Health Care Experience
Medical and health professions schools prefer candidates who have had some basic experience in the field through volunteering, internships, shadowing or working in an office.Opportunities
- Department of Community Service (Waltham Group)
- Find local opportunities using VolunteerMatch.com and Idealist.org
- Red Cross blood drives or virtual disaster responses
- United Way local volunteering for nonprofits
- Virtual Shadowing Nano Courses in Emergency Medicine (University of Colorado)
- VirtualShadowing.com Online Youtube Shadowing Series
- Crisis Text Line, Call2Talk, or other local crisis phone support line
- Support local hospice or nursing homes as needed
- Remote internships for a healthcare organization
- Informational Interviews with providers or health students on our Health Professions Group on LinkedIn
Clinical Experience
Medical schools do not expect students to have “hands on” clinical roles; they simply want you to have exposure to how the health care system operates and have some experience interacting with patients. There are countless ways to gain clinical experience, such as:
- Hospital volunteer
- Volunteering with health-related non-profits
- Shadowing
- Emergency medical technician
- Certified nursing assistant
- Pharmacy technician
- Medical scribe
Why An Obsession with Clinical Hours is Harmful to Medical School Applicants
Summer Opportunities
Clinical summer internships and opportunities are available locally and nationally. To find available research internships, please navigate to research experience.
“This experience has reaffirmed my goal of becoming a doctor. It has helped me determine which areas of medicine that I would like to explore the most: surgery, clinical, or a mixture of both.”
Cynthia Crispino ’21
Biology Major & Brandeis Summer Shadowing Program Participant