Explore@UNC is back in 2026
After its successful summer 2025 debut, the one-week sneak peek at college life returns with 14 new academic disciplines.
Explore@UNC is returning for its second summer with 14 additional academic disciplines.
Carolina’s one-week, on-campus precollege program lets high school students test-drive college life and academics across 25 different pathways.
After its 2025 debut, the Explore@UNC team surveyed students to assess which academic disciplines to keep and which new topics to add.
STEM-related paths were a common request, said David Mallen, precollege programming director. Premed, prehealth, prenursing, clinical laboratory science, chemistry, environmental science and engineering were added to this year’s lineup, allowing students to dive into those fields and explore a variety of professions.
Explore@UNC is also expanding into new majors that examine human experience from a broader, interdisciplinary lens. This summer, students can explore how culture, place and power shape populations over time through tracks like archaeology, art history, geography and environment, global studies, medical anthropology and public health.
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“I talk with the students about what I want them to take away from this program. I want them really figuring out what’s going to fill their cup,” Mallen said. “What are you going to be happy with? What are you going to love? What problems do you want to solve?”
Other new programs include biomedical engineering and psychology and neuroscience.
Biomedical engineering explores how engineering, biology and medicine intersect to create next generation technologies. Students will participate in guided, hands-on engineering challenges and lab tours. Psychology and neuroscience dive into the mind and behavior. Students will conduct real-time tests of psychological function and learn about research and career paths.
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Disciplines focused on sports communication, advertising and public relations are new this year, giving students the chance for hands-on learning in the Curtis Media Center.
In sports communication, students hear about career opportunities in media, public relations and integrated marketing. Students learn how to create viral social media content and digital campaigns for professional sports teams and athletes while developing community engagement programs that connect sports to social causes.
