What We Do
Atlantis is the global leader in healthcare experiential education in and surrounding the college years. We have run programs for more than 15+ years, and Atlantis alumni, after participating in Atlantis and graduating from college, have gone on to attend almost all medical schools in the U.S. We operate short-term programs (1-10 weeks) over school breaks, aimed at U.S. undergraduates, and taking place primarily in the U.S. and Europe. Medical schools want 3 things: healthcare exposure, GPA/MCAT, and certain competencies; Atlantis gives students the best version of the 1st, frees them to focus on the 2nd, and cultivates/shows the 3rd to medical school admissions committees.
#1 Provider of Pre-Health Study Abroad
A very large share of pre-meds in the U.S. study abroad for a few weeks or months, but they often do so in generalist study abroad programs, which is what many universities offer. These are often great programs in themselves, but they rarely are also one of the best clinical experiences in the student’s college years, which is often the case with Atlantis, according to many of our alumni.
Moreover, many of our alumni initially didn’t plan on going abroad during college as they worried it wouldn’t be worth the effort and money as far as their professional future goes; but Atlantis’s model made going abroad worth it as it combined a great clinical experience with an abroad element. We believe this is part of the reason why Atlantis is the leader in pre-health experiential education and education abroad.
Our Alumni Enter Great Medical Schools
John Daines
- Atlantis '17
- Brigham Young University '19
- Washington U. in St. Louis MD '23
Zoey Petitt
- Atlantis '17
- U. of Arizona '18
- Duke MD '23
Zoey Petitt
Hungary ’17 || University of Arizona (undergraduate) ’18
Completed Atlantis Program Location and Date:
Hungary, Summer 2017
Do you believe your Atlantis experience helped you get into your graduate program?
I believe it was very helpful.
Generally, why do you think Atlantis helped you get into your graduate program?
For me, my Atlantis experience played a key role in confirming my decision to go into medicine. This was important for me to discuss during the admissions process.
Specifically, did you talk about Atlantis in your interviews?
Yes
Yong-hun Kim
- Atlantis '17
- Stanford '19
- Mayo Clinic MD '24
Yong-Hun Kim
Budapest, Hungary ’17 || Stanford University
Program:
Budapest, Hungary – Winter 2017
Undergraduate:
Stanford University class of 2019
Major:
Computer Science
Honors:
Bio-X Grant (award for research)
Undergraduate Activities:
President and Founder of Stanford Undergraduate Hospice and Palliative Care, Volunteer for Pacific Free Clinic, Research Assistant in Wernig Pathology Lab, President of Hong Kong Student Association, violin performance
Describe Atlantis in three words:
Eye-opening. Spontaneous. Exhilarating.
Why did you choose Atlantis?
I chose the Atlantis program because it combines opportunities to shadow physicians and travel abroad, both of which I had little prior exposure to.
What was your favorite experience as an Atlantis participant?
My favorite experience as an Atlantis participant came in the stories exchanged over meals or excursions and the breadth of conversation that reflected the diversity of backgrounds within our cohort and site managers.
What was the most meaningful aspect of your time shadowing?
I appreciated the chance to speak with physicians in Budapest and hear their personal motivations for pursuing medicine because it really helped better contextualize and validate my own interest in medicine. The physicians were also just really welcoming, relatable, and down-to-earth people.
How has Atlantis helped equip you for the future?
The Atlantis program has equipped me with a better understanding of what a career in medicine looks like, which I think is an invaluable gift considering the long road ahead of those who aspire to be a physician.
How has Atlantis equipped you for active leadership in the medical field?
The ability to interact and empathize with patients of diverse backgrounds and communities is a necessity to be a leader in the medical field. I think the Atlantis program, through my interactions with mentors and their patients, has helped me take my first steps toward attaining the cultural vocabulary and literacy required of a physician.
Megan Branson
- Atlantis '18
- U. of Montana '19
- U. of Washington MD '24
Sarah Emerick
- Atlantis '19
- Eckerd College '20
- Indiana U. MD '25
Snow Nwankwo
- Atlantis '19
- Catholic U. of America '21
- Georgetown U. MD '26
Tiffany Hu
- Atlantis '16
- U. of Maryland '17
- U. of Michigan MD '22
Tiffany Hu
Tereul, Spain ’16 || U Michigan Medical School
Program:
Teruel, Spain – Summer 2016
Undergraduate:
University of Maryland class of 2017
Admitted medical student at:
University of Michigan Medical School
Major:
Neurobiology
Honors:
Honors Integrated Life Sciences Program, Banneker/Key Scholarship
Extracurricular Activities:
American Medical Student Association Co-President & Advocacy Day Liaison, Alternative Breaks Experience Leader, Health Professions Advising Office Student Advisory Board, Biology Teach Assistant, Health Leads, Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation, NIH Research Intern, Physicians for Social Responsibility Environment & Health Intern
Describe Atlantis in Three Words:
Educational. Eye-opening. Exhilarating.
Why did you choose Atlantis?
I wanted to expand my horizons and understand a culture of health different from the ones I am accustomed to. I had shadowed doctors in the United States and Taiwan prior to my Atlantis program experience, and being able to see first-hand the healthcare system in Spain allowed me to draw comparisons between the different complex healthcare systems.
What was your favorite experience as an Atlantis participant?
Bonding with the other participants and celebrating our time together along with the doctors we shadowed. We would discuss our interests, passions, and motivation for medicine, and it was an incredible experience to learn from and alongside them.
What was your experience with the doctors you were shadowing?
Because of the pre-established relationships with the hospitals in which we shadowed, all the doctors were very welcoming and accommodating. They were willing to translate for us and explain in detail all of their medical decisions. My doctors and I had wonderful conversations about the differences between life in Spain vs. the United States.
What was the most meaningful aspect of your time shadowing?
I was excited to scrub in on surgeries and watch as the doctor explained what he was doing throughout the operation. Before and after surgeries, as well as in my other rotations, I observed how the doctors reassured and communicated with their patients. I was able to glean insight into differences between the experience of health in Spain versus the United States through observation as well as conversations with the doctors.
How has Atlantis helped equip you for the future?
Besides the wealth of medical knowledge I gained from shadowing the doctors, I challenged myself to step outside of my cultural comfort zone and explore more than I thought I was capable of. Atlantis allowed me to make connections with people from all around the United States and abroad, and the friendships I gained helped me learn so much more than I would have on my own.
Lauren Cox
- Atlantis '18
- Louisiana Tech '20
- U. of Arkansas MD '24
Lauren Cox
Libson, Portugal ’18 || Louisiana Tech
Completed Atlantis Program Location(s):
Lisbon, Portugal
Year of most recent program:
Fall ’17 – Summer ’18
Season of most recent program:
Summer
Do you believe your Atlantis experience helped you get into your graduate program?
Extremely helpful
Generally, why do you think Atlantis helped you get into your graduate program?
It exposed me to shadowing that was hard to come by in the states. It also gave me a chance to see other systems of healthcare.
Specifically, did you talk about Atlantis in your interviews? If so, how much relative to other topics?
Yes – they wanted to know about my experience, and specifically how the healthcare I saw in another country compared to what I had seen in the USA.
Kayla Riegler
- Atlantis '18
- U. of Kentucky '20
- U. of Kentucky MD '24
What’s an Atlantis Program?
- Thousands of alumni over 15+ years
- 20–200+ shadowing hours
- 1–10 weeks over college breaks
- Multiple specialties (1 per week)
- U.S., Spain, Italy, Greece and more
- Housing, meals, insurance, excursions, etc.
- Potential to earn a certificate from Harvard Medical School via an HMX online course
- Alumni have gone on to nearly all top 50 MD programs and DO/PA/Nursing
Some of Our University & Hospital Partners
Pre-health students from any university can apply to Atlantis. However, we design custom group programs for universities, from a top 5 U.S. university to large state schools, exposing students to a wide range of hospital environments and cultures. The below is just a small sample.
Universities
Hospitals
MD With Years Of Experience Advising Elite Pre-meds Explains Atlantis
Our Alumni Have Gone on to 40 of the Top 50 MD Programs
Top 50 MD Programs (Ranked) |
Atlantis Alumni? |
MD Admit Rate |
Known For |
---|---|---|---|
Harvard University | Yes | 4% | 10 Nobel Prizes, Smallpox Vaccine |
New York University (Grossman) |
No | 2% | 4 Nobel Prizes |
Duke University | Yes | 4% | 3 Nobel Prizes |
Columbia University | Yes | 4% | 5 Nobel Prizes |
Stanford University | Yes | 2% | 8 Nobel Prizes |
University of California – San Francisco |
Yes | 4% | 6 Nobel Prizes |
Johns Hopkins University |
Yes | 7% | 22 Nobel Prizes |
University of Washington |
Yes | 5% | 4 Nobel Prizes |
University of Pennsylvania (Perelman) |
No | 5% | 4 Nobel Prizes, Oldest US Medical School |
Yale University | No | 6% | 4 Nobel Prizes |
Mayo Clinic School of Medicine (Alix) |
Yes | 3% | Served every US president since Abraham Lincoln |
Washington University in St. Louis |
Yes | 8% | 19 Nobel Prizes |
University of Pittsburgh |
Yes | 5% | 2 Nobel Prizes |
Vanderbilt University | No | 6% | 2 Nobel Prizes |
Northwestern University (Feinberg) |
Yes | 6% | 3 Nobel Prizes |
University of Michigan – Ann Arbor |
Yes | 5% | 2 Nobel Prizes |
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai |
Yes | 5% | 1 Nobel Prize, First Blood Tranfusion |
University of Chicago (Pritzker) |
Yes | 4% | 1 Nobel Prize |
Cornell University (Weill) |
Yes | 4% | 1 Nobel Prize, Dr. Fauci’s alma mater |
University of California – San Diego |
Yes | 4% | 8 Nobel Prizes |
U. of California – Los Angeles (Geffen) |
No | 3% | 1 Nobel Prize |
Baylor College of Medicine |
Yes | 5% | First Coronary Bipass |
Emory University | Yes | 3% | First & only to treat US Ebola patients |
University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill |
Yes | 4% | 2 Nobel Prizes |
Case Western Reserve University |
Yes | 7% | 5 Nobel Prizes |
U. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center |
Yes | 8% | 6 Nobel Prizes, basic mechanism of cholesterol metabolism |
University of Colorado |
No | 3% | First human liver transplant |
University of Maryland |
Yes | 6% | Discovery that HIV causes AIDS |
Oregon Health & Science University |
No | 5% | Renowned for primary care, rural & family medicine |
University of Southern California (Keck) |
Yes | 5% | Research leader in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s |
University of Virginia |
Yes | 12% | 3 Nobel Prizes, Discovery of LGL Leukemia |
University of Alabama – Birmingham |
Yes | 6% | Invention of the endoscope |
Boston University | Yes | 6% | 1 Nobel Prize |
Ohio State University |
No | 5% | First robot-assisted heart bypass & live-streamed surgery |
University of Wisconsin – Madison |
Yes | 6% | “Mohs” surgery to treat skin cancer |
Brown University (Alpert) |
Yes | 3% | 1 Nobel Peace Prize |
University of Florida |
Yes | 5% | First regenerative bio envelope |
University of Rochester |
No | 6% | 3 Nobel Prizes |
Albert Einstein College of Medicine |
Yes | 4% | First Genetics Department in US |
University of Iowa (Carver) |
Yes | 7% | Fourteen faculty in the National Academy of Medicine |
University of Utah |
Yes | 6% | 1 Nobel Prize, First artificial heart implant |
Indiana University – Indianapolis |
Yes | 10% | World’s First DNA Bank |
University of Cincinnati |
Yes | 8% | Polio Vaccine |
University of Minnesota |
No | 6% | Alumni considered “Fathers” of Immunology & Oncology |
Dartmouth College (Geisel) |
Yes | 3% | First clinical x-ray and first ICU |
University of Massachusetts – Worcester |
Yes | 9% | 1 Nobel Prize |
University of Miami (Miller) |
Yes | 4% | Groundbreaking research to cure paralysis |
University of California – Davis |
Yes | 4% | Co-founder of Total-body PET Scanner |
University of California – Irvine |
Yes | 4% | 1 Nobel Prize |
University of South Florida |
Yes | 7% | First 3D-printed nasal swabs |
Authoring Guidelines in the Field
Atlantis co-authored, with the Forum on Education Abroad, the leading non-profit representing the study abroad world in the U.S., the Guidelines for Undergraduate Health-Related Experiences Abroad. These are the general principles that all healthcare study abroad programs are invited to follow.
A Leader in Pre-Health Education
Atlantis has presented at several conferences, including the 2021 annual meeting of the ASPPH, one of the top healthcare academic conferences in the world.
NEAAHP Presentation
Atlantis has also presented at several regional pre-health advisor conferences, including NEAAHP 2021.
Being the Leader Should Mean Being an Innovator
Atlantis is the global leader in healthcare experiential education in and surrounding the college years. And with that comes the responsibility to innovate. The following are all innovations spearheaded by Atlantis in our programs: our 360 Shadowing methodology, our European shadowing focus, our Service-Research Projects model, our Uniqueness Projects approach, our partnership with Uplift for financing, the inclusion in some of our programs of a pre-med Harvard Medical School HMX course which brings with it the potential to earn a certificate from Harvard Medical School, and the topics we have presented at academic conferences (specifically about innovation on healthcare experiential education — see here and here, for example). These innovations ultimately better enable our programs to fulfill our mission: to help build a world where doctors love their jobs and their patients can sense that.
Watch Video: 20+ Alumni Now In Med School Explain: Atlantis Is a Major Reason I Got In Here
Atlantis Connect Conference
In 2018, Atlantis hosted the Atlantis Connect Conference at the Italian Embassy in Washington, D.C. Over 100 medical school staff & faculty, hospital administrators, physicians, and others from the U.S. and Europe shared ideas on how to make cross-border collaboration more effective in healthcare.
Speakers Included:
- Dr. Onyinye D. Balogun, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Dr. Ranieri Guerra, World Health Organization
- Dr. Yukari Manabe, Johns Hopkins University
- John Rother, National Coalition on Health Care
- Stefano Lami, Science Counselor, Embassy of Italy
Ways To Be Involved
Group Programs
Atlantis works with universities, with institutions ranging from a top 5 U.S. university to large public universities and smaller private schools. These are group programs which are customizable, university-specific, facilitated through Atlantis, credit-bearing, and sometimes faculty-led sometimes not. Universities can also partner with us to have their students attend Atlantis programs together with students from other universities.
Advisor Site Visits
Atlantis facilitates site visits for advisors, in which academic and pre-health advisors at universities across the U.S. have the opportunity to experience one of our programs in-person, allowing them to better advise students throughout the year as to whether an Atlantis program may be a good fit for them.
Direct or Partnership
Undergraduates participate in our programs either by directly enrolling with us or by participating in a partnership program we build with their university.
Have Questions About How Atlantis Could Serve Your Student’s Needs?
Reach out to our Director of Institutional Relations
Specialization in Medicine…And Also In Education
If you needed heart surgery, you wouldn’t seek a generalist doctor, since there are benefits to specialization. Similarly, almost everything we do is in healthcare, which is part of the reason we’ve been able to contribute to the success of our alumni the way we have.
A very large share of pre-meds in the U.S. study abroad for a few weeks or a few months during their undergraduate years, but they often do so in generalist study programs, which is what many universities offer. These are often great programs in themselves, but they miss an opportunity to also contribute to students’ healthcare path. Atlantis brings the best of study abroad, while also contributing to (A)students’ healthcare paths, and (B) society’s need for doctors who are committed and passionate for their fields.
Who Are You?
Pre-Health Advisor
PA School
Nursing Program
Public Health Program
Study Abroad Office
“We pre-meds go to study abroad fairs and are disappointed because none of the options are a fit for us since they don’t include the classes we need. I might have taken 5 brochures out of 200 programs at the [study abroad] fair, because none of them offer upper-level classes that fit a pre-med schedule, like physics, organic chemistry etc.” – Nicole C., Atlantis ‘20, Lehigh University ‘21
Medical School
Europeans Have Higher Life Expectancies
Yet Spend Far Less on Healthcare
More than Just Pre-Med
Interested in pre-health shadowing and study abroad but want to look beyond the pre-med track? Atlantis programs, while centered on the MD/DO/PA perspective, are still relevant for other pre-health fields. Also, Atlantis can build custom programs for universities focused entirely on a non-pre-med healthcare track.
More than Just Shadowing
- Atlantis also runs Service-Research Projects which are non-shadowing programs centered on a project done with an elite healthcare organization.
- Although the above are focused on pre-med/pre-PA students, one other group that can benefit from them are public health students in both undergraduate and graduate school.
More On (Non-Shadowing) Service-Research Projects
Unlike our shadowing programs, which focus on observing healthcare professionals across multiple specialties, Atlantis Service-Research Projects are an opportunity to learn full-time from an Atlantis Project Leader, inside an elite healthcare organization, in a real project with members of management and administration, while performing a highly impactful service – a unique mix.
Past Project Example
Date: 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic.
Healthcare Organization: Children’s National Hospital, Washington, D.C., one of the best pediatric hospitals in the U.S.
Context: Preparation for the 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment, measuring Childhood Opportunity in D.C. metropolitan neighborhoods and working with other organizations to promote racial equity in healthcare.
Executive Summary: Students measured what were major drivers behind low levels of childhood opportunity (measured by COI, Childhood Opportunity Index). They provided a historical perspective on D.C. neighborhoods, focusing on racial equity, and created community engagement tools.
Deliverables: Interim & Final presentations, Tableau visualizations, manuscript, interview guides including engagement tools (e.g., email & social media templates), focus group templates, stakeholder master list including their contacts, and historical write-up of D.C. neighborhoods.
One Consequence: Atlantis and Children’s National Hospital institutionally co-presented on this model and project at several leading academic conferences, including the ASPPH, in 2021.
A Service-Research Project that Ran During the Pandemic, Was About the Pandemic, and Took Place in the Former Epicenter of the Pandemic in the Western World
At the San Matteo Hospital in Pavia, Italy, during the summer of 2021, Atlantis ran a Service-Research Project focused on the mental health of healthcare workers during the pandemic. Students learned from an Atlantis Project Leader by doing a project with this hospital.
The project was done with and for some well-known doctors who were there when the pandemic first arrived (over a year before this Atlantis program took place). The project created analyses to support the hospital administration’s effort to improve the well-being of doctors, nurses, and all hospital staff at one of the first hospitals to fight the COVID virus outbreak in Europe and in the western world. The hospital found the work “truly remarkable and invaluable.”
We expect, based on our experience, that many of the alumni of this program will be talking about their experience in medical school applications and interviews.
This experience allowed me to make a global impact on healthcare.
The Essence of Healthcare in the U.S. and Europe is the Same, but with Cultural Differences – Making Europe the Ideal Place for U.S. Students to Shadow
Very Few Future Doctors Have Been Exposed to Universal Healthcare Systems
When you think of the set of high-resource countries in the world (the US, the European countries, Canada, Australia, and some Asian countries), that world is divided between countries with a mostly private system (notably the US), and countries with universal healthcare and single-payer systems (all of Europe and several other countries). These are very different approaches, each with its pros and cons. And yet future healthcare leaders in the US have only been exposed to one of these two main types. They won’t know what’s lacking in that system, nor will they fully appreciate its qualities.
Click To Read More About This Topic: An Analogy
An analogy to this situation (where a future doctor will only see one system) is this: imagine you are a patient, and your doctor, who is qualified and you trust, urges you to undergo very serious and life-threatening surgery. You’d very seriously consider the merits of this opinion, but suppose there was one main alternative surgery type that many, many other people in your situation follow, and strongly believe in, even though your doctor disagrees and recommends against it. You’d probably want to seek a second opinion first–maybe one that would let you understand that alternative with its perhaps many pros and cons.
Leaving our analogy and returning to the world of healthcare education: just as with the analogy, future US healthcare leaders, who will shape how health is delivered in the US, need to understand the other one obvious alternative to their system and see its many pros and its many cons. They’ll be better able to both appreciate and value the US system’s strengths and work to improve its weaknesses.
This is important and it is very much lacking. For instance, look up the websites of medical schools in the US; of the little you’ll see about international activity, you’ll see most of it is focused on the developing world and with a mindset of helping and not learning. Though this developing world activity should be kept, we believe having it be the only thing is a missed opportunity, as several medical education leaders have told us, since it means that future US doctors won’t understand the one general alternative to their system. We’re working hard at Atlantis to change this, ensuring that future doctors can see both sides, and help build systems that are truly the best possible. We believe both systems have pros and cons, and each side can benefit from understanding the other.
Connecting Global Healthcare
With over 100 hospital partners in several countries, Atlantis builds cross-border bridges for the healthcare professionals of tomorrow. Each line on the chart represents a real Atlantis alum’s home city and state on one end, and a destination Atlantis country on the other. This is for a sample of Atlantis alumni. Note that Atlantis runs many (usually small) programs in several locations in each country, and note that this map does not represent all countries where Atlantis programs are run. Nevertheless, the map shows the amount of bridge-building that is taking place. This has always been important, but it is even more important after the recent global pandemic and its need for alignment and strong international relationships in healthcare.
Alumni Keep Contributing After Atlantis
Here’s an example of an Atlantis alumna (Siobana N., Atlantis ‘19, Emory University ‘21), who worked independently on research with a healthcare entity in Europe. Siobana met Dr. Gasparri, one of the principal authors of the paper, while shadowing in the Breast Surgery field in Milan. This article was published on New Frontiers in Breast Surgical Oncology.
Alumni Also Partake in Elite Research in The U.S
For example, Victoria Haak, Atlantis alumna, did work, separate from Atlantis, as a cancer researcher at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School.
Med Interview Impact
The medical school interview is one of the most important steps towards acceptance. Performance in interviews varies widely, and two candidates with equally strong applications on paper can perform very differently. Compare an Atlantis alum with a typical pre-med side by side on their medical school interview.
Compare A Typical Med School Applicant With an Atlantis Alum
Alternatively, See a More In-Depth Version of The Above Table
4.96
/5Go Overseas
9.72
/10Go Abroad
Foreign Language Skills Not Required
Almost all Atlantis alumni have not spoken the local language. Most doctors in most places speak enough English for the language barrier to not hinder the experience.
When there is a language barrier, such barrier will push most students out of their comfort zone, which fosters resilience & adaptability (AAMC competency #8). Moreover, such limited language barrier experiences will be nothing compared with what many of our students’ post-medical-school patients in the U.S. (e.g. immigrants) will experience.
Overcoming the any limited language barrier issues is crucial for building your cultural competence (AAMC competency #3), being able to relate to your future patients, growing in oral communication skills (AAMC competency #5), and also having compelling stories for your applications and interviews.
Atlantis Alumni Have
What Med Schools Want
97%
Of alumni accepted into med/PA school referenced Atlantis on their application and the vast majority said Atlantis impacted their admittance
81%
Of alumni accepted into med/PA school said Atlantis impacted their passion for medicine
93%
Of our pre-health alumni progressed on the AAMC competencies that medical schools use to assess candidates
Net Promoter Score For Atlantis Compared
With Recognizable Brands
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a measure taken from asking customers or alumni how likely they are to recommend a product or service to a friend. The score ranges from -100 to 100, with 0 being neutral and anything positive being good. This chart does not intend to claim that Atlantis is a better organization or that it is somehow doing a better job than these other companies. These are all far larger organizations that are impressive and do a lot of good things. However, Atlantis has been narrowly focused for 15+ years, has become the leader in its field, and the NPS reflects this leadership. We are including this chart to provide a comparison point to brands and products most pre-meds are familiar with.
Mission
We help build a world where healthcare professionals love their jobs and their patients can sense that.
We do this via programs that (a) help put the right people in healthcare and (b) help these people thrive in their field.