Important to Note
As a post-bacc student, the number one priority should be one's coursework. However, there are opportunities to engage with campus clubs, organizations, research, or initiatives, and more...as long as you exercise good time management skills and still understand that your courses are your most important part of your UConn post-bacc journey.
Places to Hang Out & Stay Active
Places to Hang Out & Stay Active
Clubs & Organizations
Clubs + Organizations
UConn offers an incredible number of student organizations, chapters, and societies on campus through which students can become involved in the university community! Our office encourages students to explore all that the university has to offer and become involved with clubs and experiences that speak to them. Your university involvements should be a reflection of your personal passions and areas of focus, whether that be working with elderly populations, teaching and mentoring, or volunteering through clubs focused on healthcare disparities. These experiences are intended to help shape you and your future career goals
To view a comprehensive list of health-related student groups, click here.
Remember that co-curricular involvement does not have to be medically related for it to be valuable! In fact, admission committees want to see volunteering that is non-clinical, because it is a way for you to showcase how you care for and give back to your community. They, ultimately, want to know what matters to you—volunteering is your way to show them.
If you are a member of other on-campus organizations, or are interested in becoming involved, we encourage you to honor those interests and passions. If there is a club you are interested in starting that you don't think exists already, explore the information from Student Activities about how to get started!
There are also:
Community Service
Community Service
Community service is a broad term that refers to any kind of volunteer work that is done in service of others.
There are two kinds of community service:
1) Clinical volunteering
2) Non-clinical volunteering
You should explore both medical and non-medical volunteering opportunities and cultivate meaningful involvements in both areas.
Applicants to pre-medical and pre-dental programs are expected to accumulate somewhere around 300 hours of community service experience (the average for pre-medical applicants in the past year, as recorded by the AAMC, has been around 400+ hours). Admissions committees will typically only consider collegiate and post-collegiate service experiences as counting towards this hour total. High school experiences might be considered as adding value to an application, but only if the applicant continued to engage in that same opportunity following high school graduation.
One important thing to note is that committees want to see a quality of experiences over quantity of experiences. It is necessary to build longitudinal commitments to, on average, one or two clinical volunteering activities and two or three non-clinical volunteering activities. Maintaining longitudinal commitments to your service opportunities showcases your authentic passion and will allow you to have something meaningful to discuss on your future applications.
Keep in mind that connections you make with your supervisors or coordinators in this setting are important to build and keep so that you may later ask for a letter of recommendation for your application.
To learn how to find opportunities, go here: https://premed.uconn.edu/community-service/
Research
Research
Research is an element of a pre-health application that is not necessarily “required” in the same way that clinical experience and community service are, though it does add significant strength to any application and can be a great avenue for developing and enhancing certaincompetenciessuch as critical thinking, scientific inquiry, and teamwork.It is a great way to get acquainted with the scientific process, pursue your interests outside of the classroom, and even find opportunities for formal publication or presentation of your work.
Research is also an excellent way to show committees your ability to solve complex problems through trial and error, analyze data, and approach novel challenges.This is similar to the clinical decision-making process in that you are presented with new information and must arrive at a conclusion that is supported by evidence and careful investigation.
Research can be completed through an on-campus or off-campus opportunity, either during the school year or over the summer months. Some people choose to pursue internships or fellowships that are research focused, and some applicants will even take a growth year or two to work in a research setting before applying to medical school. If you are in a major or program that requires a capstone project or thesis, this is also viewed as a form of research known asindependent scholarship.
Keep in mind thatresearch does not necessarily need to be within your major field, or even necessarily in a traditional STEM field. We encourage students to pursue those opportunities that they are most interested in and passionate about. As long as you are able to articulate what you have learned from your experience and how you can translate that knowledge into your future career, you are welcome to explore a variety of research fields and opportunities.
Remember as well that connections you make with your PIs or research coordinators in this setting are important to build and keep so that you may ask for aletter of recommendationfor your application.
Getting Connected
TheOffice of Undergraduate Research(OUR) is afantasticresource for learning how to get started in research and for finding research opportunities. OUR offers several programs, such as theHealth Research Program, that offerfundingfor undergraduate students, which we encourage you to explore.
Students are also welcome to explore specific department websites at the university to find any ongoing research projects certain professors might be conducting. If you find something that you are interested in by doing this, you will need to formally and politely reach out to the professor. We suggest utilizing OUR’s resources onConnecting with FacultyandEmail Etiquette.
*If you'd like to incorporate research into your post-bacc plan of study, it should be within a UConn department for credits*
Clinical Experience
To learn more about Clinical Experience and the importance of it to your pre-health journey, check out the main pre-med website here: https://premed.uconn.edu/clinical-experience/
Many post-baccs decide to gain more clinical experience during winter or summer sessions, in addition to their growth year(s). This allows them to focus on their academics during the regular semesters.
*One unique opportunity for students in the post-bacc program is UConn Health Leaders (UCHL) Winter Intensive Program.*
About the UCHL Winter Intensive Program:
UCHL functions year-round, focusing on training pre-health professional students on how they can help advocate and improve the way we deliver health care for our patients. In return, we hope these students will enter their career field more eager and prepared to tackle the social determinants of health that affect the health of our patients.
The Winter Intensive Program typically runs from mid-December to mid-January (4 weeks), and participants gain 64 hours of direct patient care experience through volunteering both outpatient at UConn Health Farmington Outpatient Pavillion and UConn Health West Hartford. Participants will spend 2 weeks in Farmington and 2 weeks in West Hartford. They will be required to complete eight 8-hour volunteer shifts in total during the course of the program. There will also be two mandatory meetings.
Participants in this program will also have the opportunity to learn about social determinants of health and at-risk populations through our educational curriculum. The program curriculum focuses on different populations such as psychiatric patients and the homeless in addition to different topics such as alcohol use disorder and tobacco cessation.