Hi. I am currently a pre-med student and was wondering about any really useful or prestigious programs to apply for. I want to explore more within the medical field so, I was hoping to make use of my summer for that, but what having some difficulty in finding what programs exist for me to participate in (Interests: neuroscience, emergency medicine, hospice, psychiatry, public health, health-care policy, social work). I have heard of SHPEP and that it was really informative for some people but was hoping to learn if anyone had other similar programs that are also good for pre-meds! Thank you.
Useful is probably more important than prestigious.
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Shadow some doctors.
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Volunteer with needy populations.
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Get certification as an EMT or CNA…you can then work in these areas which will be nice to show on your eventual medical school applications.
@WayOutWestMom any other suggestions?
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My daughter immediately accessed her health provider advisors at her university.
She joined their club (separate from the advisors) that was divided into “specialties” and they provided a list of community resources and university lab and research positions that were available to undergrads.
These were “useful”. They weren’t a “canned” program. Why does it have to be prestigious?
She got in on her first try.
Do you fluently speak a desired language with patients? Spanish? Tagalog? Mandarin? American Sign Language, Russian? If not, you should.
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This!!!
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SHPEP is for students from historically medically underserved communities. (ethnic minorities, rural and inner city SES-disadvantaged ) To my knowledge there isn’t an equivalent program for college students from more privileged backgrounds.
AAMC has a database of summer enrichment programs for college students here: https://systems.aamc.org/summerprograms/getprogs.cfm
But the only program for college undergrads that popped up for me was the Minnesota Heart Institute summer internship program in clinical cardiology. That program accepts ~10 interns/summer.
Most summer internships for pre-med focus on lab research. AMCAS has a listing of research programs here: https://www.aamc.org/professional-development/affinity-groups/great/summer-undergrad-research-programs
Additionally there are research internships offer by the NIH, AMGEN, HHMI, the NSF, and the CDC. You could also contact your state’s Dept of Public Health to see if they offer any summer volunteer positions.
Acceptance to any of these programs is quite competitive. And lab research is only one of several components that a strong med school application will have.
@thumper1 advice is spot on. Summers are for volunteering, shadowing and getting clinical experience.
EMT-B (entry level emergency medicine tech) is a semester long course. The length of CNA training varies by state and location, but generally it takes 6 weeks.
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You can check around. My kid did the EMT B course over a month in the summer…5 days a week from 9-4 at our local community college.
Mine did too, but that schedule is the equivalent to a full semester 1 hour long class taken 3x/week.
The two hospice centers (residential) near me take volunteers and train “as you go”. You will not be assigned to patients receiving hospice care at home (those visitors are generally RN’s, CNA’s and trained clergy or social workers) but you will be paired up with one of those (incredible) professionals at the facility. Might be worth investigating.
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My D21 is also on a pre-med track. She spent this past summer (after freshman year) interning at an urban health clinic for the underserved. She considered applying for a research position but decided clinical experience was more important this year to confirm her interest in working with patients. She had exposure to general family practice and pediatrics and also earned a certificate as a medical assistant. The internship was unpaid but housing was provided (dorm apartment at a local university). This solidified her interest in medicine and gave her volunteer hours for med school applications. The clinic has invited her to return anytime she wants more volunteer hours and a doctor and a NP have remained in contact as mentors. (Coincidentally the clinic is in our hometown so she could live at home if she volunteers again on her own).
She applied to the internship through the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty (SHECP) because her school is a member institution. You could check to see if your school participates or if applications are available to anyone from any school.
For next summer she is applying for some of the research internships mentioned by Wayoutwestmom.
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