Outset is America's leading summer program for high school students interested in career exploration for law, healthcare or business. Prepare for a high-demand career, meet friends from across the country, and live on a leading college campus.
Outset (joinoutset.com) has 206 customer reviews on Five Star Index, with an average rating of 4.8 out of 5.
Also known as
joinoutset.com
Website
joinoutset.com
Category
Education Services
Location
New York
Listed on Five Star Index
2026
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The company replied to 33% of reviews.
Latest
Most recent review: August 2026.
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Outset was an amazing introductory program that outlines the path to becoming a physician precisely the way it is. At the same time it is filled with team bonding experiences and the staff, (Justin- camp director, plus the counselors) made the experience very enjoyable. Each day is packed with knowledge and fun (and sweet treats). My favorite part was going to different simulation centers and experiencing first hand what a day of caring for patients can look like.
Response from OutsetAug 10, 2025
Thanks so much Nishita- glad the program went so well!
KY
Kylie
This is a great experience
All the counselors, speakers, the nurse and director, and other students were so cool, fun and super sweet! This was a great experience and definitely made me want to be a doctor even more! I did this before my sophomore year and I’m really glad I’m getting all this information early on, I would totally do this again!
Response from OutsetAug 10, 2025
Thanks Kylie!! So glad Outset helped inspire you even more about being a doctor!
ME
Melinda
Great Experience
My daughter attended the UNC Orthopedics Outset program and had a great experience! She came home with a much more thorough understanding of the path to a career in medicine and is excited for her future. She also enjoyed making new friends and getting to know more about UNC.
Response from OutsetJul 31, 2025
Thanks so much Melinda! We're glad that your daughter learned so much at UNC!
CB
Christine B.
Best week EVER
I LOVED this experience at UNC-CH in the field of pediatrics! Each experience was designed to help focus our vocation, create supportive relationships, and explore the wide scope of professions within the pediatrics medical field. Even in a huge heat wave, would do it again in a minute!
Response from OutsetJul 29, 2025
Thank you so much for the review Christine! We really enjoyed having your student at UNC!
DO
DontSignUpForOutset
Underdeveloped program without any real educational value
My son attended the Anesthesia program at UNC. Unfortunately, it was not as described. I also question all the rave 5 star reviews from Feb and March 2025- I suspect those were generated, fake reviews to lure parents looking for camps and planning for the summer. Real participant reviews (like this one) are filled out 1 week after the program ends.
This program might be suitable for teens without any family, friends or contacts in any aspect of medicine to hear how to apply for med school and what various careers are like. You can really find ALL that info online. Or, if you know anyone in medicine- have your kid talk to them for 15 min, and you'll get as much useful content as spending money on this camp.
As for actual learning of any pharmacology, physiology, research- there was none of that. Don't be fooled by the application process- it's NOT an academic or merit based camp. My son was not intellectually stimulated at all. He sutured a little and intubated a dummy- I think that's all he got out of it.
Furthermore- the leadership is obviously new in how it handles the participants. There's a free bus that is convenient to use on UNC campus- instead of having the teens take that, they wasted much of the day walking in 90+ degree weather. Well run, experienced camps and people in the know would just have parents sign a waiver and have the teens get around that way!
This camp sounds good on the website, but needs much more work; currently has extremely little real content. It's amateur hour when it comes to the logistics. The counselors were all disgruntled and complaining to the participants about how their hrs were longer than advertised, and how they were getting paid too little. All in all, a huge disappointment. Maybe under different leadership it'll be better in 10 years- right now it's too new of a program, and it definitely shows.
Response from OutsetJul 29, 2025
Hi there! This is Lawson Kuehnert, the Executive Director and Founder of Outset. First of all, thank you for sharing your concerns about our program. We value feedback and are always hoping to improve. I would like to address a few of your concerns and points quickly:
None of our reviews are fake, and if you look at our reviews you will notice most all of our 5-star review are from June and July which is when our programs are operating.
We are sorry that your student did not receive the experience that they wanted from Outset. We do not promise to cover pharmacology, physiology, or research on our website or in any of our materials, so that is not what we advertise.
Our programs focus on preparing students for pre-med and also providing access to hands-on activities, simulations, and speakers who are real physicians in careers of interest to our students.
As for your comment about our leadership, we disagree with your assessment. Our leadership team is highly experience at UNC with almost five decades of camp management experience between our three main leadership staff.
The free bus you are speaking about is unfortunately not available to us because the bus schedule is variable, it does not fit all our students, and the bus routes do not go to all of the places on campus where we go. Our students do have to walk to class and the dining hall which is how all UNC students actually get around campus (very few take the bus).
I strongly disagree with your assessment that the camp has extremely little content. Our days are packed with very useful college and medical school information and access to simulations and activities typically only available to medical school students or residents. (See the majority of our other reviews).
Finally, I think it is very misleading to say our camp is "amateur hour". In fact, most college campus leadership we work with across the United States (including at UNC) are highly impressed by our organization and schedule and tell us we are the best and most organized academic camp they work with.
Again, we are very sorry the camp did not meet your expectations. The vast majority of our students have an excellent, deeply enriching experience at Outset. If you would like to share additional feedback or thoughts privately, I encourage you to reach out to myself or Alicia, our UNC Camp Director. You have our email contact information, so please reach out anytime. Thank you!
RD
RAKESHKUMAR D.
Administration staff
Our daughter had great time but we choose cardiology program, once she started her program, they forced to do general surgery or pediatric, they said currently we have no cardiology program. We paid $3000 in advance for this program but they just transferred forcefully to other programs where we were not interested. They should refund our money but refused
Response from OutsetJul 29, 2025
Hi RAKESHKUMAR- we are glad your daughter had a great time on the program. Regarding cardiology, we reach out to you via email to clarify the situation you are referring to. We do not have any record of refusing a refund request - if you are entitled to a refund we will certainly issue that right away!
DC
DC
Great experience!
Our daughter had a great week at Columbia! She particularly enjoyed the simulation center experiences and also the afternoon/evening activities around the city. The less interactive morning lectures didn’t resonate as well with her, though. She made new friends and looks forward to keeping in touch with them. As a parent, I appreciated how extremely well organized the program was and the fact that we had a hour to hour schedule of where our daughter would be. Thank you, Outset!
Response from OutsetJul 29, 2025
Thank you so much for the review! We are glad that the week at Columbia went so well!
KD
Katie D.
My daughter attended the Outset program…
My daughter attended the Outset program in the Neurosurgery track at UNC. It was a fantastic experience, and her eyes were opened to what it takes to be a Neurosurgeon! She loved the lectures, labs and hands on practice. Thank you to the Outset team - she's very excited to pursue a pre-med track in college.
Response from OutsetJul 29, 2025
Thank you Katie! So great to have your student attend Outset with us.