Participating in experiential learning opportunities is not only helpful for students seeking admission to healthcare professional schools, having a diverse and deep understanding of people and issues that impact health and healthcare is crucial to developing personal and professional competencies in preparation for lifelong service to others. Beyond120 has numerous opportunities for student engagement via research, Global Engagement, excursions, internships, etc. For questions, please contact Bobbi Knickerbocker at rknicker@advising.ufl.edu
Do some pre-health reflection and journaling
- Premeds: Use the AAMC Anatomy of an Applicant Self Assessment Guide and AACOM’s Qualities of a Successful Medical Student to consider your preparation for medical school and the medical profession.
- Use past secondary application essay prompts as reflection questions.
Advice about prehealth journaling from Princeton Health Professions Advising; Missouri State University
Engage in free online learning opportunities
- Class about pandemics from Harvard
- Class aboutcommunity change in public health from Johns Hopkins
- Coursera
- Essentials of global health from Yale
- Ivy League free courses list via freecodecamp.org
- Class “An Examination of coronavirus-COVID-19” from St George’s University
- Georgetown offers free MOOCS including Biomedical Big Data, Globalization, or Genomic Medicine.
Engage in Self-Care
- Advice from thewirecutter.com
- CDC Advice on COVID-19
- Daily meditation and advice from experts via the folks at Ten Percent Happier: https://www.tenpercent.com/coronavirussanityguide
- The EI Institute Articles & Books
- World Health Organization Mental Health Considerations During COVID-19 Outbreak
This document has been created cooperatively by members of the National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions. It may be distributed to students and others for educational purposes. It should not be reproduced for commercial use.
Network with Local Health Professionals
During Covid it is difficult to find professionals to shadow. Be sure to reach out to your personal physicians and those in your home communities when home for break. While on campus, reach out to physicians in Gainesville, participate in online ‘shadowing’ opportunities such as Medi Gators. Also check out the pre-health website for other suggestions.
Pre-Health Experiences
- Workforce Inclusion Pipeline Programs
- NAAHP Prehealth Opportunities During the Pandemic Ideas Summary
- Travelers Summer Research Fellowship Program
- What to Do During COVID (PDF, 85 KB)
- Check out the pre-health website for other suggestions.
- Check out Beyond120 research, excursions, Global Engagement and other opportunities.
Pre-Health Scholar Leadership Opportunities
Pre-Health Scholars Student Advisory Board
The PHS Student Advisory Board provides feedback and input regarding student related PHS program components. The student advisory board is composed of:
- PHS Ambassadors
- Service Group Leaders
- PHS TAs
Pre-Health Scholars Ambassadors
Ambassadors function in several roles for the PHS program. They are representatives for the PHS program at events, assist with administration of groups, and outreach and promotion.
- PHS Representatives: Attend events, workshops and table at events to represent the PHS program
- Student Advisory Council: Serve as a representative to the PHS Student Advisor Board
- Administration of Groups: Ambassadors may assist with PHS groups: service groups, ambassadors, TAs, and internships for administrative, planning and development purposes
- Outreach & Promotion – help disseminate knowledge of PHS and its requirements
Includes, but not limited to:
- Event tabling
- Presentations
- Website videos
- Promo material
- Social Media
Pre-Health Scholars Service Group Leaders
- PHS Service Group leaders provide leadership to PHS Service Groups with planning, development, and implementation of service projects
- Participation in service group projects
- Consistent communication with PHPB Mentor
- Consistent communication to service group
- Communicate with PHS Service Group Coordinator by the 1st of each month with updates
- Create group project proposals and budget requests
- Provide a description and picture of the experience for the B120 Lecturers
- Service as a representative to the PHS Student Advisor Board
Pre-Health Scholars Teaching Assistants (TA)
- Provides assistance to lecturers for IHS1100. Must have completed the course in a prior semester with an A.
- Complete IHS1100 and/or course TAing for with B or above
- Complete training for TAing in classrooms
- Serve as representative to Student Advisor Board
- Course Responsibilities – See TA Handbook and discuss with course instructor. Undergrad TAs to have no access to student private information or grades and no grading.
APPLY for a Leadership position.
Pre-Health Scholar Internships
Internships provides prehealth students an opportunity to gain experiences to gain insights into healthcare related issues, immersion with diverse populations, and continued personal and professional growth in the pre-health competencies.
Ways to earn credit for internships:
There are two ways to earn credit for internships. Either through participation in a UF campus or Gainesville community internship or via a Pre-Health Scholars (PHS) Internship. Student must be in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (CLAS) with the intention of completing the PHS designation.
Earn credit: Students will be registered for IDS4940 PHS Internship. You may complete the internship for 0 – 3 credits. 1 credit = 4 hours per week engaged at the internship site and a minimum of 50 total internship hours. The internship will include a brief research paper (3-5 pages) on a topic related to the internship, an internship reflection journal, and monthly meetings with the instructor for IDS4940.
Contact rknicker@advising.ufl.edu with questions.
- Campus and Community Internships:
You can earn 0-1 credits for any UF campus or Gainesville community internship program. Examples: Equal Access Clinic internship, Control Flu, Grace Marketplace, etc. - Beyond120 PHS internship
Students participating in the Pre-Health Scholars Program (PHS) will be given priority for these opportunities. Learn more about the PHS program.
Internships require:
- Current HIPAA certification
- Proof of current COVID vaccines
- Student Liability Insurance Certificate
- Submission of an application for internship credit
- Submission of the Internship Learning Goals with both the student’s and internship supervisor signatures
- Registration for IDS4940 for 0-3 credits
- Completion of IDS4940 course requirements
Application: (see below) Please clearly indicate in the application for which internship you are applying.
Community Hospice Internship
VITAS Hospice Internship
CDS Family & Behavioral Health Services
Pre-Health Service Groups
Purpose: To serve the campus and Gainesville community.
Small groups to assess community and individual needs and reach out into the campus and Gainesville community to offer diverse methods of service. PHS Ambassadors and PHPB Mentors will assist group members in identifying “Needs + individual/group interests/strengths = service project.”
Small Groups of 6-8
- Each small group is led by a PHS Ambassador and PHPB mentor. Groups:
- Engage in a process of evaluating community needs to determine group projects.
- Evaluate/assess/reflect on the efficacy and quality of service and take aways.
- Depending on the projects, students will do approximately 4 – 5 hours per month of a PHS group project.
If you would like to participate in PHS Service Groups, please submit your UFID #, name, and email to Beyond120@advising.ufl.edu. List “PHS Service Group”’” in the subject line of the email.
Read & Listen
- Read books that provide insight about being a doctor, applying to medical school, or learning about other health careers.
- Beyond120 & Honors Journeys Traveled Speaker Series
- Journeys Traveled Speaker Series: Dr. Felicia Jordan
- Journeys Traveled Speaker Series: Dr. Jose Lezama, Jr.
- Journeys Traveled Speaker Series: Dr. Michael Ozner
- Journeys Traveled Speaker Series: Dr. Pamela Sandow D.M.D.
- Journeys Traveled Speaker Series: Global Health Africa Read more about Dr. DeVos.
- Medical, Dental, and Veterinary Professional Student Panel
- Social Determinants with Dr. Naz Erenguc
- UF Alumni in Medicine: Where Are They Now?
- Book lists:
- Advisor recommendations:
- Being Mortal
- Breaking and Mending
- Diagnosis
- Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United States (Seth Holmes, MD/PhD)
- The Emperor of All Maladies
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
- My Own Country
- The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
- Teeth: Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America
- When Breath Becomes Air
- Read Blog posts from current medical students
- Podcasts are a great way to learn and engage.
- Beyond120 & Honors Journeys Traveled Speaker Series
Research Professional Schools
- Surf through websites for schools in your chosen profession in your home state. Medical school links are available below:
- AAMC Allopathic (MD) Medical Schools
- AACOM Osteopathic (DO) Medical Schools
- Watch this video to learn about osteopathic medicine.
- For other professions, check NAAHP Links of Interest
- Allopathic Medicine (M.D.)
- MSAR (subscription required)
- Dentistry
- Occupational Therapy – ACOTE
- Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) – AACOMAS
- Pharmacy – PHARMCAS
- Physician Assistant
- Physical Therapy
- Veterinary Medicine – AAVMC
- Allopathic Medicine – AMCAS
- Dentistry – AADSAS
- Occupational Therapy – OTCAS
- Optometry – OPTOMCAS
- Osteopathic Medicine – AACOMAS
- Pharmacy – PHARMCAS
- Physician Assistant – CASPA
- Veterinary Medicine – VMCAS
- Allopathic – American Medical Association – AMA
- Dental – American Dental Education Association – ADEA
- Occupational Therapy – American Occupational Therapy Association – AOTA
- Optometry – Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry – ASCO
- Osteopathic Medicine D.O. – American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine
- Pharmacy – American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy – AACP
- Physical Therapy – American Physical Therapy Association – APTA
- Physician Assistant – Physician Assistant Education Association – APEA
- Veterinary Medicine – Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges – AAVMC
Volunteering
Why Volunteer? Check this out: https://www.dosomething.org/us/articles/9-places-to-volunteer-online-and-make-a-real-impact
- Digital Smithsonian Museum Volunteers https://transcription.si.edu/
- Online Tutoring with disadvantaged students https://upchieve.org/volunteer
- Human rights volunteers https://decoders.amnesty.org/
- People powered research program https://www.zooniverse.org/
- Crisis Text Line: (requires 30 hours of training) www.crisistextline.org/become-a-volunteer
- Review opportunities on the Pre-Health website
Focus Locally
- Be an active, helpful member of your home community. Volunteer to cover childcare needs for neighbors or to check in (by phone/from a distance) on the elderly. If you’re part of a religious community, see if there are ways that you can provide support through them. Check with organizations where you have volunteered in the past to see if you can step back into previous roles.
- Use org or volunteermatch.org to seek other local options, but be ready for slow responses.
- Idealist article:Nine ways to help others during the coronavirus pandemic (https://www.idealist.org/en/careers/help-others-coronavirus)
- Gainesville Volunteer
Volunteer Virtually
- Operation Warm has a list of 25 ways to volunteer virtually
- Paper-airplanes.org invites volunteers to provide online tutoring to “bridge gaps in language, higher education, and professional skills training for conflict-affected individuals”
- org’s nine places to volunteer online and make a real impact
Application for Pre-Health Scholars (PHS), PHS Internships, PHS Leadership Positions
Eligible applicants require a:
- A College of Liberal Arts & Science major.
- Submitted application for Pre-Health Scholars program.
- Junior/Senior standing at UF based on number of semesters at UF.
- Competitive science/math GPA for profession being pursued by student.