High School Program

Overview

The Adventures in Veterinary Medicine High School Program is an engaging and fun way for high school students to spend two weeks learning more about the veterinary profession. This is your opportunity to dig into veterinary medicine through an exciting and intensive program where you’ll be surrounded by others who share your passion for animals, health, and science.

• Explore specialty fields and important topics in veterinary medicine through informative lectures by Tufts faculty, staff, and vet students.
• See what it’s really like to be a vet as you shadow fourth-year veterinary students in the Foster Hospital for Small Animals, the Hospital for Large Animals, or the Tufts Wildlife Clinic.
• Get up close and personal with the animals on the Cummings School Farm while learning proper animal handling techniques and performing physical examinations.
• Build your vet skills! Practice bandaging and suturing, learn how to read x-rays, give a clinical exam to a dog, and work as a team to solve a challenging medical case.
• Participate in hematology and anatomy labs, meet various working animals, visit a dairy farm, and more!

Admission to the high school program is competitive.

View a sample schedule for the high school residential or day sessions.

Residential (Gr 10-12) Program Details

High School Residential Sessions 6 and 8

Eligibility

High School Session 6
Students who have entered 11^th or 12^th grade as of September 2021 are eligible for High School Session 6.

High School Session 8
Students who have entered 10^th or 11^th grade as of September 2021 are eligible for High School Session 8.

We strongly encourage applicants who live within commuting distance to apply for the High School Day Session. The High School Residential Sessions are extremely competitive and seats are limited in availability. Because applications are submitted from students worldwide, preference for the residential sessions is given to qualified applicants who are from outside the local area.

Tuition

The tuition of $3,850 includes housing, meals, program materials, activity and laboratory fees, transportation to classes and field trips, as well as evening and weekend social activities.

Program Dates

On-campus program canceled for 2022

View our 2022 AVM online program dates here

Classes

Classes begin daily at 9 a.m. and end at 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, with field trips on the weekends and social activities in the evenings. The final day of programming has an early release at approximately noon.

Housing

High School Sessions 6 and 8 are residential sessions with housing included. Participants stay in a dormitory at nearby Assumption University with adult chaperones. All participants will share a suite, and almost every participant will have a roommate. The suites have two or three rooms and a shared bathroom.

Day (Gr 9-12) Program Details

High School Day Session 9

Eligibility

The High School Day Session is designed for students who are from the local area and who have entered 9^th, 10^th, 11^th, or 12^th grade as of September 2021. Interested students from outside the local area are welcome to apply but must secure their own housing with adult supervision and transportation to/from campus.

The tuition of $2,350 includes lunches, program materials, activity and laboratory fees, as well as transportation to field trips.

Program Dates

On-campus program canceled for 2022

View our 2022 AVM online program dates here

Classes

Classes begin daily at 9 a.m. and end at 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The final day of programming has an early release at approximately noon.

Housing

High School Session 9 is a day session and does not include housing. Local accommodations can be found on the Cummings School website. We have also prepared a list of additional accommodations.

Application Information

Application Fee

A nonrefundable application fee of $40 is required and may be paid by credit card or electronic check when completing the online application.

Supporting Documents

Official transcripts and grades must be sent to our office directly from your school. Please do not send your high school transcript until the current year’s first semester or trimester grades are available. We will require the following documentation:

• High school transcript, including the current year's first semester or trimester grades when available in January/February
• Eighth-grade transcripts from students in the ninth grade

Please have all transcripts sent to:

Mail:
Adventures in Veterinary Medicine
Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University
200 Westboro Road
North Grafton, MA 01536
Fax: (508) 839-7952
Email: avm@tufts.edu

Completed Application File Requirements

• Submitted online application, including
  • School and extracurricular activities list
  • Description of paid or volunteer animal-related experience
  • Essay
• Two letters of evaluation
• Grades and official transcripts

Incomplete files will not be reviewed. It is the applicant's responsibility to follow through with the AVM office to ensure that their file is complete. Early application is advised as our sessions are extremely competitive with a limited number of spaces available.

Vaccinations
Please review the list of required vaccinations when applying to ensure you/your child can be current on these vaccinations by the program immunization deadline. The AVM office will contact accepted participants to request proof that they are up-to-date on required vaccinations.