Most students can gain initial patient exposure through hospital volunteer, rescue squad, and part-time work in a medical setting. Many students have also been successful shadowing physicians in private practice, usually through personal referrals or by contacting doctors "cold". Begin by contacting the volunteer services department of your local hospital. Some of these departments also coordinate in-house physician shadowing programs.

A wide range of research oriented opportunities are available with pharmaceutical/biotechnology companies, non-profit research facilities, medical schools and universities including Rutgers. Valuable research experience can also be gained through research topics and honors research courses at Rutgers. For a list of online opportunites, see the Summer Undergraduate Research Links section of our Great Links for Health Professions Students page.