If you are a sophomore interested in studying biomedical engineering in college, you’re probably interested in medicine, passionate about engineering, and fascinated by the intersection of the two. Students who study biomedical engineering go into careers in research, they develop new medical devices and discover breakthroughs, they work for famed international corporations and local hospitals. Basically, there is a lot that you can do with a biomedical engineering degree. But how do you get to college graduation?
It truly does start right now. In order to attend a famed biomedical engineering program at a university like MIT, John Hopkins, Stanford, or Duke, you have to put in work years in advance to prove to a top school that you are someone they want in their community. So, yes, as a driven sophomore you need to be thinking about college and making moves that strengthen your application while also providing you with opportunities to explore the biomedical engineering field.
In this post, we’re going to break down what moves to make outside of the classroom — also known as extracurricular activities — to stand out come senior year. What we propose may feel bold, and even intense. That’s a feature, not a bug. Doing things that are beyond what is typically expected of a sophomore is important. By being even just a little bit beyond the norm as a sophomore, you end up way far ahead by senior fall. So, start now.
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Below, we’ve broken the key activities you need to be doing as a sophomore interested in biomedical engineering down into four ‘buckets.’ While you don’t need to do all of these, you definitely should. Doing the minimum gets the minimum — and you want more than that. You have very strong grades, will get great SAT or ACT scores, and what you do outside of class truly is the strongest differentiating factor between your application and that of another top student on paper. Standing out is key, so let’s make it happen.
ENGINEERING CLUB
This one should be obvious. Yes, you should be part of an engineering club or team at school. More than just being a member of the group, you should be highly engaged and should volunteer yourself for leadership roles whenever possible. If they aren’t being offered, ask how you can best support the group. The goal is to work towards becoming a club head by senior year, or even junior year if possible. If there are opportunities for awards and recognitions through engineering competitions, even better.
This club is unlikely to be focused biomedical engineering, though — and this is okay. As long as it is engineering, and involves working with others to achieve goals, it’s serving the purpose we need for this club.
RESEARCH
We also expect our sophomores interested in biomedical engineering to begin pursuing independent research outside of school. It’s unlikely that you have access to a lab, and you shouldn’t be trying to create something from scratch. Instead, the point of this research is to learn how to do research beyond what is supported in school for sophomores.
We aren’t looking for you to develop a vaccine. But we do want to see you exploring an idea, challenge, or innovation with the goal of creating a research paper for presentation through a science or engineering fair or publication through a journal open to high school students — of which there are many, and we can help!
If pursuing independent research on your own is too intimidating, pursue a project with a friend and challenge each other to challenge yourself. In doing research, you are learning a new skill. There will be a learning curve, and it will take a while to get comfortable with this type of work. A teacher at school can be a valuable resource for bouncing around ideas and working through challenges.
SUMMER PROGRAM
We also encourage our sophomores interested in biomedical engineering to pursue a summer program that exposes them to the subject through learning from college-level instructors, working in a lab, and collaborating with similarly passionate peers.
As you consider summer programs, look for a summer intensive, usually 1-3 weeks, that is focused on biomedical engineering specifically. It should be also run by a university, which can be hard to sleuth out on your own.
Now, a program being at a university does not mean it is run by the university. Many privately-run programs rent space at colleges during the summer so that student learn in the school’s classrooms and live in their dorms, but the school actually has no role, or minimal role, in the program. These programs can be very fun, but they aren’t as interesting to us as a tool for building knowledge while strengthening your applications.
When picking a program, then, think more lab exposure and less summer camp. It’s very fun to make s’mores, but if that is a major selling point for the program it is not right for you.
VOLUNTEER AT A HOSPITAL
Finally, we want to see you volunteering at a hospital in your local community. Sometimes people travel abroad so that they can get hands-on medical experience as a high school student. We do not endorse this type of activity, and heavily discourage it for our students. International medical volunteering is a major red flag for many universities, as it shows a lack of care for the importance of expertise and professional accreditation in healthcare.
Your gig at a local hospital should also be long-term, at least 6 months of regular volunteering but up to multiple years. As a volunteer in an American hospital, don’t expect to be around where medicine is being practiced. Instead, as a volunteer you are part of the large support systems that allows doctors and nurses to do what they do. This could include working at the front desk or in a gift shop or café. These roles develop your communication skills and show both care for your community and passion for biomedical studies.
These volunteer roles are common, but they often require a parental signature for high school students, and often have a minimum age of 16 even with a parent’s signature.
As a sophomore, now is the perfect time to be dialing your activities to make sure that how you spend your time has the biggest impact of developing your interests and your college admissions outcomes. We support our students through this process of discovery and differentiation, leading to exceptional results in senior year.
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