FAQs About the Progam
Generous sponsors have allowed us to make the program free.
At the time of the application deadline, the student needs to be an enrolled Junior (11th) or a Senior (12th) in high school. A sophomore going into junior year, does not qualify. This has to do with liability issues regarding minors.
To be eligible for the program a student must attend a high school within Orange County. Even in the student lives in Orange County, they must be enrolled in an eligible high school. A full list can be found HERE
Students cannot be enrolled in summer school or any other club or activities during the program dates that conflict with programmatic activities which generally occur M-F between 8am – 5pm. There are exceptions on a case-by-case basis, but they must be arranged and approved prior to the program starting.
No, the university if closed for all federal holidays.
No, this is a Monday through Friday program only.
The number of selected students vary on the number of laboratories able to mentor students. We try to accept ~20 students per year. We receive 100+ applications per year.
Transcripts/Course Requirements FAQs
In order to be prepared to conduct rigorous laboratory experiments, we require all applicants have completed one biology and one chemistry course. If you are enrolled in either the biology or chemistry course at the time you submit the application, then you are eligible. Since the program is in the summer, you would have completed the requirement before the program began. If you are a junior and intend to take biology/AP biology in your senior year, you are an eligible applicant for that following summer.
Due to UCI liability issues for minors, we are unable to accept sophomores into the program.
Transcripts should be uploaded to the application portal as a PDF document. Please ensure we can open the document, as the system does not allow us to click on links to other systems. We are unable to access student portal transcripts and need to receive a document which shows us the weighted and unweighted GPA. Final Fall grades and enrolled Spring classes must be included on the transcript.
Applications are reviewed only one time and the review timeline is on the program information page.
Please reference the dates on the program information page.
The application system will allow you to upload documents in Word or PDF format. We prefer documents in PDF to ensure formatting remains as intended.
The program materials will be updated on our website each December.
Letter of Recommendation FAQs
We accept one letter of recommendation for each student. This letter should be submitted by an educator at the high school who has extensive experience of the students STEM background or who has first-hand experience overseeing the student in extra-curricular activities.
Letters should be emailed to cri@uci.edu by the application deadline. For the 2023 program, this deadline is February 23, 2023.
FAQs For Selected Students
The UCI requires us to verify immunizations. They required a record that students have received the following vaccinations:
- Hepatitis B Series & Hepatitis B titer (titer documentation must be current, within last 5 yrs)
- MMR
- Varicella & Varicella titer (titer documentation must be current, within 5 years)
- Tdap (within last 10 years)
- Flu
- COVID-19 (Preferred, not required starting summer 2024)
Students will need to arrange their own transportation to/from campus. The CRI will provide bus passes or parking passes to eligible students. Students are also encouraged to carpool based on parent permission.
Participants are responsible for transportation to and from the UC Irvine Campus. However, the program may subsidize transportation costs by providing bus and parking passes for eligible participants.
When acceptance letters are released, information about the labs will be available.
The orientation will occur the first few days of the program, in June.
Please email the CRI office at cri@uci.edu if you have further questions. Thank you