UC Irvine School of Medicine MedAcademy Summer Online Research Program

There's no fixed timetable. UC Irvine School of Medicine runs everything online and lets you work through assignments at your own pace, with instructions on how to complete the projects coming by email, Zoom meetings or podcast. It doesn't publish set live hours or a time zone, so you'll be managing your own time across the three weeks.

The teaching builds toward one piece of work. By the end, the school says you should understand the core rules for responsibly conducting research involving human subjects and why evidence-based medicine matters, know how to critically evaluate the medical literature on a topic, and be able to write an organized research report.

A UC Irvine School of Medicine faculty member teaches the program, and its director is Behnoosh Afghani, MD, a clinical professor of pediatrics. Day-to-day help comes from coaches, who are UC Irvine undergraduates, graduate students or medical students in fields related to biomedical research.

The school takes only four to five coaches per session, and each needs at least two years of college, a GPA above 3.3 and some research experience. Coaches pick the research topics with Dr. Afghani based on their own interests, and the school doesn't say how much say students have in the topic. It also presents the coaches as people you can ask for advice about college.

Getting in depends largely on clearing the GPA bar and applying early. You need an unweighted GPA of at least 3.3 out of 4, and UC Irvine School of Medicine asks for an online application plus a copy of your transcript, which can be unofficial and goes by email to highschoolresearch@hs.uci.edu. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, and qualified applicants with complete documents are accepted first come, first served until the program is full.

Two details shape your chances. Priority goes to students in higher grades, which gives older students an edge, and the school says it typically stops taking new applications by the end of January or early February, months before the summer sessions begin. It doesn't publish how many students it accepts.

The 2026 tuition was $2,350 for one three-week session. Because everything runs online, there's no housing or travel to add, and UC Irvine School of Medicine doesn't list any other fees.

Scholarships exist but are limited, and they're aimed at students from low-income families who attend a high school in an underserved area of Southern California. The school judges them on a scholarship essay about how your diversity or experience of financial hardship motivates you to contribute to society as a healthcare provider or researcher, and on family income measured against a percentage of the Federal Poverty Level. You fill in a separate scholarship application as well as the regular one, send your transcript and family tax information, and say whether you'd still attend at full tuition if you don't receive a scholarship. In 2026 these materials were due by 25 May 2026.

The school doesn't say how much of the tuition a scholarship covers.

You leave with an organized research report and a chance at co-authorship. UC Irvine School of Medicine submits the findings as an abstract to a national meeting, and if the meeting accepts it, you're listed as a co-author. It's your coach, not you, who presents an accepted abstract, and the school's description of the submission still ties it to conferences being available during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Acceptance isn't promised, so co-authorship isn't guaranteed. The school doesn't mention a certificate or academic credit either, so don't count on one.