20 Best Medical Internships For High School Students 2024

20 Best Medical Internships For High School Students 2024. Are you considering a career in medicine? Internships in healthcare can give you a head start. Internship and other pre-college medical programs offer experiences such as working in a lab, conducting trials, gaining hands-on clinical experience, and more to future medical professionals.

Most high school students who hope to go into medicine end up changing their major during college when the pre-med courses become too challenging. However, we don’t need to tell you that med school is hard. It will take so many years and thousands of dollars. So, it’ll be a great idea to first dip your toes in the water before you dive in fully.

A medical internship is a focal point at the point of transition of the medical student to a physician. From its origins in hospital apprenticeships, this experience of professionalization and initiation into direct patient responsibility has followed an erratic path.

How Long Does an Internship Program Last?

Typically, an internship program lasts the length of the academic institution’s semester or quarter. Hence, many universities operate on a semester system where each semester lasts between 14 to 16 weeks.

How much do interns make?

Medical interns, who are students in training at a hospital to become a doctor or specialist, receive a modest salary of $35,000, which is funded by the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

20 Best Medical Internships For High School Students 2024

Can you go straight from high school to medical school?

High school students can apply to BS/MD programs. If accepted, students will embark on a program that lets them go straight to medical school after obtaining a Bachelor’s degree without applying to medical school. Students must keep a certain GPA while they pursue their bachelor’s, stay out of criminal activity, etc.

What do you do in a high school medical internship?

One week spent shadowing in a local clinic, One afternoon per week volunteering in a medical laboratory, Two weeks shadowing a midwifery mentor in a Gap Medics hospital.

How can high schoolers get medical experience?

Volunteer at a hospital or health clinic, Apply for a research or internship program, Participate in a summer medical program, Job shadow a doctor, Volunteer at a nursing home or homeless shelter.

Can you do internships in high school?

Internships are a great way for high school students to get experience, gain new skills, and learn more about different jobs and career fields. Internships can involve many duties and responsibilities, but, in general, they give the intern entry-level experience in a certain job or profession.

Medical internship programs for high school students abroad

By completing a medical internship abroad, striving doctors can gain valuable exposure to the medical field in a setting they likely won’t find in their home country.

International internships look fantastic from both a professional and philanthropic standpoint, therefore, a medical internship abroad is something every medical student should seriously consider.

1. Penn Medicine Summer Program for High School Students

Spend four weeks during June and July at The University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine learning from extremely accredited Penn faculty. Through interactive lectures and labs, you’ll learn about featured topics, including transplant surgery, emergency medicine, cancer, resuscitation science, kidney disease, and sports medicine.

2. Stanford Medical Youth Science Program

In this five-week residential program, low-income, underrepresented high school sophomores and juniors who live in Northern and Central California engage and observe medical experiences, such as faculty lectures, laboratories, college admissions guidance, mentoring, and hands-on medical activities.

3. Arthritis Foundation Summer Science Internship Program

Through the Rheumatology and Immunology Laboratories at Stanford University and the University of California, San Francisco, high school juniors and seniors and first- and second-year college undergraduates may engage in an eight-week medical internship.

4. Medical Immersion Summer Academy (MISA)

At MISA, you’ll study all about healthcare through hands-on skills training (EKG, Suturing, CPR, Splinting and taking Vitals), shadowing, mentorship, and clinical immersion. You’ll also partake in VIP lunches with health professionals, examine patients and medical procedures, and involve in “Step into the shoes of an MD” skill and patient-case workshops and discussions with physicians.

5. National Student Leadership Conference on Medicine & Healthcare

NSLC gives high school students a setting to learn about controversial medical issues, today’s health care difficulties, and excellent scientific research in areas such as cancer and HIV/AIDS. Students will conduct clinical rounds, learn medical examination and surgical techniques, and partake in diagnosis and medication while solving the mystery of a fatal outbreak sweeping the nation. 

6. Center for Disease Control (CDC) Museum Disease Detective Camp

At CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, rising high school juniors and seniors have the chance to spend five days learning about public health. Topics vary and may include public health interventions, global health, infectious disease, chronic disease, injury prevention, data analysis, surveys, school wellness programs, violence prevention, environmental health, emergency readiness, outbreaks, scientific communication, laboratory technology, disease surveillance, epidemiology, and public health law.

7. Della Keats Health Science Summer Program

Offered through the University of Alaska WWAMI School of Medical Education, the Delia Keats program exists to support high school students’ interest in medical professions. High school juniors and seniors in Alaska may partake in this four-week program in July and August, studying about careers in healthcare and earning an introduction to college life.

8. High School Senior Summer Internship Program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital

Basically, high school students will work with a coach in one of 10 pediatric clinical specialties in this eight-week program for Cincinnati-area graduating seniors. Participants also partake in group activities including an afternoon hands-on training session with computerized simulated pediatric patients in the SIM Center, a Summer Intern Alumni lunch, and a presentation by the assistant dean for admission at UC College of Medicine offering advice for preparing for Medical School admission.

9. Kendall Smith Healthcare Exploration Scholarship Program

Sponsored by the Service League of Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, scholarship participants spend six weeks in the summer involved in a medical area of their choice in a hospital environment. Students share a presentation about their experience in front of staff and guests at the program’s end.

10. Summer Medical Academy

Hosted by Rady’s Children’s Hospital in San Diego, Summer Medical Academy gives lectures and interactive discussions about topics in healthcare, hands-on skills clinics, career panels, team-building activities to learn new techniques and get to know future colleagues, and more.

11. Health Care Career Exploration Camp

This free program for Nebraska- or Iowa-area students in grade 10-12 allows participants to learn from specialists in areas such as: Athletic Training, Clinical Dietetics, Clinical Engineering, Speech and Language, Pathology, Surgical Technology, Radiation Therapy, Radiologic Technology, Respiratory Care, Neuropsychology, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy.

12. McLaughlin Research Institute for Biomedical Sciences Summer Internship – Great Falls, Montana

McLaughlin Research Institute for Biomedical Sciences Summer Internship is open to both high school and undergraduate students. This 8-week program is provided by the McLaughlin nonprofit organization which conducts neurogenetics research. Learn skills you can use in your medical field of study related to degenerative nerve diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

13. Howard Hughes Medical Institute Jump Start Program – College Park, Maryland

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute Jump Start Program opens its doors to 50 students for one whole week. It centers on biomedical science research on the University of Maryland campus. This is a STEM program located in College Park, MD. Its main focus for the upcoming summer is the exploration of using molecular and cellular techniques to diagnose diseases and treat them. Students take part in seminars and workshops throughout the week.

14. Lifespan Summer Youth Employment Program

This eight-week paid summer employment experience at a Lifespan hospital or Lifespan Corporate Services is open to people ages 16-19 living in Providence, Mount Hope, or Newport, Rhode Island. You must have a valid CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) license.

15. Summer Child Health Research Internship

Held at Children’s Hospital Colorado/the University of Colorado on the Anschutz Medical Campus, this medical internship is open to improving high school seniors, college students, and first-year medical students. Students partake in a lecture research series as well as present their own research at the completion of the program, as well as work with mentors from the Department of Pediatrics.

Who really is a Medical Intern?

A medical intern is a fresh medical school graduate who is in his first year of post-graduate on-the-job training. Interns work in hospitals, where they often rotate between different departments so they can have knowledge of different medical specialties.