Co-op Options:
Health professional programs look for candidates who have robust and diverse professional experiences. There are no designated PreMed or PreHealth co-ops. Rather, students should apply to co-op jobs based on their individual interest in, and qualifications for the position. PreMed and PreHealth students have historically participated in a co-op work experience including, but not limited to, the following:
- Clinical: clinical experiences should include interaction with healthcare professionals (within and/or outside of your intended health field discipline) and/or patients. These positions are typically not at an advanced medical level, but do provide the opportunity to learn more about healthcare systems and administration, various healthcare roles, and develop interpersonal skills and bedside manner.
- Examples: emergency medical technician (EMT), certified nursing assistant (CNA), patient care assistant, medical assistant, medical scribe, etc.
- Research: research can be in any field of interest! Research co-ops help you learn about the research process and develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
- Examples: academic research, industry research/biotechnology, social science research, field research, clinical research, etc.
- Service: Service-focused co-ops demonstrate your desire to better your community and commitment to helping others.
- Examples: teaching, public and community health, non-profit work, homeless services, etc.
- Industry: Industry co-ops help to develop leadership and teamwork skills.
- Examples: consulting, finance, healthcare administration and management, data analytics, etc.
- Global: Global co-ops help develop a global perspective and understanding. Learn more about Global Coop HERE.
- Other: You can use co-op to explore non-health interests, too!
Professional Competencies
Through Co-op applicants gain understanding of their desired profession, technical skills, and interpersonal and professional competencies. While those listed below are the AAMC’s Core Competencies for Entering Medical Students, they are applicable to all health professions. Use these as a framework for your Co-op search and experience.
AAMC Core Competencies for Entering Medical Students:
PRE-PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCIES
- Capacity for Improvement: Sets goals for continuous improvement and for learning new concepts and skills; engages in reflective practice for improvement; solicits and responds appropriately to feedback.
- Cultural Competence: Demonstrates knowledge of socio-cultural factors that affect interactions and behaviors; shows an appreciation and respect for multiple dimensions of diversity; recognizes and acts on the obligation to inform one’s own judgment; engages diverse and competing perspectives as a resource for learning, citizenship, and work; recognizes and appropriately addresses bias in themselves and others; interacts effectively with people from diverse backgrounds.
- Ethical Responsibility to Self and Others: Behaves in an honest and ethical manner; cultivates personal and academic integrity; adheres to ethical principles and follows rules and procedures; resists peer pressure to engage in unethical behavior and encourages others to behave in honest and ethical ways; develops and demonstrates ethical and moral reasoning.
- Oral Communication: Effectively conveys information to others using spoken words and sentences; listens effectively; recognizes potential communication barriers and adjusts approach or clarifies information as needed.
- Reliability and Dependability: Consistently fulfills obligations in a timely and satisfactory manner; takes responsibility for personal actions and performance.
- Resilience and Adaptability: Demonstrates tolerance of stressful or changing environments or situations and adapts effectively to them; is persistent, even under difficult situations; recovers from setbacks.
- Service Orientation: Demonstrates a desire to help others and sensitivity to others’ needs and feelings; demonstrates a desire to alleviate others’ distress; recognizes and acts on his/her responsibilities to society; locally, nationally, and globally.
- Social Skills: Demonstrates an awareness of others’ needs, goals, feelings, and the ways that social and behavioral cues affect peoples’ interactions and behaviors; adjusts behaviors appropriately in response to these cues; treats others with respect.
- Teamwork: Works collaboratively with others to achieve shared goals; shares information and knowledge with others and provides feedback; puts team goals ahead of individual goals.
SCIENCE COMPETENCIES
- Human Behavior: Applies knowledge of the self, others, and social systems to solve problems related to the psychological, socio-cultural, and biological factors that influence health and well-being.
- Living Systems: Applies knowledge and skill in the natural sciences to solve problems related to molecular and macro systems including biomolecules, molecules, cells, and organs.
THINKING AND REASONING COMPETENCIES
- Critical Thinking: Uses logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Quantitative Reasoning: Applies quantitative reasoning and appropriate mathematics to describe or explain phenomena in the natural world.
- Scientific Inquiry: Applies knowledge of the scientific process to integrate and synthesize information, solve problems and formulate research questions and hypotheses; is facile in the language of the sciences and uses it to participate in the discourse of science and explain how scientific knowledge is discovered and validated.
- Written Communication: Effectively conveys information to others using written words and sentences.
Core competencies for entering medical students. AAMC. (n.d.). Retrieved August 14, 2023, from The Core Competencies for Entering Medical Students | Students & Residents (aamc.org)
