Sloane Kettering Summer
Are you interested in a career in medicine and/or bio-medical sciences? If so, consider this ultra-competitive summer internship program at New York’s Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Center, one of the world’s premier cancer research and treatment centers. Applicants need only have completed ninth grade, but there’s an eight week commitment. The research is absolutely cutting edge, and the program offers great exposure to lab science and research fields at an incredible institution of research and science.
The Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program (HOPP) Summer Student Program is designed for high school students who are interested in pursuing careers in the biomedical sciences.
The program is focused on two distinct areas:
Independent research and a stimulating learning environment
Students will have a chance to take part in independent research projects under the direct mentorship and guidance of a HOPP principal investigator (PI). The PI matches each student with a mentor — typically a senior member from the lab, such as a postdoctoral fellow, graduate student, or research technician. At the end of the summer, the students will be expected to present their research project at a poster session.Extracurricular events, tours, training, and luncheons
The students will also have the opportunity to explore outside of the laboratory by participating in a variety of events. These extracurricular activities contribute an additional facet to the internship and allow them to become fully immersed in the world of translational medicine and research. The events are hosted by programs throughout Memorial Sloan Kettering, including the Office of Diversity, various Memorial Hospital clinical departments, and Human Resources.
In 2019, the program provided 33 students with a chance to find out more about careers in translational research. Students practiced novel techniques for conducting research experiments and attended enriching training sessions and tours designed to sustain their curiosity for science.
How do I get started? Check out their website for more information on application and selection criteria.
How do I expand this narrative arc? If you are one of the fortunate few that is selected for this program it’s a near certainty that science and research are in your narrative arc. You may find it’s hard to continue your cutting edge research when you get home. Consider launching an impact project that unites your interest in science and medicine with meaningful engagement in your school or community. For example:
Become a Health Literacy Advocate - pick a topic of interest and importance to you and launch an information and awareness campaign in your school or community.
Help your school develop or refine its Concussion Protocol.
Become a concussion Concussion Epidemiologist by helping your school launch a baseline testing project for kids in contact sports.
Link your summer’s research with an advocacy and awareness campaign in your community.
HOT TIP: By all measures this looks like a prestigious and substantive way to spend your summer, if you’re a biological sciences junkie. See below for more information about summer programs in general.
IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT SUMMER PROGRAMS: College admissions officers are very adept at identifying “resume padders”: expensive, one-off programs paid for by your parents which do not mesh with your narrative arc. Therefore, make sure any summer program or course you consider falls into one (or more) of these four buckets:
Highly selective/competitive
Totally unique + linked to your narrative arc
Evidence of adulthood (long hours, multi-year commitment or simply hard work)
A jumping off point or expansion for an authentic narrative arc.
If none of the above apply, a program could still have value to you if it allows you to test a potential interest. However, if it does not end up being a jumping off point for further interests, then you may not want to mention it in your high school resume