Careers in Medicine

Feeling lost about your career and plan your academic schedule? This page contains links to professional societies for medicine, dentistry, osteopathy, podiatry and veterinary medicine. These sites contain valuable information about careers in their respective professions and the types of professional training needed to reach your career goal. Information about allied health professions like physical and occupational therapy can be found under the allied health section of this website.

Apprenticeship Opportunities

Students may receive academic credit for shadowing physicians, dentists, and/or veterinarians. To learn more about this option, consult a pre-med faculty advisor. Credit is granted via registration in GS 395, and requires a minimum number of active shadowing hours and the submission of a written report. A limited number of scholarships are available through the VU Career Center for students whose apprenticeship is with an Indiana physician for at least 100 hours.

Medical Research Opportunities

Students may receive academic credit for doing medical research (usually at an off-campus research hospital or medical center). To learn more about this option, consult a pre-med faculty advisor. A non-comprehensive list of such opportunities is available here.

Professional Association Websites

General Information about Medical School

Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) (contains downloadable software for application to medical schools.)
American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM)
Podiatry Schools
Next Generation Magazine: A Resource for Aspiring Physicians

Information about the Medical School Application Process

The Medical School Interview Feedback Page

Links to Medical Schools

Scholarship and Financial Aid Information

National Health Service Corps : for those committed to working in underserved communities in the USA
Project MedSend : for those committed to long-term service as Christian medical missionaries
Military Scholarships : for those committed to serving in the US Armed Forces
Note: This link contains information on the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP).

Each branch of the military awards these scholarships independently, but this US Army information is fairly representative. Contact your local military recruiter for more information.

Other Books of Interest

Bonner, Thomas N. 1992. To the ends of the earth: women's search for education in medicine. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Brody, Howard. 1987. Stories of sickness. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Cassell, Eric. 1985. The healer's art. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Dan, Bruce B., and Young, Roxanne K., eds. 1990. A piece of my mind. New York: Ballantine Books.
Ginzberg, Eli. 1990. The medical triangle: physicians, politicians, and the public. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Klitzman, Robert. 1989. A year-long night: tales of a medical internship. New York: Penguin Books.
Klas, Perri. 1990. Other women's children. New York: Ivy Books.
Klas, Perri. 1992. Baby doctor. New York: Random House.
Marion, Robert. 1991. Learning to play God: the coming of age of a young doctor. Reading: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.
Natelson, Benjamin H. 1990. Tomorrow's doctors: the path to successful practice in the 1990's. New York: Plenum Press.
Nuland, Sherwin B. 1993. How we die. New York: Vintage Books.
Sacks, Oliver. 1990. A leg to stand on. New York: HarperCollins.
Selzer, Richard. 1987. Confessions of a knife. New York: William Morrow.
Sontag, Susan. 1990. Illness as metaphor ; AIDS and its metaphors. New York: Doubleday.
Stone, John. 1990. In the country of hearts. Journeys in the art of medicine. New York: Dell Publishing.
Weissmann, Gerald. 1983. The doctor with two heads. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.