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Map a healthcare career from training to daily practice in this 2-week program for high school students on Georgetown University’s campus.
Course Description
The person treating a patient is part of a much larger team. Look at the work behind healthcare titles and start finding the paths that interest you.
In this course you will compare physicians, physician associates, nurses, and dentists with people working in biomedical research, administration, policy, pharmaceuticals, and health technology. Examine their daily responsibilities, working relationships, qualifications, and longer-term career outlook. Tracing undergraduate, graduate, and professional training shows what it takes to reach each role.
Discussions, projects, videos, and possible guest lectures connect those pathways with choices you can begin exploring in high school and college. Consider how research advances medicine and how administrators and policy professionals shape care across a community or system.
Your personal career pathway project brings the research back to you. Choose a profession, investigate relevant majors and training, and identify volunteering or internship possibilities and strengths you want to build. Present a realistic next-step plan, with room to keep exploring before committing to one direction.
This two-week course for high school students takes place at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The program is developed by Georgetown University and offered in partnership with Summer Discovery. Residential and commuter options are available.
What You Will Do
• Map the healthcare ecosystem and compare professional roles
• Trace education and training for physicians, nurses, and physician associates
• Explore dentistry, biomedical research, administration, policy, and health technology
• Compare daily responsibilities and long-term career outlooks
• Research majors, volunteering, internships, and preparation options
• Create and present a personal healthcare career pathway
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Compare clinical, research, and administrative healthcare careers
• Explain the education, qualifications, and responsibilities of a selected profession
• Develop a researched personal action plan for continued healthcare exploration
You’ll leave with your personal healthcare career pathway project and a certificate of completion.
Why Healthcare Skills Matter
Healthcare roles that sound similar can involve different training, responsibilities, and kinds of impact. Comparing the details helps you ask better questions before choosing courses or seeking experience.
Building a pathway also means checking information against your interests and strengths. You can identify a useful next step without deciding your whole future, then revisit the plan as you learn more about the work.
Who Should Attend?
For students who have completed 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade.
You might be considering medicine already, or simply want to know what else healthcare includes. This course helps you compare patient care with work in research, policy, administration, pharmaceuticals, and technology before choosing a direction. No clinical experience is required.
Bring questions about the work and the preparation behind it. Your project will connect that research with your own interests and possible next steps.
Recommended by More Than 4 out of 5 Students
Based on students surveyed in 2026 about Summer Discovery High School programs at Georgetown University campus.
Your Summer at Georgetown University
Studying on Georgetown University’s campus gives high-school students the opportunity to explore an academic interest while experiencing campus life in Washington, D.C. Its historic campus and surrounding neighborhood sit near embassies, institutions, and organizations that shape national and international conversations, giving the summer a distinctive sense of place.
Students learn alongside peers with similar interests, navigate a new environment, and gain independence through everyday choices and responsibilities. Time outside class helps students experience the broader rhythm of university life while considering what subjects, communities, and possible directions feel right for them. For families, the program offers a combination of substantive academic exploration, personal growth, and clearer insight into what a student may want to study or pursue next.
Summer Discovery Certificate of Completion
After successfully finishing this course, you will be awarded a certification completion for your accomplishment.
*This is a preview, not what you will receive