Pre-med internships at ACR Homes: Prepping you for a caring career
If you’re an undergrad considering a career as a physician, you’ll want to use your internship opportunities to their fullest advantage so you can build an exceptional resume for medical school.
Because entry requirements for med school can be so competitive, it’s important to choose relevant learning opportunities that can help bolster your background and expand your range of healthcare knowledge. But those opportunities can be hard to find at the undergrad level.
That’s where ACR Homes can partner with you in reaching your career goals. Not only does our pre-med internship program offer highly meaningful hands-on work with people with disabilities, but it’s specifically structured to add key clinical experiences to your resume. As icing on the cake, it also offers participants a paycheck, college credit and credit for the direct care hours needed for certain academic programs. That means you can be a paid direct care professional, intern and student all at once, if that’s what works best for your schedule and career goals.
Not just another day at the office
Instead of just punching your time card, you’ll gain the invaluable insights that come about from helping our residents with medications, treatments and therapies,networking with other medical professionals and getting a grounded perspective on the day to day realities of healthcare delivery, documentation and outcomes. You’ll benefit from journaling assignments, interviews, shadowing opportunities, seminars, special projects, the experience of accompanying residents to medical appointments and the creation of a final paper or presentation summarizing your experiences. Upon internship completion, you’ll graduate from the six-month program with a personal letter of recommendation from our CEO to help you leverage future educational opportunities.
“I’ve been trained in administering medications, using medical equipment, working with medical devices and developing my innovative mind to change the field of medicine,” notes University of Minnesota Medical School student Madison Duppenthaler of her work at ACR. “I developed a new sense of patience and perseverance in tackling problems with a diverse team of people, and I have never been more grateful.”
Revved up for research? ACR is all about customization
In a highly unique offering, our interns are also invited to design and conduct their own research projects during their internships with ACR. In more than a hundred examples since our program began, they’ve taken advantage of that opportunity to explore areas of interest and learn more about their potential career choices. And several have even drawn meaningful conclusions allowing them to make positive changes in the lives of the very residents with whom they work.
“If you’re sitting in a med school or grad school interview someday and you’re asked about your ACR internship, what do you want to say you did, or learned or implemented?” asks ACR Director of Staff Development Sarah Abbott. “We can work together with you to find a really great answer to that question. The direct care experience at ACR combined with an internship takes you to the next level as you research a complex condition, work direct care with a person who has this diagnosis and develop a project that has the potential to impact their life.”
Networking: It’s all about who you know …
Another major asset of your ACR pre-med internship will be the opportunity to work with and ask questions of other medical professionals. In addition to mingling with the experienced physicians and other skilled staff you’ll routinely encounter on the job, you may be invited on targeted ACR-sponsored field trips such as our trip to the Mayo Clinic that can give you a broader picture of life in the medical field. ACR also hosts professional development events during which workers in various fields stop by to talk to interns about their careers. ACR also offers pre-health focused networking groups on facebook for ACR Homes employees and ACR “alumni” who are pursuing education and careers in the areas of Occupational Therapy, Medical School, Physical Therapy, Nursing, or Physician Assistant. In addition, you can expect to meet with ACR’s CEO and director of staff development at least four times during your internship period.
Interested in learning more about the wealth of internship opportunities at ACR Homes? E-mail internships@acrhomes.com or call us at 651-415-9991 to learn more about how your next internship can be a win-win for all.