Most students who apply to the Disease Detective Camp find out about it the way most niche-but-real opportunities get discovered -- a teacher mentions it, or a sibling's friend went. There's no glossy marketing campaign behind it. It's run directly by the CDC Museum in Atlanta, it's free, and it's genuinely hard to get into.
What it actually is
Disease Detective Camp is a five-day day camp run by the David J. Sencer CDC Museum at CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, running roughly 8:45 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. each day. It's built to put students through a compressed, hands-on version of what a CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer actually does: investigating a simulated disease outbreak using real epidemiological methods, not a passive lecture series. Over the week, students hear directly from CDC scientists and public health leaders, work in lab settings, and cover ground across epidemiology, disease surveillance, environmental health, public health law, emergency preparedness, global health, and public health communication. The week culminates in students running their own mock press conference to present their outbreak investigation's findings, the same way a real public health team would communicate to the public.
Who's eligible
The camp is open to current high school sophomores and juniors (so you attend the summer before your junior or senior year), and you must be at least 16 years old on the first day of the specific session you're accepted into. International students can apply, but the CDC doesn't provide visa sponsorship, travel support, or lodging for anyone -- domestic or international, families are responsible for arranging and covering their own transportation and accommodations. The camp itself is free of charge; there's no tuition or program fee.
How selective it actually is
This is the part worth going in with clear eyes about. The camp runs two sessions each summer (one in June, one in July), with 27 seats per session -- 54 spots total in a typical year. In the 2023 cycle, the program received 748 applications for those 54 spots, an acceptance rate of roughly 7%. That's a real, competitive number, closer to what you'd expect from a highly selective summer research program than a typical extracurricular camp -- worth knowing before you build your summer plans around getting in.
What the application actually requires
The application is a real, substantive package -- not a form you fill out in ten minutes. It requires a teacher or counselor recommendation, along with several short written responses evaluated primarily on your answers and that recommendation, not your GPA or test scores. The deadline typically falls in late March (postmarked, in recent cycles), with decisions going out by email in early May. Because the camp only publishes each year's exact dates and deadline once applications open, and the CDC's own site notes the application period closes for the summer once it's filled, don't assume last year's exact date carries over -- check the CDC Museum Disease Detective Camp page directly once you're within a few months of applying.
Why it's worth the effort if public health interests you at all
The value here isn't the name on a resume line -- it's that this is one of the only ways a high schooler gets direct, hands-on exposure to what epidemiology and public health work actually looks like, taught by the people who do it professionally, before committing to a major or career direction built around it. If you're drawn to medicine broadly rather than public health specifically, our piece on what to actually do in high school if you're thinking about pre-med covers clinical-exposure paths that are a better fit for that track — Disease Detective Camp is squarely about population-level public health, epidemiology, and disease surveillance, not clinical patient care. If you can't get in, or the timing doesn't work, our piece on how high schoolers can find internships and real research opportunities covers other legitimate ways to get exposure to a field like this without paying for a "guaranteed" program.
What this means for you
- Apply for the right reason: genuine interest, not a resume line. At a roughly 7% acceptance rate, treat this like any other reach opportunity -- worth trying if public health genuinely interests you, not something to count on.
- Line up your teacher or counselor recommendation early. It's a required, weighted part of the application, not a formality -- ask someone who can speak to your interest and work ethic specifically, well before the late-March deadline.
- Budget for your own transportation and lodging. The camp itself is free, but the CDC doesn't cover travel or a place to stay -- factor that into whether attending is realistic for your family before you apply.
- Check the exact current-year deadline directly on the CDC Museum's site rather than assuming it repeats an earlier year's exact date.
- If you don't get in, it's not a signal to give up on the interest. With over 90% of applicants turned away most years, a rejection here reflects the numbers, not your genuine fit for public health -- look at other exposure paths instead of treating this as the only door in.