Navigating Pre-Health Organization Applications and Interviews
By: Pre-Health Guidebook Project 2024 (Caroline Sha, Jaylin Hsu, Jordan La, and Yasmina Zaarour)
With the numerous diverse ethnic groups on campus, choosing a pre-health club that emphasizes a community health experience can be daunting. This article aims to highlight just a few of these clubs on campus to ease the process.
Maritiza Campos, a fourth-year Biochemistry major and Chicano Studies minor, and the internal coordinator of Latinxs/Chicanxs for Community Medicine (LCCM), breaks down the various activities one can get involved in as a member. Campos states, “The Latinxs/Chicanxs for Community Medicine club aims to do two things: provide college support for Latinx students and change the healthcare system.” Through this community medicine club, Campos shares the different sectors that members can engage with. She explains, “members can get involved in the Latino Student Health Project (LSHP), which participates in health fairs; the Black and Latinx Aids Project (BLADE), which aims to increase awareness about sexual health and reproduction; Aspire, Learn, Mentor, Achieve (ALMA) Science Academy, where members have the opportunity to go to Santa Ana and provide STEM education for elementary schools; and DoT Org, where members can learn about the tissue and organ donation process.”
Becoming a general member does not require one to go through an application cycle, as long as you are able to attend general meetings. However, after spending time as a general member, Campos notes, “If you want to carry more of a leadership role, you can apply to become a board member during the recruitment period, which typically takes place in late Winter quarter and early Spring.” Recruitment for board positions includes a cover letter and resume review round, in addition to written responses to a variety of leadership-related questions. During the board interview round, candidates are expected to be knowledgeable about the structure of LCCM and reflect on their experience shadowing the current person holding the position they are running for. Campos mentions, “We are trying to find applicants who are interested in learning and expanding throughout the next academic year.”
Being a member of the Latinx/Chicanx for Community Medicine club offers the opportunity to strengthen communication skills by working with outside organizations, collaborating with volunteers, and engaging with patients. Lastly, Campos states that “LCCM emphasizes that general members aren’t just completing a role but are fulfilling their own personal interests in community medicine.”
In addition to LCCM, Bruins also have the option to participate in the Vietnamese Community Health (VCH) club. Nathan Nguyen, a fourth-year Physiological Science major and current President of VCH, states, “The main premise of Vietnamese Community Health is to serve the Vietnamese and Hispanic underserved communities in Orange County and parts of the greater Los Angeles area. More specifically, the club provides preventative health screenings, consultations from healthcare providers at community events, and hands-on patient interaction in a community where one can resonate with.”
Jeffrey Vo, the current Volunteer Director for the club, shares that members gain patient interaction by performing cholesterol screenings and measuring blood pressure at health sites, which are hosted a few times each quarter. In addition to health sites, VCH members participate in the Health Fair, one of the biggest events in the academic year. At the Health Fair, in addition to performing preventative screenings for those in need, VCH also invites physicians and current medical and pharmacy students who can fluently serve the Vietnamese and Hispanic populations, according to Thomas Tran, the current Finance Director.
General membership to VCH is accessible to any Bruin interested, as there are no fees or application process. Vo emphasizes that you don’t have to be Vietnamese or even pre-health to join. As an active general member, one can partake in the mentorship program with VCH staff, gaining knowledge about research as an undergraduate or finding job opportunities in the nearby area. This past year, VCH allowed members to pair with current UCLA medical students to gain insight into the reality of being a student at the David Geffen School of Medicine.
Nguyen shares that since many general members are interested in service-oriented fields, the opportunity for undergraduates to engage in direct patient interaction and witness health disparities firsthand not only humanizes topics learned in class but also allows them to serve a community they can identify with. Tran emphasizes that, although there are plenty of community health clubs Bruins can join, one special aspect of VCH is their cultural inclusivity in care, which includes traditional eastern medicine practices such as acupuncture, massage, and chiropractic services.
For those interested in a board position in VCH, eligibility requires completing the winter internship. The winter internship application opens in the Fall, and in the past cycle, around 25 candidates were invited. Board committees typically seek the strongest applicants who demonstrate a passion for VCH and evaluate candidates on future commitments and interpersonal skills.
The newly-formed CultivAsian is another community health organization, which focuses on spreading awareness about Asian mental health, specifically in youth.
Patricia Cheng, co-president and co-founder of the club and fourth year computational and systems biology major, said the club specifically aims to fill the gap in Asian mental health organizations on campus through multimedia outreach. When recruited, members are tasked with running a project, Cheng said; some recent projects tackle topics such as body dysmorphia and the model minority myth.
To get projects off the ground, prospective project leads first create a plan they submit via google form and team members are added to these projects once they’re approved, said Lilian Lin, director of outreach and third year psychology student. Once the project is created, it is peer reviewed at the end of the quarter and presented, she said.
Lin said that she personally worked on a podcast on “individuality vs collectivism,” which involved editing audio clips and posting them on the CultivAsian instagram. She added that the experience allowed her group members to bond over their Asian and immigrant identities, creating a safe space to share their experiences.
The club underwent recruitment during Fall and Winter quarter, said Jessie Hsu, a fourth year Human Biology & Society and co-founder and co-president of the club, adding that the application mainly focused on what people could bring to the table and whether they were interested in leading a project. Club leadership was also looking for an openness to new ideas as well as effort in the application, Cheng said.
Hsu said that general members are required to attend one social or fundraiser per quarter, contribute to a project, and attend 3–4 general meetings over the quarter. “The purpose of these GMs is to, first, have the members get to know each other, and the second is for them to get a chance to attend presentations on lesser known topics within Asian mental health,” Cheng said.
On the other hand, if general members are looking to get more involved, they could join the outreach committee, which helps plan events such as a collaboration with the non-profit Asian Pacific Counseling Treatment Center, Lin said.
Members of CultivAsian are able to build many skills, including research skills, collaboration and public speaking skills, as well as other technical skills related to multimedia. “For my last project, throughout the process, we gained a lot of confidence in talking about our own experiences and just having support from other club members really just elevated our self confidence, feelings of self worth, and feelings of validation from each other,” Hsu said.
The Fellowship for International Service and Health (FISH) at UCLA is an organization that has had a twenty-year long partnership with Maclovio Rojas, Mexico. Every other week of the quarter, members go to the area to help make health-based sustainable changes in the community, said Asher Kim, internal relations officer and second year bioengineering and biomedical engineering student. General members of the club are expected to attend at least one trip to Mexico, one domestic trip, and one social. He added that, currently, the club helps with administering blood pressure testing and English lessons, with plans to hopefully expand to blood glucose, dental, and optometry services.
To apply for the club, applicants must answer written questions regarding their interest in global health and FISH in addition to completing a short, fifteen-minute interview, said Kylie Heering, chief administrative officer and third year MCDB student.
FISH looks for service-oriented applicants who are passionate about cultural immersion, Heering said, adding that members don’t have to be in the pre-health space to join. To be successful in their application, Kim recommended that applicants do their research on the club while Heering recommended showing how one’s values align with the club. Special consideration is also given to those with strong Spanish skills, Kim added, as it’s important that members are able to communicate with the community they work with.
“As a freshman it can be daunting, but we’re very open to a large breadth of experience,” Kim said. “For example, one of our new directors has EMT experience and he’s a very valuable part of our team because his EMT training helps him with blood glucose [testing]. So there’s a wide range of members we have and everyone has their own niche.”
The skills that members gain from FISH depend on the team they join, Kim said. However, all members do learn how to take responsibility, as the club is mainly student-run, meaning that students have a large voice in determining the direction of the club, he added. Members also gain basic Spanish proficiency and interpersonal skills, Heering said, as the main focus of the organization is communicating with the community at Maclovio Rojas.
Latinxs/Chicanxs for Community Medicine, Vietnamese Community Health, CultivAsian, and The Fellowship for International Service and Health are just a few of the plethora of pre-health organizations on campus. While all four have different missions and target populations, they all look for common traits in applicants: a demonstrated passion for healthcare, ability to commit to the club and the mission, and a willingness to both take initiative and learn from others.
To learn more about the aforementioned organizations and the rest of the organizations featured in the THINQ Pre-Health Guidebook, please see https://tinyurl.com/THINQguidebook
