-
The 2026-2027 MD School Specific Threads are now live in the School Specific Discussions forum. The 2025-2026 cycle threads can be found here. -
Scholarship Access: Becoming a Student Doctor course
Free access to comprehensive medical school prep. Eligible students include AAMC FAP recipients and HS graduates from underserved areas. Apply today.
California Pre-Med Programs
Started by MaybeMD
If you post more info about yourself and what kind of thing you are looking for, you are more likely to get helpful answers.
Like, are you in highschool, college, beyond...
are you looking for premed classes, clinical experiences, shadowing...
you have completed/have not/have not heard of the prereq's for med school.
Like, are you in highschool, college, beyond...
are you looking for premed classes, clinical experiences, shadowing...
you have completed/have not/have not heard of the prereq's for med school.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
if you want research for the summer I applied to a couple of things last year. I applied to SURF at UC Santa Cruz because they had some projects with a biochemical/biomedical focus. It was through the Chemistry Department and you can find the info by going to their website. The program I ended up doing was a summer research fellowship in Environmental Toxicology at UC Davis. It was NIEHS (part of NIH) funded. Since toxicology is so interdisciplinary, there are lots of options for getting involed with projects with a biomedical focus. I worked on an immunology project that was very cool. I learned a lot, got a nice stipend and had a great time. The program was geared towards minority students (I'm part Hispanic) but there were two or three students in it who were not minority. So I would definitely recommend it... it's on the Dept of Environmental Toxicology webstite at UC Davis. But I am not sure when the deadline is... I think it was in mid-March last year. Other than that I just suggest doing a Google search... that's how I found these programs. Good luck.
If your college has a pre-med advisor, I would contact her. If not, ask the bio dept advisor if they have heard of any programs currently accepting applications.
There is usually opportunities to do research, and if you don't get accepted to one of the bigger programs, you can always contact professors on your campus about spending the summer in their lab. Look for info advertising research fellowships from organizations like the American Heart Association, and various medicine specialties.
Finding clinical opportunities really depends on your interests (and sometimes your contacts). You could take an EMT course or a phlebotomy course, and volunteer or even work in those areas. This is something that if you like it, you could continue part time during the school year. You can also contact a hospital about volunteering. Shadowing a doctor can be harder to hook up with, but if you really want to do this, ask anyone you can think of if they know someone who would be interested in letting you shadow them.
Classes can be had on most college campuses. If choose to take a class (rather than 2) you could probably still spend some time volunteering. USe this as an opportunity to spend the summer somewhere you've always wanted to live.
There is usually opportunities to do research, and if you don't get accepted to one of the bigger programs, you can always contact professors on your campus about spending the summer in their lab. Look for info advertising research fellowships from organizations like the American Heart Association, and various medicine specialties.
Finding clinical opportunities really depends on your interests (and sometimes your contacts). You could take an EMT course or a phlebotomy course, and volunteer or even work in those areas. This is something that if you like it, you could continue part time during the school year. You can also contact a hospital about volunteering. Shadowing a doctor can be harder to hook up with, but if you really want to do this, ask anyone you can think of if they know someone who would be interested in letting you shadow them.
Classes can be had on most college campuses. If choose to take a class (rather than 2) you could probably still spend some time volunteering. USe this as an opportunity to spend the summer somewhere you've always wanted to live.
