Stanford Medical Research Program
Are you potentially interested in a career in medicine and keen to work with medical professionals and researchers on a medically-oriented project? Stanford University offers an intensive and rigorous eight-week summer program that will give you great exposure to the field.
“The Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research Program (SIMR) is a prestigious eight-week program in which high school students from diverse backgrounds are invited to perform basic research with Stanford faculty, postdoctoral fellows, students and researchers on a medically-oriented project. The goals of the program include increasing interest in biological sciences and medicine in high school students, helping students to understand how scientific research is performed, and increasing diversity of students and researchers in the sciences.”
How do I get started? Click here.
How do I expand this narrative arc? There are an incredible number of prestigious, often paid (or stipended) summer internships and fellowships at cutting edge research labs across the country. The great ones are very difficult to secure, but if you are selected you will have access to cutting-edge research and world-class scientists. If you like the looks of the Stanford internship, check out these other options too:
Broad Institute Biomedical Internship; Test drive “life at the bench” in this intensive four-week lab research program at U. Chicago.; SSTP Research Program; Zuckerman Institute Brain Research Internship; Cancer Research Internship at Fred Hutch
Want to take your summer research further? Enlist a teacher supervisor and enter into one of the many prestigious national science fair competitions like the Regeneron Science Talent Search.
Launch a health information awareness campaign in your community. Bring in speakers, or an organization like the American Red Cross to improve community help. Think CPR training, blood drive or fundraiser!
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