How Do Atlantis Programs Work?
Atlantis programs are short-term shadowing experiences in hospitals across a variety of countries. They take place over college breaks and offer pre-health students the chance to shadow doctors for 20+ hours per week, often in multiple specialties and countries. With over 100 hospital partners worldwide, Atlantis provides unmatched clinical exposure and a global perspective on healthcare.
Clinical Experience That Fits Your Busy Schedule
As a busy pre-health student, trying to coordinate a few clinical experience and shadowing hours here and there is difficult and not always rewarding. Atlantis programs give you very meaningful clinical experience, and one that is good enough as to allow for the “luxury” of focusing more on grades during your semesters, while at the same time refining and showcasing most of the 15 competencies that medical schools assess candidates on. This overall experience is part of why our alumni can succeed in their healthcare paths post-college.
Our students range from incoming college freshmen to recent graduates, post-college gap years, and post bacc students. Atlantis students:
Day in the Life
Mornings
Shadowing Days
The result is that our alumni are admitted to 40 of the top 50 M.D. programs and beyond (and to other tracks), can perform well on interviews, and 93% of them progress on the competencies that medical schools value. If you haven’t watched it already, watch the video below to see three alumni describe their hospital experiences and the specialties they saw:
Group Activities
We often hear alumni, years after their Atlantis program, saying that they not only keep in touch with their peers, but they share pre-health tips, hold each other accountable on MCAT studying, debate application strategies, go on trips with each other inside the U.S., and invite each other to their weddings. These bonds are made during students’ time together in the hospital, but especially in group activities.
Watch our Atlantis Experience video below, which covers many elements of the overall Atlantis experience:
Free Weekends
Hospital Experience
Atlantis allows students to shadow abroad for 20+ hours each week in different hospital departments. All hours are observation-only, following AAMC guidelines for pre-health experiences abroad (doing otherwise would jeopardize your Med/PA applications). Students typically (but not always) shadow departments in pairs. Some fields will be surgical but more often non-surgical. Some fields will be more engaging than others (and this varies from person to person), which is also what students will experience later on during their medical training.
Below is a sample rotation schedule. Preferences for specialties are not guaranteed. However, the vast majority of Atlantis participants end up receiving all or most of their choices.
| Sample Schedule A | Sample Schedule B | Sample Schedule C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Cardiology | General Surgery | Orthopedics |
| Week 2 | Thoracic Surgery | Emergency | General Surgery |
| Week 3 | Ophthalmology | Cardiology | Nuclear Radiology |
| Week 4 | Dermatology | Pediatrics | OB/GYN |
| Week 5 | Anesthesiology | Pathology | Neurology |
| Week 6 | Hematology | Neurology | Urology |
Our team chooses program locations that are surrounded by the rich cultural offerings of Europe, while also ensuring the availability of a hospital setting, which is always our priority. We know many pre-health students are unable to study abroad due to course requirements. Atlantis allows students to combine the joys of travel abroad with the invaluable experience of shadowing, particularly 360 Shadowing, with its greater depth, breadth, quantity, and intercultural perspective, relative to most other clinical experiences available to U.S. pre-health students.
Three Alumni Speak About Their
Experience in the Hospital
Note on Language Skills
English levels vary within the hospital, but no knowledge of language is required for this to be a valuable experience. The vast majority of our alumni have not spoken the local language. We always encourage students to practice in the months leading up to their program, but this is not required.
What’s Included
On Program Components
Pre/Post Program Components
Beyond Shadowing: Atlantis Also Runs Service-Research Projects
Unlike our shadowing programs, which are most of what we do and 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.
Dates
Atlantis programs run for 1–9 weeks over college breaks. Already have a job, vacation, or another pre-health activity in place during an upcoming break? No problem. We offer plenty of start dates and program lengths (see our cities & programs page for those) to make sure we find the best fit for your schedule. Don’t see your ideal dates or locations on our site? Reach out to us and explain your situation.
Application Process
If you are a serious pre-health student, we’d love to help you jumpstart your future in healthcare. The first step is a short online application, followed by a video conversation with an Atlantis representative and often an Atlantis alum. Once accepted, our team will help you select a program that works for your schedule and location preferences. You can always apply now, or, if you’re not quite ready to apply, we can keep you updated as our programs open and close.
