15 Medical Programs for High School Students in Arkansas
- Stephen Turban
- 2 hours ago
- 9 min read
You do not need to wait until college to start exploring medicine. If you are in high school, joining a medical program is one of the simplest ways to see what healthcare learning feels like. These programs often include observing health professionals, taking part in lab exercises, discussing case studies, or attending workshops on anatomy, diagnostics, or research techniques.
What medical programs are available for high schoolers in Arkansas?
In Arkansas, high school students can find medical programs through universities, regional hospitals, research institutes, and community health organizations. Some offer lab-based learning, others clinical observation, and some workshops or short project experiences in health science. When you have first-hand experiences, you can explain your interest in medicine more clearly in your college applications and interviews.
Here are 15 medical programs for high school students in Arkansas that you might consider!
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies depending on the program. Full financial aid is available
Acceptance rate: Highly selective
Dates: Multiple sessions, including summer, spring, fall, and winter cohorts, are scheduled each year
Application Deadline: Varies by cohort
Eligibility: High school students; accepted students typically have an unweighted GPA of 3.3 out of 4.0.
The Lumiere Research Scholars Program is a rigorous research program designed for high school students who want to explore an area and topic of interest in absolute detail. Here, you will get to work one-on-one with a Ph. D.-level mentor on an independent research project. You can choose topics from a wide range of subjects, including medicine, neuroscience, and biology. You will finalize a research question with support from your mentor and also work with a writing coach to present your findings. At the end of the program, you will have developed an independent research paper! You can find more details about the application and available program formats here, and check out students’ reviews of the program here and here.
Location: UAMS Campus, Little Rock, AR
Cost: Free (stipend provided)
Acceptance rate: Selective
Dates: May 23 – July 29
Application Deadline: March 18
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors, and college students, are eligible to apply
The UAMS Summer Research Internship places you in an active research lab where you work on a science-based project under the guidance of a faculty mentor. This is a research-intensive experience where you learn laboratory techniques, attend research seminars, and participate in professional development sessions on CV building and graduate school applications. The program is designed for students interested in blending clinical interest with biomedical research, and the stipend makes it accessible regardless of your need to work over the summer.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies depending on program type. Need-based financial aid is available
.Acceptance rate: Highly selective
Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year
Application Deadline: Varies by cohort
Eligibility: High school students with an interest in healthcare and prior coding experience are eligible to apply
The Veritas AI + Medicine Deep Dive introduces high school students to the implications of artificial intelligence in shaping modern healthcare. Through guided, interactive sessions, you will examine the ways AI technologies and machine learning models are transforming areas such as diagnostics, treatment decisions, and overall care delivery. Throughout the program, you will work on coding tasks, analyze healthcare datasets, and take part in a collaborative final project focused on applying AI to a real medical challenge. The curriculum also covers key concepts like preparing medical data, understanding convolutional neural networks, and the fundamentals of clinical evaluation. Here is the program brochure and the application form.
Location: Arkansas Children's Hospital, Little Rock, AR
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate: Selective
Dates: Flexible
Application Deadline: 3 months before your requested date
Eligibility: High school students aged 16 years and older are eligible to apply
Arkansas Children’s Hospital Job Shadowing for High School Students lets you pick a department you’re curious about and spend one to three days watching how that role actually works inside a children’s hospital. You start with a required online training, then you’re placed with staff based on your stated interest. The focus is observation, so you’re not doing patient care, but you do get to see the pace, the teamwork, and the routine tasks that make a hospital run.
Location: UAMS Medical Center, Little Rock, AR
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate: Selective
Dates: June 1 – 12
Application Deadline: April 1
Eligibility: Pulaski County residents entering their junior or senior year of high school
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences HEALERS Program gives you a mix of medical skills training and direct exposure to different healthcare specialties. You will rotate through sessions with professionals where you can ask field-specific questions and see what different roles look like. The program also teaches practical basics like wound bandaging, bleeding control, splinting, and spinal stabilization, along with CPR and Basic Life Support. You also work with medical terminology and learn about adolescent health using evidence-based material, then apply what you’ve learned through supervised volunteering in clinical settings.
Location: Arkansas State University (Jonesboro) and Henderson State University (Arkadelphia)
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate: Highly selective
Dates: Jonesboro: June 16 – 18 | Arkadelphia: June 11 – 14
Application Deadline: April 10
Eligibility: High school students entering 11th or 12th grade in August who live anywhere in Arkansas or a Delta state
Henderson State University’s NYITCOM Project H.E.A.R.T. runs like a short mini-med school built around mentorship from current osteopathic medical students. You will get a close look at what medical training involves through guided sessions and activities, including a supervised bovine heart dissection in an anatomy lab. The program also brings in professionals from local hospitals for skill sessions and career conversations, so you’re hearing directly from people working in nursing, physical therapy, respiratory therapy, and physician roles. Along the way, you also get practical guidance on college planning and what the undergraduate path into medicine can look like.
Location: Bradley County Medical Center, Warren, AR
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate: Highly selective
Dates: June 23 – 27
Application Deadline: April 24
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors who have completed biology and have a minimum GPA of 2.75
Bradley County Medical Center’s MAS*H Camp puts you into a week of hospital-based skill workshops and shadowing that feels closer to clinical training than a typical “career talk” camp. You will rotate through activities like casting, suturing practice, CPR, airway management and ventilation techniques, and anatomy-based labs and dissections. Shadowing is built in, so you also get time watching professionals in real departments instead of staying in a classroom. The program is supported by UAMS and the Arkansas Farm Bureau, and it usually includes an orientation piece tied to the UAMS campus.
Location: UAMS Northwest Regional Campus, Fayetteville, AR
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; 25 students
Dates: June 2 – 13
Application Deadline: April 12
Eligibility: Rising 10th-grade students attending school in Washington or Benton counties
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences AR Tech-DaSH focuses on how modern medicine uses data, imaging, and tech tools to make decisions. You will learn how medical imaging works, how data science shows up in healthcare, and where AI fits into the picture in clinical and biomedical settings. The program is built around a 10-day summer camp, but it also connects to outreach and STEM ambassador work, so you’re not just learning it for yourself. The goal is to help you understand the tools and also learn how to explain them clearly in your school or community.
Location: North Arkansas Regional Medical Center, Harrison, AR
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate: Selective
Dates: Varies depending on hospital requirements
Application Deadline: Rolling deadlines
Eligibility: High school students in grades 9-12 are eligible to apply
North Arkansas Regional Medical Center’s Junior Volunteer Program gives you a structured way to spend time inside a hospital while doing real service work that supports staff and patients. You will be placed in departments like surgical services, radiation therapy, hospice, medical records, purchasing, or comfort services, depending on hospital needs. Some roles are more public-facing, like information desks or retail services, while others are behind the scenes. The program also lets you count hours toward the LEARNS Act community service requirement, so your time can serve both graduation needs and career exploration.
Location: North Arkansas Regional Medical Center, Harrison, AR
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate: Selective
Dates: Varies depending on hospital requirements
Application Deadline: Rolling deadlines
Eligibility: High school students in grades 9-12 are eligible to apply
North Arkansas Regional Medical Center’s JET (Junior Engagement Team) Program is more event-based and community-facing than a typical hospital volunteer placement. Much of the work is tied to special events and service through the hospital’s Auxiliary Thrift Store, so you’re supporting a healthcare system through its fundraising and community operations. It’s a good fit if you want a hospital-connected experience, but you’re not ready for clinical department volunteering. The Volunteer Department coordinates scheduling around school, so you’re not stuck trying to make hospital hours work on your own.
Location: Arkansas Children's Hospital, Little Rock, AR
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate: Selective
Dates: Varies depending on the requirement
Application Deadline: Varies
Eligibility: High school students aged 14-18 years
Arkansas Children’s Hospital’s Junior Volunteer Program places you in structured service roles that support patients, families, and staff across the hospital. You’ll be assigned ongoing responsibilities to learn consistency, professionalism, and how hospitals depend on support roles. Tasks vary by placement, but the focus stays on improving the patient and family experience in practical ways. Since demand is high and spots are limited, it tends to be competitive, especially for older teens.
Location: University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Pine Bluff, AR
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate: Highly selective
Dates: June 8 – 21
Application Deadline: April 5
Eligibility: High school students aged 14-17 years old are eligible to apply
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff AgDiscovery introduces you to veterinary and agricultural science through hands-on labs, workshops, and field visits. You learn directly from university faculty, veterinarians, and professionals connected to U.S. government agencies, which makes the career exposure more grounded. The program covers animal science and veterinary medicine, but it also shows the broader system around them, including agribusiness, regulatory science, plant pathology, and how food and animal health are managed at scale. Since it’s residential, you spend your days fully inside the campus environment while working through applied science activities.
Location: University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, AR
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; 30 high school students
Dates: June 9 – 13
Application Deadline: May 5
Eligibility: High school students are eligible to apply
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock AI & Mental Health Hackathon is a five-day, team-based program where you build an AI-driven solution around a mental health problem you choose. You work in mixed teams with high school and college students, which makes the collaboration feel closer to a real tech project than a school assignment. A major piece of the program is structured AI instruction tied to NVIDIA-sponsored certifications, so you leave with formal skill credentials, not just a project. After lectures and training in the morning, the rest of the day is mentor-supported build time, and the program ends with a pitch competition and cash award.
Location: Crossett and Fayetteville, AR (UAMS Regional Campuses)
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate: Selective
Dates: 3-5 days (varies by location)
Application Deadline: Varies by location
Eligibility: Students entering grades 9-10 are eligible to apply
The UAMS CHAMPS Program gives you a condensed introduction to healthcare careers through the same statewide MASH framework. You will spend three to five days in activities, facility tours, and sessions with medical professionals across different healthcare disciplines. The program is designed for younger students who are not yet eligible for the full two-week MASH camps, but still want structured exposure to clinical environments. Since it is shorter and geared toward early high school, it works well as a first step before applying to more intensive programs later.
Location: UAMS College of Pharmacy, Little Rock, AR
Cost: $150. Need-based financial aid is available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; 35-40 students
Dates: June 1 – 3
Application Deadline: May 8
Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors interested in pharmacy careers are eligible to apply
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Pharmacy Summer Camp gives you a short, focused look at pharmacy training and what pharmacists actually do in different settings. You will attend faculty-led sessions and work in labs, where you practice basic pharmacy-related skills. The camp also helps you see the difference between community pharmacy and hospital pharmacy, and how the work changes depending on the environment. Since it’s held at the UAMS College of Pharmacy, you also get a realistic view of what pharmacy school looks like day to day.
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a PhD student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.
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