Experiential Programs and Partnerships
Health professional schools expect applicants to have developed the core competencies critical for any healthcare provider. These competencies are categorized as Interpersonal (service orientation, social skills, cultural competence, teamwork), Intrapersonal (ethical responsibility, dependability, resilience, adaptability) and Thinking & Reasoning (critical thinking, quantitative reasoning, scientific inquiry).
Health professional schools look for applicants who know their field on a deeper level than in a classroom setting. Observing, interning, or researching at a healthcare clinic or facility provides students with this engaged learning. Though most health professional schools do not require research experience, engaging in a research project can improve your critical thinking skills and your ability to work with others. When serving the community, look for areas to serve that will reflect your strengths and passions, rather than volunteering in places that you believe might only pad your application.
Engagement experiences, such as internships and observerships are vital to exploring health careers and developing core competencies considered crucial for health professionals. Rebecca Redman at the Institute for the Advancement of Community Health (IACH) supports Furman students in seeking, obtaining and thriving in these experiences.
- Alpha Epsilon Delta (AED) National PreHealth Honor Society: Provides advising, mentoring, service opportunities, and informational events for students interested in health professions.
- Multicultural Association of PreHealth Students (MAPS): Creates diversity and makes strides in all aspects of medicine and patient care through community service and dedication to eliminating ethnic health disparities.
- Promoting Healthy Options through Knowledge, Understanding, and Service (PHOKUS): Advocates for healthy living through wellness-focused programs promoting mental health, nutrition, physical fitness, alcohol and drug safety, and sexual health.
- Furman University Responders Club: Provides informational events and workshops for students interested in being trained to provide pre-hospital care for medical emergencies.
- Pre-Dental Club: Provides informational events, activities, and networking opportunities for students interested in the dental profession.
- Pre-Veterinary Club: Provides informational events, activities, and networking opportunities for students interested in the physician assistant profession.
Engaged Living’s first-year experience provides you with an easy transition into college life by giving you immediate academic support and a sense of camaraderie.
- Live together with other first-year experience students in your residence hall who have similar interests, such as working in a health care field.
- Take a class together during your first year in college and work closely with faculty mentors and classmates who share your interest in a particular topic.
- Become part of a community where you will make friends and other colleagues who will support you through your four years at Furman.
Read more about the Healthcare Today Engaged Living program.
The Medicine, Health and Culture interdisciplinary minor explores and critiques traditional, historical and contemporary paradigms of medical care, and explores the intricacies of health and healing. Because health and disease impact the whole person, particular attention is paid to the notions of care from social, psychological, cultural, religious, historical, economic, legal, and philosophical perspectives.
Study Away is an opportunity to step outside your comfort zone, explore new environments, challenge your world view and build tolerance for ambiguity. Numerous healthcare themed study away options are available.
The Master of Science in community engaged medicine is a 12-month graduate program that puts students into the field to learn about health disparities firsthand, leading to an advanced understanding of science and population health and all of the social and biological factors that can affect it.