conditions may be asked for medical documentation and 12 months of stable health.

A residential place comes to at least $7,147: $6,798 tuition, the mandatory $250 Sports Medicine supplement and an application fee that starts at $99. A commuter place comes to at least $3,647 on the same basis, with $3,298 tuition. These tuition figures apply to applications made by 30 November 2026, and Summer Springboard raises tuition on 1 December 2026 without yet saying by how much. The application fee also climbs to $149 after 21 February 2027 and $199 after 18 April 2027.

Residential tuition covers your room, all meals, the course and every excursion, weekends included. Commuter tuition covers lunch, the course and weekday programming from 9am to 5pm, and weekend excursions cost $125 per day extra. Flights and health insurance aren't included. The airport shuttle is $95 each way, and students 14 or younger, who must fly as unaccompanied minors, pay $145 each way for the escorted transfer instead.

Any unpaid balance is split into installments, with the last due by 10 May 2027, and a place not paid in full by 1 June 2027 can be canceled without a refund. Need-based scholarships cover up to 30% of residential or 60% of commuter tuition, but never the $600 deposit or the application fee. Refunds shrink as summer gets closer:

• Cancel before 1 March 2027

  All tuition comes back except the application fee.

• 2 March to 1 April 2027

  All tuition comes back except the deposit and application fee, or you can roll everything you've paid over to a future year.

• 2 April to 1 May 2027

  75% of tuition comes back, minus the deposit and application fee.

• After 1 May 2027

  25% comes back, and after 1 June 2027 nothing does.

• Tuition Protection Plan

  For $699, bought when you apply, you can cancel for any reason up to the start date and get back everything except the plan's own cost.

Summer Springboard staff live on every residence hall floor, and the campus director and assistant director also live in the dorms and are on call around the clock. The dorms need an individual access card, MIT Security patrols the campus and residence halls 24/7, and students must be in their rooms after 10pm, with dorm checks at 10:30pm. Floors are separated by gender, and roommates share a common bathroom.

In free time you can explore within set campus boundaries in groups of three or more. If you get sick or hurt, staff take you to the nearest medical facility and call your parents, but the family pays any costs, and every student has to show proof of medical insurance. Students keep and take their own medication. The Code of Conduct is strict, and a student expelled for breaking it flies home on the next available flight at the family's expense, with no refund.

You leave with a completion certificate and a letter of recommendation from your instructor, which Summer Springboard gives in all its programs. The course carries no college credit, since only the organizer's Cal Poly and NYSID programs offer it. The certificate and letter are earned rather than automatic, and Summer Springboard can withhold them for poor participation or a conduct violation.

On the learning side, Summer Springboard expects you to be able to explain how the body's systems work during exercise, recognize common athletic injuries and their basic treatment, explain why nutrition, hydration and recovery matter, and describe how to respond to athletic emergencies such as concussions and heat-related illness. CPR, AED (automated external defibrillator) use and first aid are part of that, but the organizer doesn't say whether students come away with a CPR or first aid certification.

Applications go through Summer Springboard's enrollment page.

1. 1

   Create an account with basic contact details, confirm the verification email, then fill in your account details on the dashboard.

2. 2

   Click Create New Application and choose the MIT campus, Session 3, Sports Medicine and either residential or commuter tuition.

3. 3

   Complete the application, including short-answer essays, which takes about 30 minutes and needs the student present.

4. 4

   Pay the $600 deposit and the application fee to hold your place, ideally by 30 November 2026, before tuition rises on 1 December 2026.

5. 5

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

6. 6

   Keep the later cutoffs in mind: the application fee rises after 21 February 2027 and 18 April 2027, some programs close at each stage, and enrollment ends on 16 May 2027.