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A view of Venice Grand Canal and the Rialto Bridge in Venice, Italy (an Atlantis site).
A view of Venice Grand Canal and the Rialto Bridge in Venice, Italy (an Atlantis site).

Italy

Venice

$6,999

Overview

The UNESCO World Heritage property comprises the city of Venice and its lagoon situated in the Veneto Region of Northeast Italy. Founded in the 5th century AD and spread over 118 small islands, Venice became a major maritime power in the 10th century. The whole city is an extraordinary architectural masterpiece in which even the smallest building contains works by some of the world’s greatest artists. It’s dreamy and romantic, with an undercurrent of mystery and drama. And while Carnival is only once a year, its mood is present year-round. The Grand Canal is the center of activity, with gondoliers singing to the passengers in their boats.

Destination Information

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Local Time Now:

7:10pm

Official Languages:

Italian

Almost all alumni have not spoken the local language.
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The City

Venice and its lagoon, known as the ‘City of Canals’, is one of the most unique cities in the world. It is a city in Italy, built upon a group of 118 small islands that are divided by more than 150 channels and linked together with more than 400 bridges. Venice is a walking city. The historic centre is compact with smooth and flat pavements and – crucially – most of Venice is car-free.

It is known as the city of love due to its romantic and magical atmosphere, Venice is a unique destination in the world that has seen artists such as Titian, Bellini and Tintoretto or musicians like Vivaldi and Monteverdi, they made the city one of the world’s opera capitals and a worldwide benchmark in terms of art and history. In addition, great men like the opera composer Wagner and the pianist Stravinsky rest in this city.

Venice is also famous for its Carnival, where Venetians dress up and wear traditional masks and period costumes. But it is also known for its coffee and Italian cuisine offered by the locals. Venice is an amazing city that hides amazing wonders, a destination that begs to be visited again.

Dates & Availability

  • Summer Break 2025

Dates

Price

Availability

May 31, 2025 - June 20, 2025 3 weeks

$6,999

Full

June 21, 2025 - July 11, 2025 3 weeks

$6,999

Full

July 12, 2025 - August 1, 2025 3 weeks

$6,999

Full

You may pay over time, fundraise, consider scholarships, and more. Learn about our significant partial need-based scholarships here.

Financing & Aid
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Participants may transfer to another program or receive a refund up until a predefined amount of time before the start date.

What’s Included

Atlantis programs include ~20h/week of shadowing, housing, some meals, transportation, travel health insurance, and more. Airfare is not included but can be very affordable.

What’s Included

On Program Components

  • Approximately 20 hours of AAMC-compliant observation-only shadowing each week, usually in a different department each week
  • In most locations, small groups of 10–15 students
  • Student-doctor ratio of 1:1 or 2:1
  • A small set of our programs are not shadowing-based but rather “Service-Research Projects”, and these substitute the 3 above bullet-point items with a full-time project
  • 1 excursion per week: usually on Fridays + 1 excursion on the Sunday after arrival
  • Housing with rooms separated by gender (with 1–2 roommates or several housemates, depending on housing type)
  • Transportation in and around the city for certain program activities
  • Small daily breakfast, lunch during the excursions, + 2 weekday group dinners per week (including one farewell dinner)
  • Health insurance if traveling abroad: covers certain medical expenses due to accidents and sickness (conditions apply)
  • Staff available to greet and assist students at the recommended arrival airport for each location during a specific window.
  • Atlantis Site Managers in your city will be available when you arrive, assisting during the program, and on-call if any issues arise

Pre/Post Program Components

  • Basic admissions advising by someone experienced with medical school admissions
  • Mentoring session from an incoming top 10 medical school student
  • Guidance for how to leverage your Atlantis experience on “Uniqueness Projects,” giving you the chance to create your own initiative, club, or non-profit to uniquely help connect healthcare professionals between Europe and the U.S.
  • HMX online course for pre-med students, with the potential to earn a certificate from Harvard Medical School upon completion. This course is not-for-credit, and is only available in some of our programs; our cities page clearly identifies programs that include HMX
  • Support for requesting course credit from your university wherever this is possible

Hospital Overview

Ospedale Civile SS. Giovanni e Paolo Hospital

The SS. Giovanni e Paolo Civil Hospital in Venice, with its stunning Renaissance facade, dates back to 1260 when it served as a secular building for a patrician confraternity dedicated to charity and public assistance.
 
Over the centuries, it evolved to accommodate patients and, from 1825 to 1978, even served as a psychiatric hospital. Today, it stands as a public health institution, with around 350 hospital beds, offering modern medical facilities and clinics. The hospital’s vast complex includes a museum of medical history and a monumental library housing ancient medical instruments and a wealth of Western medical literature.
Alumni Favorite

Gondola Ride

A Venetian Gondola ride is a bucket-list experience. For centuries, black gondolas have been the unmistakable symbol of Venice. Already in the 13th century, Venice started to ban horses in the busiest parts of the city. Gradually, gondolas became a popular means of transportation, especially among the upper classes. Nowadays, gondolas are maily used for the entertainment – for sightseeing, romantic evenings, or simly to experience Venice in a similar way as people have done it for centuries. As cliché as it sounds, no trip to Venice would be complete without a gondola ride.

Students on a gondala ride in Venice, Italy (an Atlantis site)
Students on a gondala ride in Venice, Italy (an Atlantis site)

I absolutely loved my experience. My site managers did an amazing job giving us a real authentic Italian experience and were also very helpful with any questions we had. My group overall was fantastic, and it really made the trip that much better. I am so happy to have been able to see a different kind of healthcare system and use what I’ve learned in the hospital in my future career in medicine.

Hannah

Pavia Atlantis '19

Savannah State University

Alumni Outcomes
Atlantis students walking through the hallway of the hospital where they are shadowing (Genoa, Italy).
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Excursions

Our excursions are designed to offer a deeper look into your host culture, for both the educational benefit and the enjoyment of exploring a new place with others who share your interests in travel and medicine. Excursions range from historical tours to culinary and cultural explorations.

Your Site Manager will inform you of the excursions they have planned during your program orientation. If you make travel plans outside of your city for a weekend and it conflicts with the events your Site Manager has planned, notify your Site Manager several days in advance so that they can plan accordingly.

Atlantis students on a program excursion.
Atlantis students on a program excursion (Genoa, Italy).

Language Skills Not Required

Most participants do not speak the local language at their Atlantis program. English levels vary within the hospital, but no knowledge of the language is required for Atlantis to be valuable. There is enough English spoken in the hospital for participants to benefit from the programs, as you can read in our testimonials. 

Many patients in your future career will not speak your language and will come from a different cultural background, so the Atlantis experience prepares you for that intercultural perspective. Any slight language barrier you may encounter at Atlantis also helps you develop “resilience and adaptability,” an AAMC core competency.

Alumni Outcomes

Clinical Experience that Stands Out to Schools

Medical schools want 3 things: healthcare exposure, GPA/MCAT, and certain competencies. Uniquely, “360 Shadowing” gives you the best version of the 1st, frees you to focus on the 2nd, and cultivates/shows the 3rd to medical school admissions.

What Med/PA Schools Want
Why 360 Shadowing?
Two students walking out of a hospital wing.
Atlantis students in a hospital wing (Lisbon, Portugal).

Funding Your Future

The cost of Atlantis isn’t too dissimilar from the cost of many study abroad programs that you may find. And we’re here to help: from our extensive fundraising guide to flexible payment plans and financing options, we make the process simple and easy, allowing you to focus on what really matters.

How Financing Works
An Atlantis student smiling while shadowing abroad.
An Atlantis student on an excursion experiencing culture while shadowing abroad (Athens, Greece).

Bring a Friend

Consider bringing a friend to the same program you’re applying to. Although the vast majority of Atlantis alumni have gone on programs without knowing someone in their cohort, bringing a friend allows your experience to be shared in a unique way, while still allowing you one of the benefits of Atlantis: meeting new pre-health friends from across the country. Consider sharing this idea with your friends.

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students walking and smiling.
Atlantis students exploring together on a program excursion (Athens, Greece).

Med School Interview:
Atlantis Alum vs. Typical Pre-med

Compare a possible medical school interview of an Atlantis alum with that of a typical applicant by looking at responses to common questions.

Medical School Interview Impact