Highschooler Interested in Medicine

Hey guys!! So I’m really interested in the medical route and want to start a club at my school because I know a lot of people are also interested. What activities could I do to make it interesting besides the generic volunteering at hospitals? Also, what else could I do outside of school? I’ve been interested in shadowing or internships, but how would I come about approaching those? Thanks in advance for all the help!!

There are a couple things you could do. For one, you could try making your club an official HOSA chapter and study for the competitions they hold every year, which could allow people to learn more about different areas of medicine. However, they do take a lot of work, so I would make sure there is interest before starting that.

You could also see if there are any local medical schools in your area and ask if you could either tour the campus or get a current student to speak at your club. If you cannot find a medical school, then at least try to look into the typical path for a premed student at your local in-state universities and see if you can get a student from there to speak. You could even create committies and have a group of students research various medical career paths to present to your club.

Speaking of committies, you could also assign groups of students to various activities like blood drives or DUI prevention. The medical club at my school does both those things, and we have students responsible for holding 3 blood drives a year or advocating for safe driving around prom, homecoming, etc. You could try doing the same.

I can’t give much advice for shadowing, as in my knowledge, it can be difficult for high school students to shadow some types of doctors. I would just say to keep your eye open for opportunities like that and maybe ask the family doctor their thoughts.

Good luck! I hope some of this helps.

@Dax123 thanks for the advice, I’ll look into some of these! Anyone else have anything to add?

Getting into a good medical school matters more with what you do in undergrad than high school, honestly, so don’t worry about it too much.
Definetly listen to what Dax123 is saying, and also if you can volunteer at a hospital, definietly do that! It sounds cliche, but that’s honestly valuable experience. Also take classes like honors/AP Bio or Human Anatomy if your school offers them, or see what a local community college offers over the summer.

Also, maybe look for summer programs for teens interested in medicine?

One of my best friends started a medical club at my school last year and it is wildly successful! One thing that you can do is organize dissections and have guest speakers come to talk about various medical professions.

@greenteahermione @Lisa M thank you so much for the advice!

Do you have a hospital nearby? Can you talk to someone about having a lecture series (mini-med school) for High Schoolers? For example: http://www.jerseyshoreuniversitymedicalcenter.com/JSUMC/newseventsandclasses/Mini-Medical-School.cfm

@bopper That’s an amazing idea! Thanks a latte!

Buuuuuuuuuump

I would recommend you get a strong background in science (all three from bio, chem, physics at honors level) and, if you can only take one of those at AP level, take AP Chemistry because chemistry is a very important, weedout class for premeds (inorganic chemistry starts the weeding, organic chemistry finishes it).
If you can take two AP science classes, I’d recommend taking both AP Bio and AP Chem. No need to take AP Physics C. (AP Physics 1 can replace honors physics, it’s level 1 in the sequence, unless AP Bio, AP Chem, and AP Physics C which are level 2 in the sequence).

Thanks @MYOS1634 !! I’ve been planning to take higher level science, unfortunately my school only has honors chemistry ap bio and honors physics :(( but I’ll take whatever I can get hahah!

Take those. See if you could take Chemistry 101 at a local community college? Any cc class that strengthens your mastery of chemistry will help you for premed.

@MYOS1634 thats a good idea I never thought about cc classes. You seem pretty knowledgeable in this topic. Do you happen to have any advice on how to improve my club?

I think the ideas above were excellent, I have nothing to add.