<p>I'm thinking about doing pre-med in college, would it be wise to do some health/medical related EC's in high school? Like volunteering at a hospital and possible research? How should I go about doing these things?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>It totally depends on what you want to get at them and what kind of colleges you plan on applying to. </p>
<p>If you are applying to some higher ranked colleges, I would definitely recommend immersing yourself in the kinds of things you mentioned if that is truly your interest. Starting early on is best, especially for volunteering and research. Pretty much everyone has volunteer hours somewhere but if you start early you can really rack out an absurd number of hours even if you’re volunteering for a short period each week. As far as research goes, unless you have connections somewhere, you’ll be starting at a local lab, college or something else doing really basic work. If you’ve been there for a while though and are taking relevant courses in high school, you’d be surprised at what some people will let you get involved in. I have a number of friends who actually got published work done while in high school. </p>
<p>If you are not applying to very competitive colleges, some people will tell you relevant volunteer hours and the like are extremely necessary, however, based on my experience, I disagree. Colleges understand that the large majority of students will change their major at least once and possibly even more times throughout college. This being said, you should not be sitting around doing nothing with your time in high school. Whether it be a sport, club or volunteering site, colleges like to see passion and long term devotion to something in high school. They want people who will actively partake in their communities upon entering the college. </p>
<p>Finally, no matter which category you fall into research and medical related activities will undoubtedly be valuable to you with an interest in PreMed. You need to know for certain that you genuinely like what you’re getting yourself into and it’s never too early to find out.</p>
<p>My D had 4 medical internships in HS, 2 of which were paid. All were valuable and helped her make the decision to pursue her field. She has more actual medical experience in HS than some beginning college students. It was very worthwhile and shows you are focused on learning, not just hanging in your spare time.</p>
<p>Thank you for the information and advice, sodiumfine. How do you recommend I get in touch with someone regarding research opportunities? There’s a community college near me and a small 4 year college too (that has a pretty good biology department from what I hear). </p>
<p>As far as volunteering, how do you think I should go about trying to volunteer at a hospital or something like that? </p>
<p>I’m definitively going to be applying to a couple of top 20 schools, and most will be at least top 50.</p>
<p>marybee, what kind of internships did your D have and how did she get them?</p>
<p>Sorry for the basic questions, but I’ve never done anything like this before and am hoping to snag something med related to do this summer.</p>
<p>Most hospitals have volunteer departments. Some have paid internships and research opportunties if those facilities are a research/teaching hospital. If you know any health professionals affiliated with hospitals, ask for their help. Sometimes, paid interships and opportunities are a well kept secret. Start now, by looking at the websites and contacting the hospitals. Applications are accepted as early as February-April, depending on the hospital. It is not too early to contact places for this summer.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>Several summer research programs to consider (some are paid):</p>
<p>National Institutes of Health
Stanford Summer Medical Research
Wash U Pre-Med High School program
Johns Hopkins summer classes
MIT
City of Hope
Michigan State
Iowa
stonybrook
several in Texas</p>
<p>See the summer programs threads on CC for specific links.</p>
<p>^Sounds great, thanks for the ideas!</p>