University of Notre Dame Pre-College Programs The Culture of Medicine

The course is led by Vania Smith-Oka, a cultural and medical anthropologist whose own research sits right on the course's subject. Her book Becoming Gods: Medical Training in Mexican Obstetric Wards (Rutgers, 2021) looks at how the skills, practices and attitudes of medicine are passed on to medical students, and she has also studied the doctor-patient relationship in a maternity ward in Puebla, Mexico.

Her current projects include one with architects and health professionals on how hospital spaces shape care, and another that brings anthropologists and obstetricians together to understand decisions about cesarean sections. Notre Dame says it keeps Summer Scholars classes small, although it doesn't publish a class size or ratio.

Summer Scholars is for current high school sophomores and juniors, who attend as rising juniors and seniors, and you must be at least 16 by 1 August 2027, a rule Notre Dame says has no exceptions. Beyond that, it looks for strong grades, solid extracurriculars, self-discipline and a high level of maturity, and it wants applicants who sincerely want to be part of the Notre Dame community.

The application has two essays, which Notre Dame calls very important, plus your transcript, a counselor report and a teacher recommendation. Notre Dame says the essays are your chance to explain why you're interested in the program and what experiences you'd bring to it. It asks recommenders to speak to your ability to handle college-level material, your maturity, integrity and leadership, and it says it helps if the teacher can support your interest in the course you're applying for.

• Test scores

  SAT, ACT or PSAT scores are optional, though Notre Dame encourages them, and it accepts them until 31 January 2027.

• English proficiency

  If you don't attend an English-speaking high school, you need a TOEFL (5.5+), IELTS (7.5+), PTE (55+) or Duolingo (120+) score.

• Activities

  You can list them in the application's activities section, upload a resume, or send both.

The program costs $5,200, plus a $75 application fee you pay once you've submitted your application. That $5,200 covers tuition, a room on campus, meals, extracurricular activities and class field trips. Getting to and from Indiana isn't on Notre Dame's list of what's included, and any medical care you need during the program is your family's cost.

You pay in two parts. Once you're admitted, a $300 enrollment fee is due by 23 April 2027 to hold your place, and the $4,900 balance must reach Notre Dame by 14 May 2027.

None of it is refundable. That covers the application fee, the enrollment fee and the balance, and a student who is dismissed or withdrawn from the program gets nothing back, with the family paying for the trip home.

• Need-based aid

  Notre Dame has a limited number of need-based scholarships, from partial to full tuition, and offers nothing for merit.

• Regional grants

  Qualifying students in Indiana (through a Lilly Endowment grant) and in the Philadelphia area can receive grants covering tuition, room and board.

• How to ask

  A parent or guardian fills in the Financial Aid Request Form by 17 February 2027, and any award arrives with the admission decision. Application fee waivers are granted rarely, and only in extreme circumstances.

Notre Dame's rules for summer 2026, the latest it has published, kept Summer Scholars students on campus unless they were on a scheduled, supervised activity or out with a Pre-College staff member or resident counselor. The resident counselors are undergraduates, hired and trained by the program's summer staff coordinator. The same rules kept students out of residence halls of the opposite gender, banned driving, alcohol, tobacco and vaping, and required attendance at every class, meal, check-in and scheduled event unless it was clearly marked optional. Students also had to follow Notre Dame's summer code of conduct.

Staff didn't store or hand out medication, prescription or not, so students managed their own, and parents had to arrange any medical or mental health accommodations at least 30 days before the program started.

Complete every program requirement and you can earn one transferable college credit from Notre Dame, recorded as a Satisfactory (S) grade rather than a letter grade, with the transcript requested through Notre Dame's Registrar. Notre Dame calls the credit transferable, but whether another college counts it toward a degree is that college's decision.

Notre Dame doesn't describe a final project or portfolio for this course. What it promises is a critical understanding of the complexities of medicine, built from medicine's origins, how doctors in the global North are trained and clinical ethnographies from across the world.

Applications go through Notre Dame's enrollment portal, where you create an account to start.

1. 1

   Start a Summer Scholars application on the portal and choose The Culture of Medicine, which runs in Session I only.

2. 2

   Ask your teacher's permission before adding their details, because Notre Dame emails your counselor and teacher automatically and it's up to you to check they've received the requests.

3. 3

   Write the two essays and, if you want, upload SAT, ACT or PSAT scores by 31 January 2027.

4. 4

   Submit your part and pay the $75 fee by credit card or check by 17 February 2027, which is also the deadline for the Financial Aid Request Form.

5. 5

   Your counselor and teacher get one extra week to upload their documents, but you can't swap recommenders once the 17 February deadline passes.

6. 6

   Notre Dame reviews your file once everything has arrived and sends any aid decision with the admission letter.