I’m not sure if any of you are facing this, but I’m about to go into my sophomore year and I’m only 14. The problem here is, all students at my school who want to go into the medical field (like me) are already volunteering at hospitals and shadowing doctors, and I’m over here not doing any of this.
Why? All hospitals near me only allow teens to volunteer over the summer, and they have to be over the age of 15. This is problematic for me because I’ll only turn 15 in October, meaning I’ll have to wait until next summer to start. I’m just afraid that I’ll not be as competitive as other students at my school.
So yeah, those of you with early birthdays, just be thankful
So that means kids born from November 2017 to October 2018 will be sophomores at your school? And you’d have to be 15 by the end of May to get an internship for the summer? 5/12 of your class was too young to get internships this summer. I don’t think you have a problem. You can still volunteer the summers after your sophomore and junior years - that’s plenty.
It’s not a disadvantage. You will not be expected to have experience you were not eligible to have. Your applications will be considered based on what opportunities you took advantage of - but you will not be penalized if they were not available because of your age. They will have your birth date, and will know you were not eligible. This works the same way as course offerings at your school - while someone applying to a 4/2 medical program might be expected to have taken AP Biology and/or Chemistry, it would not be expected of someone whose school didn’t offer them, or that had a set program of study making it impossible to complete them.
Unless you are trying for a combined program (BA/BS+MD/DO), seems like you have plenty of time during college to do the expected pre-med extracurriculars in preparation for applying to medical school.
You are correct, it does suck. 17 year olds cannot work as an intern (either paid or unpaid) for my very large employer.
Since my S is a very proficient Java programmer the one of the IT departments would have taken him easily even without my help.
Looking back, I wish we could have held both kids back a year for kindergarten just for the socialization aspects. It was a tough decision because of their academics. How do you hold back a kid who can fully read and do 2 digit multiplication before they start kindergarten?
It’s going to happen in college too. Once everyone is 21 they want to go out to the bars and clubs.
The good news is after you are 21, you will probably never think about it again.
I have a friend who’s about to be a junior. She just turned 15 today.
Can you find opportunities for competitions or community activities? My friend does Science Bowl, Science Olympiad, choir stuff, and some other things–none of which have an age limit.
My daughter was one of the youngest in her grade. She missed a summer of work experience compared to her peers but she used her time doing other things - volunteering at places that didn’t have a minimum age, engineering programs, focusing on her music, etc…
Part of the problem in our area was that so many parents, especially of boys, held their children back so in some cases her classmates were 2 years older than she was. It didn’t matter a hill of beans for college admissions though and she landed exactly where she wanted.
I don’t think you’ll be behind in the grand scheme of things. My D had a roommate get into med school and didn’t decide for sure until junior year of college and still got enough contact hours to be accepted to 3 in-state schools. But if you care look for college summer program at local college aimed towards HS students interested in medicine. I know those exist. Also check on volunteer opportunities that are not so clinical that still expose you to patients like volunteering at nursing home. With a parent you might can go on medical church mission trip. Etc. Or volunteer at camp for children with cancer or disabilities. My nephew has done that since your age starting in a counselor in training type position.
My youngest DD just missed the cut off for our district by9 days…other parent pushed their kids to go early but I didn’t …It was a good decision…helped her mature and it is helpful for them to be able to drive for 2 year during HS!
Please don’t worry about what everyone else is doing, two of my kids have late birthdays as we didn’t hold them back. It was definitely the best decision we could have made. You’ll have plenty of time to get resume building experience. I also graduated HS and started college early (at 17) and have no regrets.
For heaven’s sake, it’s not all about being a hospital vol. You have no other ideas? You think a hosp or research are all it takes? Meanwhile, your future college competitors are activated in other ways. It’s a problem to only look at (or think as far as) the group you know in your own hs.
So, no math-sci ECs in your hs? No community work besides giving care packages to patients? For a maybe pyschiatry wannabe, what about advocacy groups?
You need to put on the thinking cap, think outside the lines.
Adding: by advocacy, I mean with organized groups of adults and in your local area. Not another school club or focus on some distant land.
I’m sixteen and going into my senior year of high school, so I can understand the struggle of being the baby of your class. Socially, it does kind of suck and there’s nothing much you can do about that, but I wouldn’t worry about it too much from an academic standpoint. There are plenty of kids who are of eligible age not doing anything at all this summer, so don’t think you’re behind the curve. I know it’s a little late, but there are still plenty of things you can do this summer. For instance, family friends or your religious place (if you have one) might be willing to bend the rules and allow you to help out or shadow them, which can be very beneficial for your college apps. Also, some places can be pretty flexible about their minimum age requirement. For instance, I was working at 14 even though my job description listed a minimum age of fifteen. If you have a friend to vouch for you, or even if you just call and ask, you might be pleasantly surprised. But anyway, don’t worry about it too much — just make sure to get a head start when it comes to next summer because the desirable positions sure do go quickly!
The relatives I have visited in nursing homes in the last couple of years all seem to have a schedule of group activities like Bingo and it is easy to see how a volunteer could sit with the residents and assist and interact with them. I suggest the OP could call or email a nearby facility and express interest.
