Experience and Opportunities

An internship or fellowships is a position within an organization (e.g. hospital, research center, or company) to gain work experience. They may be paid or unpaid, may have different time commitments (e.g. summer or year-long), and may also have different settings (e.g. research vs. clinical). Students seeking to gain work experience should read program descriptions carefully.

Professional development programs differ in that students gain experience related to their desired health profession rather than direct work experience (e.g. shadowing, patient care, simulations, and workshops).

Internships and Fellowships:

Professional Development Programs:

Many health professional fields want to know if you understand the field you are interested in, and that type of knowledge can come from shadowing a professional. For example, the 2015 data analysis of matriculating medical school students shows that 94% have shadowed a physician or other healthcare professional. Shadowing opportunities can also be found in community service, internships, and volunteer opportunities. Students should double check in those areas when looking for shadowing opportunities.

For pre-health shadowing opportunities, click here.

Getting Started:

Think about what kind of professional you want to shadow and why you want to shadow them. Some possible outcomes of a shadowing experience include gaining clinical experience or getting a different perspective on your field of interest.

The following are considerations for those interested in shadowing a health professional. Be prepared for professionals not to allow you to shadow them. Keep trying!

Shadowing Opportunities:

• The most successful way advisees secure shadowing opportunities is by asking the healthcare professionals of whom they are patients.
• The next most successful method is to ask the healthcare professionals of whom the advisees' family and friends are patients.
• Another great way to get shadowing opportunities is to ask the healthcare professionals who work in the area where advisees live, preferably the smaller offices and clinics, as larger ones like hospitals usually have long wait lists of people who want to shadow.

The Ask:

The following are some considerations when asking a professional if you can shadow them:

• Be sure to:
  • Research the professional before shadowing and ask about location, parking, or any other logistics you would need to know before shadowing the professional.
• How to:
  • Have a high degree of professionalism when asking
  • Be sure to provide a resume or curriculum vitae (CV) to professionals when requesting to shadow them.
  • Call or visit the professional's office. Sometimes, emails may get lost or marked as spam.
  • State your career goals and why you would like to shadow them.

During the Shadowing Experience:

While you are shadowing a healthcare professional, here are some considerations:

• Arrive 15 minutes early.
• Have a high degree of professionalism in appearance, hygiene, clothing, and communication.
  • Some places may instruct you on what to wear, for example, if you need to wear scrubs.
  • Business attire is appropriate in most medical office settings.
  • Asking what the dress code is beforehand may be helpful as well.
• Keep a notepad or composition book.
  • Take notes during the shadowing experience.
  • Be sure to document the day, number of hours, facility, and any other important information so you can reflect on it later when applying for professional school.
• Be ready to ask questions.
  • Think of some questions you would like to ask the health professional, and try not to ask questions you can find online.
  • Suggested Questions:
    • “What is your day-to-day routine like?”
    • “Why did you decide to pursue this field?”
• Patient privacy is paramount.
  • Be sure to respect the patient’s privacy.
  • Possibly educate yourself beforehand on privacy laws and HIPAA (Health Information Portability and Accountability Act).

After Shadowing:

Some considerations for after you shadowed a health care professional:

• Be sure to write a “thank you” note.
• If you have a good relationship with a professional you shadowed, consider asking them for a letter of recommendation (LOR), as some schools require or recommend a LOR from a professional in that field.

Most health professional schools want applicants to have had hands-on direct patient contact experience for entrance into their program. This type of experience can come from various positions, including but not limited to Certified Nurse Aide (CNA), Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), and Medical Assistant. The remainder of this webpage provides more information on these types of opportunities.

Many positions require certification and training. Below are some different options on how to get these requirements to be able to apply for positions in these fields.

Gaining experience as a CNA, EMT, Medical Assistant, Scribe, or any healthcare team position could lead to exposure to the professions you may want to pursue in the future. Obtaining experience in non-healthcare-related jobs can lead to providing proof of professionalism, building character, and acquiring other skills that may be relevant for your future careers.

The Mānoa Career Center (MCC) has a lot of great resources such as career counseling, mock interviews, and workshops. The Student Employment and Cooperative Education (SECE) webpage is a page for UH system students to find on-campus jobs and other related opportunities.

Certain health professional schools are beginning to look for candidates with research experience. Students who are interested in applying to a research-oriented program (e.g. MD-PhD) must pursue long-term and meaningful research experiences.

Getting Started:

Health professional schools often do not require research experience about specific topics, and there are a wide variety of research opportunities available to you. Thus, when choosing which research opportunities to pursue, we recommend taking into consideration the following:

• What am I interested in? - It is better to take into consideration your own interests and passions when pursing research experiences. Perhaps the kind of research you’d like to do is related to the career you’re interested in.
• Where is the opportunity located? - Is this opportunity in-state or out-of-state?
• What setting does the research take place? - Not all research is in a laboratory and could simply be data analysis in an office setting or out in the field.
• What time of year does it take place and how long do I commit? - Some opportunities are year-round or semester-based. You should also consider how long you will be doing the research. For example, some programs may be year-long or only take place over a couple of weeks.
• Does this program have an application and what is the deadline? - Many programs will require you to apply for them. Keep this in mind when deciding what programs to go for.
• What other commitments do I have? - Consider how you can balance these experiences with your personal life as well as your other experience.

Finding Research Experiences:

Below we provide tables of various in-state and out-of-state research programs. Keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive list. You can also find research opportunities by asking your professors who do research for the university. Some professors do take in undergraduate students into their labs and it never hurts to ask. When asking a professor if they would be willing to mentor you, take into consideration what projects they are currently working on and if their research is something you have an interest in.

Research Programs (In-State):

Research Programs (Out-of-State):

University of Hawaii at Manoa Funding Opportunities:

Community service is unpaid, voluntary work for the benefit of the community (as opposed to volunteering, which benefits private organizations). Health professional schools seek applications who demonstrate a commitment to community service. The following are examples of government and non-profit organizations that offer opportunities to serve the community.

For more community service opportunities, please refer to UH Mānoa’s Civic and Community Engagement page.

Volunteering can come in many different forms, either within clubs and organizations or at different locations such as hospitals or clinics. Volunteers are often for the benefit of private organizations. Health professional fields look for volunteer work in their applicants and take into consideration the different types of volunteering their applicants participate in.

Ongoing Clinical Experience

Ongoing Non-Clinical Experience

Other Volunteer Experience – Hawaii State

Other Volunteer Experience – Out-of-State

Pre-Health Clubs

2024-2025 List of Registered Independent Organizations (RIOs) at UHM

Major-Related Clubs

Honors Organizations

Enrichment opportunities allow students to further enhance their learning and overall knowledge of a particular field of interest. There is a variety of different enrichment opportunities available, both in the United States and abroad. National experiences can provide professional development and show health professional schools that a student is committed to their chosen career path. When these experiences are done abroad, students are able to develop their professional skills as well as enhance their understanding of another culture.

National Enrichment Opportunities

Professional development opportunities allow students to learn about a professional school and the fields of study that they offer. These programs often have a fee but are great opportunities to learn more about a particular school and the field you are interested in. Be sure to double check with each program for deadlines and application requirements.

National Student Exchange (NSE) is a program that allows UH Mānoa students to study at another American university for a fall semester or a full academic year while paying UH Mānoa tuition. Many other universities across the country offer stimulating classes for pre-health students. For more information on NSE, click here.

International Enrichment Opportunities

Study abroad is a valuable cultural enrichment experience for students to broaden their horizons by experiencing different cultures. Cultural competence, or the ability to serve the social, linguistic, and cultural needs of a wide variety of individuals, is becoming an increasingly important quality of a well-rounded health professional. Studying abroad can assist students in cultural immersion and help them to acquire the skills to become excellent healthcare professionals.

The University of Hawai‘i Mānoa Study Abroad Center (UHM SAC) provides study abroad opportunities to countries across the globe. The courses taken at these international universities can be used to fulfill various UH Mānoa requirements, including core major requirements or language requirements.

The universities listed offer courses for students interested in health professions. For more information on other study abroad opportunities, click here.

The Mānoa International Exchange (MIX) also provides study abroad opportunities for UH Mānoa undergraduate and graduate students to experience different cultures.

The universities listed offer courses for students interested in health professions. For more information on other study abroad opportunities, click here.

Local Enrichment Opportunities

Obtaining experience in non-healthcare-related jobs can lead to providing proof of professionalism, building character, and acquiring other skills that may be relevant for your future careers.

The Mānoa Career Center (MCC) has a lot of great resources such as career counseling, mock interviews, and workshops. The Student Employment and Cooperative Education (SECE) webpage is a page for UH system students to find on-campus jobs and other related opportunities.

Most health professional schools require applicants to take an entrance exam. The entrance exam depends on the field of health (e.g. MCAT for medicine, PCAT for pharmacy, DAT for dentistry). Entrance exam scores are used by schools in their admission process. A study period of 6 to 12 months is highly recommended. Refer to our entrance exam preparation webpage for more information as well as access to the individual webpages for each entrance exam including test preparation materials.

Below are fee assistance programs, funding opportunities, and other resources:

• Fee Assistance Programs
  • AAMC Fee Assistance Program (MCAT)
  • DAT Fee Assistance Program
  • OAT Fee Assistance Program
  • PA-CAT Fee Assistance Program
  • GRE Fee Reduction Program
    
• Kaplan's Tuition Assistance Program
• PAC's Lending Library