Assuming the schools will have decent education and knowledge on pre-med courses, which school/schools will provide needed support for clinical experience (shadowing, patient contact, internships, etc.)?
We know mostly the students must go out and find the opportunities for themselves. But are there any schools themselves that can provide much needed support in these aspects?
But this may not matter that much. If such opportunities do exist, the competition would be quite fierce.
Are you looking for schools that will help set students up with internships, shadowing, volunteering etc? Is that what you mean by “support?”
We did not visit TCNJ, but that might be along the lines of what you are looking for.
Not exactly east cost, but Rhodes college does all that you listed.
Thanks. TN counts. From your Kids experiences?
Many schools have medical centers or large hospitals right on campus or very close. Yes, many more students will want those internships rather than having to travel 10 miles to another hospital (or not have the ability to travel). Any of the Boston schools are going to have many more opportunities, but of course there are a lot more students in the area looking for those.
Johns Hopkins has several hospitals closer to the Homewood campus than its own hospital and medical complex. Plenty of opportunities, but lots of competition too. U of Maryland Baltimore has the great big hospital right there, but not much of an undergrad school (it’s the professional school campus, so law students and dentists, but the undergrad school is mostly nursing, social work, pharmacy).
Just depends what you are looking for.
If there is a hospital on campus it doesn’t mean that they will accept everybody who wants to volunteer. I would check the policies.
I would also look at clubs and whether they are competitive to join.
Urban areas will likely have more opportunities. I agree that it depends on what you are looking for, whether a car is necessary, etc.
Besides TCNJ, take a look at Pitt.
Another school to look at is SUNY Buffalo. It’s a huge school, but it has a medical school and a lot of opportunities, and if your student makes honors it may provide the support you are seeking.
Yes. She is doing internship that is part of her college credits in a local hospital now. This was advertised and filled through school. It was competitive (hospital chose students.) Students had many options.
My suggestion is to look for small (tiny) colleges in major areas. Big colleges have tremendous competition even if something is offered through or by school.
Va Tech has on campus shadow opportunities.
If TN works, Alabama has the McCullough Pre Medical Scholars and with a 3.5 gpa and 1420+ SAT, will cost mid 20s.
I’ve put in other threads but when you look at residents at top hospitals, Vandy for one, undergrads attending are schools like Murray State, N Illinois, Ok State, K State, SE Louisiana and more. So I wonder how much the big name or ‘top advising’, assuming it happens at bigger names - truly matters bs as you noted, kids just making it happen. Or perhaps these no names are quite good at advising ??
Here is a link to the Wesleyan health professionals advising page:
Amherst, Williams, Bowdoin, Hamilton, Haverford, Swarthmore, Davidson, Wofford.
Like Chatham in Pittsburgh, Capital in Columbus, Emmanuel in Boston, Ursinus near Philadelphia..?
Washington and Lee (VA) offers summer internships for pre-meds
AMCAS big list of summer internships for pre-meds.
Some are at med schools; some are at hospitals or medical centers. Still others are major research universities in the US, Europe and Japan.
Tagging @DramaMama2021 who might be able to give some insight on Washington and Lee premed.
What exactly do you mean by support?
No university is going to hand the student a list of professors who are looking for research assistants. No university is going to set up an appointment for an interview about shadowing a doctor.
A pre-health office may have a list of physicians who have previously allowed students to shadow, but there’s no guarantee that these doctors will allow your student to shadow.
University sponsored pre-med clinical internships often have eligibility restrictions and/or are competitive.
Hospital volunteer positions may or may not be competitive. They often require the student to guarantee they will volunteer regularly (weekly, bi-weekly)for 6 months or longer. Patient-contact volunteer positions will require some sort of pre-screening, including an interview, proof of all current vaccinations and criminal background check.
A lot of pre-meds will get EMT, CNA, MA or phlebotomy certification and work or volunteer in those capacities.
Another option for clinical exposure is medical scribing. These positions require a knowledge of medical terminology and abbreviations. Training is usually offered by the company/hospital/medical practice hiring the student, but a job is not guaranteed unless student can pass the accuracy and speed typing test.
I think that’s just an aggregated list of programs -not tied to W&L so any pre med student might grab this link.
I know UAB and Medical U of South Carolina, down the street from College of Charleston, has summer programs.
I’m not a parent of a med school student but I’m not sure how important advising is -it seems kids know which classes to take - and the school’s tell you on their pre med pages.
We know some private schools claim higher med school acceptance rates but they have a committee - where the kids know up front if they’re getting the nod from the school. Those who don’t may not apply. So you have to take the ‘better’ with a grain of salt when they’re marketing their success.
I am the parent of a doctor. My kid did ZERO shadowing, medically related internships, etc while in undergrad school. In fact, the kid didn’t decide to apply to medical school until 2 years after undergrad graduation.
After undergrad, did a 27 month Peace Corp assignment as an education volunteer, not medical.
Kid then came home and became EMS certified, studied for and took the MCAT and THEN applied to medical schools.
The average start age for medical school is 24, I think. Many many future doctors take a glide year or two after undergrad and do their shadowing, significant volunteer work, patient facing work, etc…after undergrad school.
Those wishing to apply to medical school need to find an undergrad school where they can see themselves being happy, and successful for four years. They need to be at the top of their game in terms of GPA. During summers, if they want to, they can get CNA or MA or EMS certification and work those jobs part time.
There are lots of ways to skin the shadowing etc cat. Being near medical centers while in undergrad school is only one way. There are other ways.
Most premeds that I know did these things on their own. There are lots of opportunities, but you really need to take the initiative.
In a similar vein, I would look at areas where there are relatively few undergrads for a large population. So that could be Rhodes/U. of Memphis in Memphis, but it could also be someplace like Houston (Rice/U. of Houston) with tons of medical opportunities with relatively small number of undergrads or a place like San Antonio (Trinity/UTSA) that has an even bigger difference in terms of the undergrad population to the population of the area. Omaha (Creighton & UN-Omaha…not the flagship campus) would be another example.
But cities with a ton of undergrads, especially very ambitious undergrads, would not be my pick.
Since I was riffing on the idea without providing much in the way of east coast options, then I’d look at:
Or less major metros, but with very small undergrad populations, relatively speaking and/or that serve as hubs for rural populations to visit:
As an illustration of what I’m referring to, here’s a snip from Google Maps for part of Johnson City, TN:
It’s by a VA Medical Center, a children’s hospital, the Johnson City Medical Center, and a psychiatric hospital, among others, and this doesn’t include the hospitals in other parts of town. So if you only have one school of 10k undergrads, it’s a lot more opportunities to students than one might find in some better-known locations.
Or if we think about Frederick, MD it’s a city of 90,000 in a county of 280k, and the only college in the area is Hood which has 1200 undergrads. MUCH less competition than elsewhere.
Asheville has about 90k people and a metro area closing in on 400k with hospitals and a VA medical center…and the only college in town is UNC-Asheville with about 2900 undergrads (Warren Wilson isn’t too far from Asheville, but it only adds a little over 700 students).
So these are the types of areas that I would look for to maximize the chances of getting shadowing/intern experience during the school year.
