The Medical Career (MC²) Collaborative Program at Children’s Hospital Colorado and Denver Health

The Medical Career Collaborative (MC²) program propels high school students toward careers in healthcare through hands-on experiences and professional development opportunities. MC² focuses on recruiting students from groups that are under-represented in the healthcare workforce. This group of high-achieving young people typically consists of students of color and students from low-income backgrounds. The students come from schools all around the Denver Metro area.

MC² is a two-year program for high school juniors and seniors with programming activities taking place at Children’s Colorado and Denver Health.

Graduates of MC² are now working in many different healthcare and bioscience careers including medicine, nursing, laboratory sciences, public health professionals, medical interpreting and biomedical research.

To learn more about MC² and the impact the program has made over the last 20 years, watch the video below.

Who can apply?

Current high school sophomores are invited to apply. If accepted, they will begin participation at the start of their junior year.

MC² requires a commitment from selected students for both years (junior and senior year). Based on this timeline, the MC² selection committee will only accept applications from students who are currently in their sophomore year.

The MC² program prioritizes applicants from the following Denver Metro districts: Denver, Aurora, Adams, Jefferson, Douglas, Mapleton, Sheridan, Englewood, Westminster and Cherry Creek. The program places great emphasis on including students of all backgrounds, socioeconomic groups and geographic regions. MC² aims to create a diverse group of students from the Denver Metro region in an effort to build a workforce that better represents the communities served in healthcare.

Participants are selected by committee based on a number of criteria, including: 

• Student essays
• School activities
• Community involvement
• References
• Student need and representation
• Letter of recommendation
• GPA

What does the MC² program entail?

Through the following activities, students get a jump start on their future:

• Field trips: MC² students attend monthly field trips to gain exposure to healthcare.
• Internships: MC² students are eligible for paid internships at Children’s Colorado or Denver Health. Once assigned to a hospital, students will be slated into an internship session in the fall, spring or summer. Fall and spring sessions are 12 weeks long with students working roughly 10 hours a week, while the summer session is six weeks with students working 30 hours a week. During their internship, MC² students are placed in one department at their designated hospital where they work (and learn) alongside hospital team members.
• Service learning/volunteering: MC² students engage in service-learning opportunities designed to give back to the local community.
• Personal and professional development opportunities: Participating students engage in seminars, workshops and trainings designed to build students’ personal and professional competencies.
• Post-secondary coaching: MC² seniors receive post-secondary coaching around their educational and career goals, college applications, scholarship applications, gathering letters of recommendation and writing essays.
• MC² alumni: MC² alumni remain connected to the MC² network and are eligible to participate in ongoing programs connected to career goals.

Learn more from our MC² Program Roadmap (pdf).

How to apply for MC²

The 2023-2024 application window has closed. Please check back in January 2024 to access the 2024-2025 MC² application.

Download our Frequently Asked Questions for more information

Hear what MC²  participants are saying about the program

Watch these videos from three of our members:

Contact information

Please contact us by email with additional questions.