Pre-College 2023

GW Pre-College Program 2023

High school students in the Pre-College Program spend a summer in Washington, D.C., taking advantage of GW's expertise in global development, international relations, public policy and administration, politics, diplomacy, history, biomedical engineering, museum studies and the arts. Top-tier faculty and scholar practioners guide, inspire and empower students through immersive programs that connect academic experience with real-world practice. Our summer programs are intensive and exciting, allowing students to experience the academic rigors of learning in a college environment. They are academically-challenging courses that integrate lectures and seminars with exploration of area organizations.

Pre-College also offers a transformative introduction to college life. Students develop confidence in their ability to become part of a new community, participating in recreational and social activities while making friends with peers from around the world. Applications for Summer 2023 are open on December 15th.

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Summer Immersion: Residential Programs

Summer Immersion is a two-week, full day, non-credit program for rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors that integrates lecture-based instruction with experiential and applied activities. Students expand and deepen their knowledge of a topic through collaborative learning and an exploration of the diverse intellectual and cultural resources of Washington, DC.

For Summer 2023, the following courses will run July 2 - 14:

Intl Orgs Photo

Washington, D.C. is the hub of U.S. national security, and many of its most influential spaces are steps from our campus. This course introduces students to the relationship between national security and policymaking. It will highlight the complexities of the U.S. national security agenda from the perspectives of the legislative, executive and judicial branches, and the impact of national security practices by the FBI, U.S. Secret Service, and Pentagon agencies.

Intro to Med Photo

The world of medicine is complex and profound. This course will introduce students to the didactic rigors of biology, genetics, physiology, and anatomy as well as teaching them the applications of these topics in clinical research and global health. Students will explore these concepts with help from guests from and visits to places such as the Red Cross and PanHealth. This course is a survey of topics related to medicine, designed to help students understand the variety of areas that medicine touches and give them the information to decide if a career in medicine is right for them.

Biomed Course Photo

The combination of engineering and medicine has profoundly changed the quality of life in our society. In this course, students will investigate topics such as electrophysiology, medical imaging, therapeutic ultrasound, computer-aided diagnosis, biomedical sensor technology, and nanotechnology, in order to conceptualize the future of biomedical advancements.

Students huddled together with notepads and books in their laps.

What is truth, and how do you know when you’ve found it? This course will explore not only the concept of truth but also the ways that we can identify and evaluate it. Learn about critical thinking, evaluating sources and arguments, logical reasoning and fallacies, and more. Students will be challenged to explore the origins of their own thoughts and to evaluate them acutely while learning how to assess the arguments of others.

Photograph of students holding a brain while sitting at a table.

This course introduces students to the science of the brain, including areas of perception, attention, and memory, with an emphasis on the role of health and behavior. Students will explore psychiatric disorders and research methods, amongst which are patient-based testing, psychophysical scaling and animal modeling.

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How do societal factors impact our health? And how do we collect, analyze, and evaluate the data that informs our understanding? This course will delve into the different ways that a person’s (or community’s) health can be driven by societal concerns, as well as the variety of medical professions that work together to best understand the causes, effects, and potential precautions and solutions for many of the most detrimental effects of the social drivers of health.

A DAY IN THE LIFE

Students in the Pre-College program are constantly engaged. Connecting with their classmates, their topic of study and Washington, D.C, Pre-College students have the opportunity to interact with this program in an immersive, hands-on experience. Both in and out of the classroom, students are kept busy as we arrange opportunities for exploration through class site visits and residential programming. Students also recieve a certian amount of free time to explore DC independently. Here is a sample Pre-College student schedule:

Weekdays
7:30am - 8:30am: Breakfast

9:00am - 5:00pm: Class, Study Sessions, Co-Curricular Activities

12:00pm - 1:00pm: Lunch

1:00pm - 4:00pm: Class, Guest Lecture and/or Site Visit

5:00pm - 6:30pm: Dinner

7:00pm - 9:00pm: College Readiness Activities and Recreational Programs with Residential Staff

11:00 pm: In-Room Curfew (weekday and weekends)

Weekends
Recreational Programs with Residential Staff. Examples of Recreational Programs include 4th of July Celebration on the National Mall, DC Cupcake crawl, and Smithsonian museum tours.

Summer Exposure

The Pre-College Summer Exposure Program is a full-day, noncredit, commuter program for rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors (ages 14-17) in the Washington, DC area. Participants enroll in a 1-week program that integrates lectures with guest speakers as well as experiential and applied activities. As an introduction to a collegiate academic experience, students begin deepening their knowledge of a topic through collaborative learning and an exploration of the diverse intellectual and cultural resources of Washington, D.C.

The Pre-College Summer Exposure program is offered during the week of July 17 - 21, 2023. For students who wish to have an immersive 2-week college experience, see the Summer Immersion program above.

Washington, D.C. is the heart of the legislative processes and social movements that influence structural, cultural, and ideological change. This course introduces students to questions, opportunities, and roadblocks faced by civic and global leaders while aiming to expand their leadership capacity by teaching them to translate their values and ideas into action. Students explore topics such as grassroots organizations and activism and how they have shaped social change in Washington, D.C. and beyond.

Conflict Resolution

What you see isn’t real. Neither is what you hear, feel, or even taste. Through engaging with research in psychology and neuroscience, students in this course will learn how the brain creates perception based on what we think we know, our internal states (for example, how hungry you are), and even our sensations. This course will help you if you want to better understand how you see the world, or even if you just want to know why food tastes better when you’re hungry.

Student Raising Hand

People shop, play, work, and socialize online – in fact, our modern lives are online. This course explores cybersecurity and privacy issues impacting individuals, businesses, organizations, and government agencies. Students will explore a basic understanding of business, management, legal, technical, and ethical issues and challenges faced in our contemporary times. Students will grapple with questions like: Can someone else use my private pictures without permission? What can I do to protect my identity from being stolen? All while engaging in creative projects, meeting with industry professionals, and visiting government agencies.

Note-taking Student

This course will introduce a framework for Digital Marketing, emphasizing digital marketing strategies, tools and techniques, and how to achieve marketing goals. Students will gain knowledge in digital marketing strategy, decision-making, and how and where to employ these strategies for a successful digital marketing campaign. In addition, various types and models of digital marketing approaches will be discussed to give students in-depth knowledge in relation to the model conceptualization.

Research Photo

Being situated in Washington D.C., students are in the heart of the nation’s capital, where the worlds of politics, business, and technology converge and new, innovative ideas are being brought to life. In this course, students will explore topics such as technology innovations, social entrepreneurship, and leading the business development process as they explore the process of formulating an idea and pitching it to prospective investors.

Additional SUMMER Opportunities

classroom

Summer Session II: Online from July 3 – August 12, 2023

College Intensive programs offer rising juniors and seniors the opportunity to earn college credit by engaging in challenging online undergraduate level courses. Grades earned establish an official academic record at GW and may be transferable, depending on the policies of the receiving institution.

Students who wish to engage in credit-bearing online courses may apply for the 6-week online option. Students participating in this program are eligible to enroll in one 1000 or 2000 level course. To be eligible for enrollment, students must satisfy all prerequisites for a given course. For dates and times, please consult the GW schedule of classes, which will be posted later this spring.

caminos

Program Dates: July 2 – July 21, 2023

Caminos al Futuro is a fully-funded, selective pre-college and residential summer program for rising seniors in U.S. high schools offered by the Cisneros Hispanic Leadership Institute at the George Washington University, in Washington D.C.

During the 3-week intensive program, Caminos scholars examine the social, economic, and political transformations affecting the Hispanic/Latino community. Through lectures by university professors and expert leaders in their fields, scholars not only learn about pressing contemporary issues but also create their own project to bring change in their own communities.

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